Tenderfoot Fitness requirement

[Gold Winger]

"The suggestion that excercising once a month is a responsible way to meet the requirements is silly in concept, and inane if endorsed by the adult leadership."

 

Bob, aren't you one who always says that we must go by the requirements as written and neither add nor subract from them?

 

By your own definition, exercising reqularly has nothing to do with frequency but only with the fact that it is done on a regular basis. Hence, if we decide that once a month is not "regular," we are addng to the requirements. At least by your definition. Or have you changed your mind?

[SequoiaWDL]

10b. Show improvement in the activities listed in requirement 10a after practicing for 30 days.

 

The key words here are "show improvement." The "practicing" helps you "show improvement." The word "regularly" appears nowhere in the achievement text, only as guidance (and sound advice) in the BS Handbook.

 

So my fellow scouters, how many threads have been spectacularly hijacked today?

[Stosh]

Of course one can also interpret the requirement as practicing for 30 days doesn't mean those 30 days of practice are consecutive. If he misses a day, he just doesn't count it but completes the requirement when he has his 30th day of practice done. It's kinda like 20 days of camping for the MB. If a boy only wants to exercise once a week he can knock out this requirement in a mere 30 weeks, twice a week, 15 weeks, or once a day, 30 days. I'll almost bet my interpretation for the requirement is more appropriate than doing a sluff job on the intial test, sitting around for 30 days and then doing one more sit-up, one more pull-up, one more push-up, and then running the course instead of just jogging.

 

Why is it that every time there's a discussion on interpretation of requirements, I get the feeling that someone's somehow trying to twist thing around so that some boy can just squeak by with the most minimal amount of effort and still get credit for something.

 

Stosh

[Bob White]

I would be more concerned about the leaders who seem only concerned about the requirements and not about helping the scout to learn and grow. The BSA program is not found on the requirement pages of the handbook, it is found in all the OTHER pages.

 

Goldwinger I cannot tell if you are purposely misrepresenting what the I write or simply do not grasp the purpose and uses of the Scouting Methods. In either case you would be hard pressed to find anything in the BSA program, training, of resources to support your approach to advancement.

 

What I have said about the requirements(and you will find this in more than one BSA resource) is that you cannot add to it or subtract from them.

 

I have also posted, and you can find this in Basic Scout Leader Training as well as other resources, that the first step in advancement is the scout "learns". So before you worry about testing him, at least fulfill your responsibility to teach him.

 

The advancement program simply measures and rewards what the scout learns. But in the case of this specific requirement, if all you do is test the scout without ever teaching him the value and benefit of regular excercise then you might as well stay home, because the scout can count sit-ups without you.

 

The point of adult leadership is to coach and mentor the Scout to learn and develop. The Scout may very well practice once, wait 30 days, and then take the test and show improvement. In which case the scout has succeeded in completing the requirement, while you have failed miserably in your responsibility as a leader because you have skipped over the learning process completely.

 

You are not there to walk the scout through requirements, you are supposed too be there to see that learning takes place.

[Gold Winger]

ROFLMAO!!!

[evmori]

True we are not there to walk the Scouts through the requirements. We are there to help these boys to make ethical & moral decisions. We are there to give them guidance when needed. We are there to ensure they have met the requirements for rank. And if I remember correctly, a member of these forums once stated that all the Scout had to do was meet the letter of the requirements. So for this specific requirement, all the Scout would have to do was show improvement! That could be doing one more, doing it faster, doing it with less effort, doing it with better form. Oh yeah, the Scout was to have practiced these for 30 days but there is nothing that states this must be verified.

 

Ed Mori

1 Peter 4:10

[Stosh]

I had a boy in my troop that was "big" for his age. No matter how much he tried he could not do a pull-up to save his soul nor after 30 days show any improvement on it. After trips to Philmont, Sea Base and many other high adventure activities, he has now gotten a full ride football scholarship at one of the Big 10 schools. At his Eagle Court of Honor I asked him if he had ever gotten his pull-up done. He smiled and said "Nope."

 

It's all relative, and it's not the requirement, but what is learned that is most important.

 

Stosh

[Gold Winger]

"It's all relative, and it's not the requirement, but what is learned that is most important."

 

That explains your attitude toward buckles.

[Stosh]

Yep, when I buy a belt, I pick the ones with buckles. My pants stay up better with a buckle and my friends are less likely to poke fun of me. When I was a kid there was a dress code at school and we all had to wear belts. Most of my friends had the ones with buckles too. I don't know if it was a scouting thing or something picked up on our own, but it worked for me. :^)

 

Stosh

[Gold Winger]

"Yep, when I buy a belt, I pick the ones with buckles."

 

I guess that means you don't a leather Scout belt either from the Scout shop, Philmont or other camp.

[kittle]

I am going to completely hijack this thead. MY SON DID HIS PULL-UPS TONIGHT!!!!!!!!!! It only took from 8-10-2005 until tonight. He is going to have his SM Conference Monday and BOR right afterwards. He will either be going for Tenderfoot and 2nd class or maybe 1st class as well. There are several here that know of our problems with this requirement. One of the committee members was there this evening and said that he did 2 pull-ups. YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

If you can not tell, I am EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!

[evmori]

Three years to complete a 30 day requirement? Something is wrong with this!

[Gunny2862]

I once tried a buckle w/o a belt.

I found it to be so distracting I was unable to be successful in any other concurrent endeavor.

The Scouting way with a belt and a buckle is much superior.

 

I find it nearly impossible to reconcile the idea of it taking someone more than 60 days to be able to increase their pullups by one without some underlying medical condition. Unless they weren't really dedicated to doing it.

 

That said, Congratulations Kittle!, and tell the boy he did good to finally PULL it out! Good Job!

[Lisabob]

Congrats to your son Kittle! I'm so glad he hung around long enough to get to this point. I think after three years, as a kid I might have given up. Good for him that he didn't.

[John-in-KC]

Congratulations to your son Kittle!!!!!