When is it too much?

[Basementdweller]

All these post about Awards and Patches for insignificant things. No wonder these boys never cross over or quit Boy Scouts.

 

One Pack I visited gives out awards at every single meeting......

An award for camping out?

An award for sleeping in a tent?

An award for sleeping in the cold?

An Award for hiking in a city park?

An award for making lunch?

Popcorn awards?

Skit awards?

Song awards?

Sleeping in the cold?

Most cubs in uniform?

 

I never had seen brag vest so full of absolutely meaningless patches. Most of the boys have no idea even how they earned them.

 

where is the significance?

why do the boys need to be rewarded for everything?

 

Instead of buying a $2 patch to keep them interested, how about a quality program with more than Den meetings and an occasional outing. Take them camping, hiking, district events, camporees, museums...........

 

Sorry for the rant, IMHO this is one of the reasons we lose them during cross over.

[Eagle92]

Well i admit I'm guilty. We just had a council family campout this weekend and I hope the patches are in for the pack meeting in 2 weeks. Also Someof the new TCs I have don't have their books yet, but I knew what activities they did this weekend fullfilled advancement and belt loop requiremetns, so I filled out the advancement reports for them. So someof the kids may not know what they have done to ge them and will be surprised at the pack meeting.

 

But soem of the stuff you are sayig I admit is over the top. A quaility program naturally provides advancement and recognitions

[mistysmere]

I understand where you are coming from, but let me give you another perspective.

 

Our Pack, this morning, has 23 boys (we could be registering 4 new ones tonight). At least 10 of those boys is ADD/ADHD and on meds. Because we are a small pack, the parents know each other fairly well. One thing we talked about last spring was the fact that most of the medicated boys, have a personality type where they need little extras to keep them interested and focused. We also noticed over the summer that it's the same boys attending things over and over, not because of vacations and parents, but because the boys were just not seeing the point of going to a park for swimming and fishing and a picnic.

 

So, yes, we try to make sure the boys who attend things get rewarded. We are starting to fill in those brag vests. But our boys know tend to know what the patches are for, because we make a big deal out of the effort these boys are putting at Pack meetings. And we encourage our boys to wear their brag vests as often as possible. We also try to do a lot of "Remember When" stuff. Boy, I see you went to the Medieval Time Day Camp, do you remember when the Zoo came out? What kind of animals did they bring? All those patches can have some relevance.

 

I will say that if we can get away with all the boys earning a belt loop instead, we prefer to do that. We try to encourage them in advancement more than anything else. So no, they didn't get a bowling patch for attending the annual bowling party, but they did get the belt loop. The great part about what we are doing is that the boys are excited to attend the extra outings and to bring possible scouts along with them. Not for the patches but for the experiences. I did mention the 4 possible new scouts for tonight. All boys that have seen and heard about what the boys have been doing and have been excited to be a part of it all.

 

Though I did see the brag vest of a Tiger once who had it almost full by January. That is a bit much. DS is a Wolf who attended about 80% of the outings last year and everything since becoming a Wolf and his vest has a nice little row around the bottom. Nothing more.

 

mistysmere

[evmori]

When is it too much? When everyone has to get something just because they were there!

[OneHour]

10)... when you become an example of how not to run a pack.

9) ... when it becomes a chore instead of an excitement!

8) ... when you lose boys and families because of it.

7) ... when one has to give something to entice them to come to pack meeting.

6) ... when the award becomes meaningless to earn.

5) ... when the boys no longer look forward to earn them.

4) ... when the awards stop serving their purposes, ie., get the boys excited about going camping, get the boys to outdo each other in finding/performing that one funny skit, get the boys to find/perform that one funny song, get the boys to feel proud that they slept through and survived 40 degree weather, get the boys to sell the most popcorn, get the cubs in a den that correctly worn their uniform, etc...

3) ... when it costs more to be in scouting than baseball.

2) ... when it is no longer affordable for cubs who are less fortunate.

 

and the number 1 reason to say when it is too much ...

 

... when it becomes a joke!

 

[Basementdweller]

Eagle... I don't have a problem with camporee, cuboree, district or council event patches. These are a part of scouting.

 

I have a problem with Sleeping in a tent patch, sleeping in the cold patch, bike rodeo patch. these are different and IMHO weaken the program and create unreasonable expectations from the young men.

[lrsap]

I agree that when I go to the Council shop and see the huge section of unnecessary patches (do I really need the Cub Scout Promise on a patch?? And a Car Wash Patch????), it seems a bit silly.

 

But I have to admit a fondness for one of them, but I hope you understand. In Central Florida, for a Cub Scout to get the "Camping in Freezing Weather" patch really is quite an accomplishment. A Cub Scout has to:

 

1.Stay the night in weather he's REEEEEEEALLLLLY not used to

2.Maintain a positive attitude that makes him want to stay at all

 

and most importantly

 

3. Keep Mom away from the weather forecast for a week!!

[SctDad]

"3. Keep Mom away from the weather forecast for a week!!"

 

How is it you do this.

[John-in-KC]

At 8-10, bling matters a lot. They're 8 year olds. Cut them some slack

 

(BTW, I'm still not fond of the Tiger program, 12 years after I kept my son out of it until Wolf year, and I'm less fond of the proposed 6 year old Lion Program. I have my Lion Book still. Lion is the 10 year old program of Cub Scouting leading into the Webelos half year.... sigh.)

 

What I like to see is how the bling changes over time, and how some of the bling becomes internalized in a young man standing tall and proud when he's 15-16 and receiving his Eagle...

[Pack212Scouter]

I know what your saying. There is a ballance to everything. I believe in bling that means something or for a major event. We actually went through the streamers on our Pack flag and got rid of anything that wasn't quality unit or such. I mean good grief. Council gives out streamers for filling out paperwork anymore!

[Basementdweller]

john......I have to agree with you on the tiger and lion program......

 

the boys are burned out by the time they are weeblos.

 

At least in our council, the yearly cub events do not change. Fall Shoot, Halloween, Christmas, Maple syrup, Day camp. Repeat. My son is entering his Bear year and is electing to not attend them this year....instead we are going camping instead, Dads and lads if you will, family camp.

 

With the limitations that are place on Cubs how do you keep them interested for 5 years. The wolf and Bear are almost identical, I have had a couple of parents complain about that.

 

 

 

[kari_cardi]

Patches don't bother me. Sure, as scouts get older, getting a patch for camping isn't a big deal anymore. That is as it should be, part of the process. But I don't think of participation patches as rewards, I consider them to be mementos of an event shared with other scouts having a good time. That's what I tell my sons and my den. Their brag vest is a history of sorts. It's cool.

 

I am not, however, a fan of the Tiger Cub Immediate recognition or the Progress Toward Ranks for Wolfs. I think the plastic emblems look cheap on uniforms and the beads never stay on the strings. Plus there is little to remind the boys of what the different beads mean. In my experience with our pack, most boys lose the emblems long before they earn their rank advancement. I think their intent is good, but the execution is lacking.

 

[eghiglie]

The pack my son was in a few years ago did just what basement talks about.

 

Every week we took the bling he earned and put it in a plastic storage box, he never had a patch vest. They even gave the stuff away if you missed the event!!

 

The most memorable bling my son has was when we went to a Pack campout a number of years ago. There were about 40 families in tents on Saturday night. My son and I fell asleep at 9PM. About 11PM it started raining very heavy. He woke me up to tell me.

 

No water was coming into our tent so I told him to go back to bed. He was not scared.

 

The next morning when we woke at 5AM there were only 4 families left. Sure it was damp, but we had breakfast and went home.

 

At the next leaders meeting, a few days later, many of the other families complained about the rain and that the cubmaster should be replaced for not knowing about the rain. She had also left during the rain.

 

What I could not figure out is why leave a dry tent to get wet to pack up and go home.

 

I got up and stated that the families that left should of looked upon the rain as a way to demonstrate to their kids how to take things in stride and improve camping skills. I was denounced also as a Outdoor nut.

 

At the next pack meeting the 5 families were each given a small 'Endurance' plaque and I talked about how to look at the terrain to know where to pitch a tent.

 

About 15 of the families who left the campout wanted to learn, but sadly quite a few quit.

 

The plaque is in his room and he still recalls the rain that night. The rest he has no clue what it means.

 

 

[WestCoastScouter]

While I dont give out patches for every event... I think that special events can be recognized with a simple fun patch. I make sure the boys understand that these are merely partisipation patches that go on their vests. I keep encouraging them, and their parents, to keep working on their Wolf Badge by usuing a Cub Scout chart to track their progress. The Boys do keep an eye on the chart to see how everyone is doing, and who is next closest to earn their badge.

 

The point is to allow the boys to have fun, let them work together, and for them to grow. If a 2 inch patch helps, then so be it.

[kbandit]

What is sad is when new crossovers think they should get a patch for weekend camping and such and are told this is Boy Scouts and we don't give patches for everything you attend or do.