merit badge question

[cad-guy]

My son has just passed rank to 1st class. While he was working on his first class requirements, he was awarded 2 merit badges (non eagle). Now that he is working towards Star, requirements state that he is to earn 6 merit badges (2 non, and 4 Eagle req'd). Will the 2 badges he earned while working towards 1st Class be able to apply to his Star? We're just curious since there were no badges required for 1st Class. Thanks for any insight you can give.

[click23]

They will.

[evmori]

Yes they will as long as they are not Eagle required.

[mk9750]

Ed,

 

Do I understand you correctly?

 

If I do, there is something amiss. As I read your answer, if a Scout were to earn First Aid when he is 2nd class, he would need to earn it again after he became a 1st Class Scout.

 

I've never understood the advancement process to work that way. Do I have the process wrong, or do I misunderstand your answer?

 

Mark

[scottteng]

A scout can earn any merit badge at any time regardless of his rank and they all count and all count into the MB's for Star, Life, and Eagle. There are other requirements for those ranks which require certain time frames. When you emphasize FCFY as most of us do these days your new First Class scout is in planning stages for his second summer camp. A young man that applies himself in two summer camps will earn at least enough MB's for Star. A merit badge can only be earned once but that does not mean that one should not avail oneself of refresher classes for such as First Aid. They keep changing things most particularly in CPR. We always suggest to our new scouts that First Aid and Swimming are the first MB's they should work on. First aid is a prereq for several others and they won't enjoy appx 1/3 of our troops trips if they are a non swimmer. Sitting in camp while everyone else floats a river or goes snorkeling is no fun.

[Stosh]

I guess I'm doing it all wrong. But then again so's the council camp where I'm heading to this summer. They have the new scout program that works on T-FC while at the same time the boys earn Swimming and First Aid. Go figure. I then corral a MB council of the boys' choice and do a "fun" MB as well.

 

Stosh

[FireKat]

I still have a problem with just about forcing first year boy scouts to take first aid. Most 10-11 yos do not have the maturity to do first aid. They giggle thru the class.

Also, here we go again with the adults telling the kids what to do.  Scouting is exploring the world at the kids pace and what interests them. They are to be a reward for being  interested in a subject not for sitting in a lecture for X hours with only thoughts of when is that person going to hand them the little blue card. That is doing things only for advancement, not for learning.

I wish they would stop focusing on advancement and refocus on learning as was intended by B-P.

 

[Bob White]

Yes, the two merit badges count to his 6 total, whether they are Eagle required or not, and regardless of what rank he was prior to Star when he earned them.

 

The requirement is that before he can earn the Star rank he must have completed 6 merit badges, it requires that 4 must be from the list required for Eagle, it does not say that all six cannot be.

 

What matters is that at each rank level of Star, Life, and Eagle, the scout has completed at least the presribed number of total merit badges and AT LEAST the prescribed number of required merit badges.

 

As far as first aid merit badge and First Class rank. The first requirement for First Aid MB is "Satisfy your counselor that you have current knowledge of all first aid requirements for Tenderfoot, Second Class, and First Class ranks."

 

If he has that required knowledge, and the Scoutmaster knew the Scout was applying for that merit badge, and knew that the scout met this first requirement, then why has someone not signed off on the requirements for those 3 ranks?

 

There is no reason for a scout to have that merit badge and not have the first aid requirements for the first three ranks tested and approved.

 

BW(This message has been edited by Bob White)

[evmori]

My bad mk9750. You are correct! I was busy with other things when I posted that! Sorry!

[John-in-KC]

cad-guy,

 

Let me point you to an online resource:

http://www.scouting.org/boyscouts/resources/32215/index.html

 

You can buy the print edition as well, but BSA Requirements is fully online.

 

Your son has started his upper trail by taking those first two Merit Badges. If I may respectfully suggest, point him towards taking at least one of the "3-monthers" while he's earning Star.

 

Have fun watching him move up the trail

[cad-guy]

thanks John...

with going thru all of the MB's, which are the 3 monters? And thanks for the resources online also. Great help.

[mk9750]

cad-guy,

 

I know that Family Life and Personal Managment both have requirments that take 3 months to complete (techically, Personal Management's requirement is 13 weeks).

 

Family life is a tremendous MB for a 12 - 13 - 14 year old Scout to work on, in my opinion. It is right about this time that young men begin to have a sense that their world extends beyond themselves, and helping a Scout begin to grasp this by beginning with a deeper understanding of his family is a great thing.

 

I know I will get flak for this (I have in the past), but I am a real believer that there is far more value to be gained by doing Personal Management as a 16 or 17 year old than as a 13 year old (in the vast majority of cases). Especially if the boy has a part time job. The requirment that takes 13 weeks is for the Scout to write a budget and track his results for 13 weeks. This is far more effective when planning how to meet a goal that includes the income from a part time job versus the weekly allowance that most younger guys would be limited to. Once in a while, I've come across a Scout who has been mowing lawns or working at a family business at a younger age, but more often than not, young Scouts miss the point of setting a goal, making a plan to meet the goal, monitoring the results, and adjusting on the fly in order to meet the goal that was set, which is the value of making the budget in the first place.

 

If you are guiding your son, please consider encouraging him to do Family Life in the near future, and discourage him from working on Personal Managment until he has a part time job. I sincerely believe he will benefit from that advice.

 

Ed,

 

Kind of thought that it was just a brain cramp.

 

Mark

[John-in-KC]

Personal Fitness is the third!(This message has been edited by John-in-KC)

[fgoodwin]

My son hasn't started it yet, but I believe Personal Fitness is the other MB that takes three months (min) to complete.

 

So a boy turning 17 definitely does not want to put those off, as all three are Eagle required (Family Life, Personal Management, Personal Fitness).