adamsdwa Posted August 31, 2009 Share Posted August 31, 2009 So a scout attends sports and is choosing sports over Scouting? I'm sorry I don't get this one.... Scouting is about giving our youth the ability to experience different things while at the same time forming leadership skills and good morals. Obtaining a sense of community and involvement in our community extends beyond the reach of our Pack. In fact if, we stayed just within the bounds of our pack we would not accomplish any of the scouting ideas - would we? Scouts who as you say "choose" to play sports are making friends, enjoying social interaction, developing coordination and athletic abilities while staying fit - isn't this the subject of the recent article in Scouting? Bottom line - I believe you are drawing a line and actual excluding our youth. What message is this sending to our youth? If your program is like most, recruiting is the easy part - retention is achieved only through a quality program that has buy in from parents and boys. I find it hard to believe that buy in can be obtained from not allowing a boy get to get his AOL becaus ehe did not 50/60% of the meetings. Active? If the young man has met all the requirements and did his best - then I am forced to believe at some point he has been active. Our motto is do your best - pretty simple concept. It does not say do your best 50% or 60% of the time. besides - could it not be argued that the boy is active - after all - he can earn a flag football, baseball, swimming, or soccer belt loop while participating in these activities. So - yeah I think he's active. There's too many splitting hairs and rules police sometime - do what's right for the boy and you can never go wrong. Since you are all on here - you either have or had son's in scouting. How would your son feel if he didn't get the AOL and what message does that send to others about our programs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pack212Scouter Posted August 31, 2009 Share Posted August 31, 2009 I am not talking about excluding anyone from Scouting. I am talking about following the requirements for Cub Scoutings highest award. The requirement also says "good attendance". Now then, since you bring the other up. I am a firm believer in teaching them to set priorities in life. You've heard the comment "Jack of all trades, master of none"? Are we really doing our youth a favor by teaching them that they can have and do it all in a mediocre manner, and nor a committed manner? Our motto is Do Your Best, nor "Do what you have to to get by!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamsdwa Posted September 1, 2009 Share Posted September 1, 2009 Do enough to get by is different than playing ball and doing scouts. By enforcing your attendance rules you are forcing teh scout and his parents to choose one over the other - when in fact they can do both and if you limit thier abilities to earn awards because they were not there - I can almost gaurantee they will make a choice - and not scouts. 6 months active - so if from June to Aug they attend 3 of your planned 6 mtgs and none of the meetings in Sept to Nov - they attended 6 meetings where likely the activity was just fun - vs 12 that were fun and educational. Or none from Sept to Nov and all from Dec to Feb and crossover - where's the big deal. Scouting may be your priority as it is mine - but we still manage to fit in athletics, karate, and church. We make this choice as a family. Who made it our place as leaders to make them choose. ust let them expereince all life has to offer at this age - that is all they want to experience. There is plenty of time later for them to worry about thier own priorities. At this point its sometimes all we can do to expect them to sit still for 30 mins. It's Cub Scouts highest award - we do not get to pick and choose who gets it based on attendance. Pretty simple in the BSA guidelines. They earn it they get it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pack212Scouter Posted September 1, 2009 Share Posted September 1, 2009 We, I am afraid that we'll just have to agree to disagree here. For the last part I was refering to guiding them as a parent, not as a leader. It was simply my opinion. As for Arrow of Light, you are right; we don't get to decide. BSA has determined that it requires "good attendance". Unfortunately they chose not to define this. It is therefore up to the conciouse of the Pack to decide. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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