MB Counselor/Dad question - is this okay?

[EagleInKY]

Okay, before I tell what happened let me explain that our district does not follow the proper MB Counselor process. I've voiced this several times, but it's outside of my control. Our district has no MB Counselor list, each troop recruits their own MB Counselors. That means a lot of parents, committee members, and ASMs end up serving as counselors. We try to make the best of it.

 

Had a few boys express interest in Golf MB. One of the dads had signed up to be a counselor for it. His son was one of the boys interested. Dad has been to MB Counselor orientation. I gave out a few blue cards about a month ago to the boys that were interested.

 

This weekend, the boy (dad's son) turned in the blue card. He's done with the MB. None of the other boys were included/invited in on it. Now, I don't think there was any cheating going on. I'm sure the boy did the work. I know them well, and do not believe they meant any harm by it. Dad's out of town, so I haven't had a chance to ask him. He's a real laid back guy and I can just see him shrugging his shoulders and saying "hey, we were at the range, and had the time so we went on and did it...".

 

Questions/Concerns. WOuld like some input:

- Does the buddy system for MB Counseling even apply if the son is getting the MB from the father?

- Do any of you limit sons from earning MBs from their fathers?

- Since I've always been told that the MB Counselor has final authority, is there anything I can or should do?

[Hunt]

The Advancement Committee Policies and Procedures clearly state that there is no limitation on a parent serving as a merit badge counselor for his own son. Thus, if the dad was an approved counselor, and the completed blue card was turned in, the badge is earned. There are some troops that do have rules that prohibit parents from counseling their own sons, but these rules are contrary to BSA policy.

As far as the buddy system, there is clearly no violation of the Guide to Safe Scouting if the boy works with his own father.

As for what to do, my suggestion is to simply ask the dad when he'd like to get together with the other boys who are interested in golf.

[TheScout]

1) No

 

2) Only ethical ones

 

3) Merit Badge Counselor does not have final authority Scoutmaster must sign the blue card that the merit badge has been completed. I see no reason not to do so. He has no obligation to have a "meeting" to let all the scouts have an opportunity to earn the badge. It is their job to contact the counselor.

[ScoutNut]

Perhaps the problem was that the other boys never contacted the dad to work on the merit badge. It is not the Counselor's job to contact the boys and set up a class.

[Hunt]

I can see only two real problems with a parent being a MBC for his or her son:

1. This takes away the element of the scout approaching the counselor. I agree with this to some extent, but I wouldn't be concerned about it unless the parent counsels a large number of badges. If my son has 19 merit badges, I don't think it's a big deal if I counseled a couple of them.

2. The parent might go easy on the requirements. In my experience, the opposite is likely to be true--parents often are tougher on their own kids. But if the leader is trustworthy enough to be approved as a counselor, he or she should be trusted to avoid bias, in my opinion.

[SWScouter]

TheScout wrote, "Merit Badge Counselor does not have final authority Scoutmaster must sign the blue card that the merit badge has been completed."

 

This is wrong. The SM signs the blue card when it is given to the scout, not when the scout turns the blue card in after completing the MB.

 

For example, scout goes to SM and says, "I'd like to work on the Golf MB." SM replies, "Great, here, let me sign this blue card for you and here's a Golf MB counselor you can work with." Scout says, "Thanks!"

 

Once the MB counselor has signed the blue card as complete, the scout has earned the MB. There is nothing that the SM or anyone else for that matter, should do about it except process the blue card and award the MB to the scout.

 

SWScouter

[mdutch]

The blue cards haves two spots for the SM to sign. One giving permission to start the badge, and one saying it was completed. whether the SM can not sign it after the councelor has, I don't know, but there is two spots for the SM to sign.

[scoutingagain]

I am in a similar situation with a Dad that wants to do Horsemanship with his son. I told him as advancement chair I had no objections but,

 

1. He would need to fill out an adult leader application and be listed in the District as a MB Counselor. (He has the option of restricting his counseling to only members of this Troop if he wishes.)

 

2. He would need to find a way to accomodate other scouts in the unit that also had an interest in the MB. He did not need to have a meeting per se, but we would make an announcement that he would be available as a counselor and it would be up to scouts to contact him an make an appointment with him, subject to the G2SS guidelines. Right now I think 6 scouts have expressed interest. 3 have actually contacted him so he is setting up a class for 3 scouts, including his son.

 

In your situation, if the Dad is a listed MB counselor with the unit, and you have a reasonable belief the work was done, I would accept the MB.

 

However, I would remind the Dad, as nicely as possible, as an MB counselor he has an obligation to counsel other scouts that contact him about the MB as well.

 

SA

 

 

[orennoah]

In my troop we strongly discourage a parent from being a merit badge counselor for his/her son, UNLESS there is at least another Scout involved in working on the merit badge. This includes voluntarily restricting myself and my wife from working directly with our son.

 

The upside, is that when my son is interested in a merit badge that I or my wife does, e.g. cycling and religious award, he recruits other Scouts and puts together an informal class. After I explained to him that I didn't want anyone to be able to question anything that he had earned, he had no objections to this policy.

 

- Oren

[SemperParatus]

EIKY'mon,

Slicing through all the par-ticulars of the situation, I would speak with the counselor over a cup to try and iron out the issues you see and maybe drive home the point that, while his son is on the ball, he should also look for a fair way to get all the boys hooked into counseling for the badge. While it may be rough on him, instead of puttering around the house or working harder to earn some green, par-chance he could take the group out as a foursome to work on their game and par-take in some fun. While sometimes parents may putt the cart before the horse when it comes to their own kids, he should remember that he is part of this wonderful youth club we call scouting. I am sure the last thing this man intends is to come across as a bogey-man (or worse, a real tiger) to you and the boys. If there is a way to swing a better outcome for the boys, I would go four it.

 

[pargolf44067]

I am a SM as well as a MB counselor for Golf and Personal Management. There are no other MB counselors for Golf in my troop but there are three other counselors for Personal Management. My son asked if he could do Personal Management with me as an eagle required MB for Star and I told him that he should ask one of the other counselors. I will do Golf with him as it is not Eagle required, however, I don't feel comfortable, especially since there are other counselors available, doing an Eagle required MB. I discussed this with the most recent SM (a temporary who has years of Scouting experience) and he agreed with my assessment.

[EagleInKY]

Semper-dude, Thanks for driving the point home. I hazard to guess that when it comes to wit, you putt others to shame. You are truly among the Masters. I am sure that some folks get teed off by your caddy remarks. But you can chip them in here any time.

 

I'll bag the issue for now, I'm sure he was just trying to be on the ball.

 

-----------------

 

You know, this has become almost a Daly habit with you. Wie should take you out to the Woods-shed. Oh well. I've had my Phil of this, Jack.

[SemperParatus]

EIKY,

You 'da Player, 'mon! 'Course, at the risk of Hogan all the good puns, perhaps I'll just go fly a Kite, while Singh'ing in the rain. Then you can say, 'he won't Boros any more'.

 

 

[Lynda J]

I am the counselor for about 8 badges. If Kevin is interested in working on one of these badges I expect him to contact me just as he would any other counselor. With blue card in hand. After that I will announce at a meeting that work will be beginning on a certain badge and anyone interested should see the SM about a blue card.

I did Pets just after school started. Of the 7 boys that were interested 3 actually completed the badge.

As far as counseling your own child. To be honest I probably expect more of Kevin that another counselor would. But we like doing badge work together.

[Herms]

Don't know about other parents/councilors, but the one time I was MB councilor for my own son (only one in the district for this particular MB) I was probably harder on my own son than I was with the others.