CS rank advancement

[afscout]

Here's the situation. As a tiger cub, even though my son completed all of the requirements, the den leader wanted to give the Tiger rank to all of the boys in the den at the same time. This wasn't a big deal since it was only a month before our last pack meeting for the year (he received all his elective beads during the last pack meeting and wore them for about 30 minutes before they moved the den to become wolves). During the summer to keep him busy, we've been working on Wolf requirements and are about 2/3 done. Talking to other parents, some haven't started working on wolf since they thought it would be all completed during den meetings or they couldn't start until the new school year. I know there are a ton of electives that he can work on while the other boys complete their wolf requirements, but it's a long way to wait for all of the boys to finish their requirements. My question is how to your packs handle this? Do you award the rank when the entire den completes the requirements or do you award the rank when the individual boy completes the requirements?

[Scoutfish]

Our pack recognizes a scout and awards him his rank patch at the next pack meeting.

 

While we don't want the boys who haven't earned it to feel bad, We owe it to those who did EARN it - to show them recognition ands a big congratulations for your hard work.

 

There are many reasons that all the scouts do not earn it at once: Missed meetings, missed activities, sickness, sports, parents who just slack off or parents who might have prior obligations.

 

So, while it might be nice to hand them all out at once...it sure isn't fair to the Cub Scouts who "Do their best" and work hard on the rank patch!

[ScoutNut]

This year starts the "New Cub Scout Delivery Method". This new method is for all rank requirements to be done during den meetings. The former delivery method was for most of the rank advancement work to be done at home, as you did.

 

The former method allowed for advancement at the individual Scouts own pace, and included the concept that a Scout be recognized for his achievements as soon as possible after completing them. This would include NOT holding onto awards for months at a time.

 

The current method is not as individualized. The Scouts all work together in the den toward their rank award, with the end point being that all requirements, for all Scouts, are completed by February.

 

That said, awards are still NOT TO BE HELD BACK. Holding on to awards for months at a time rather defeats the purpose of getting the bling to the boys as soon as possible.

 

I would stop working on the rank requirements immediately. Talk to the den leader to see how she/he intends to run the den this year. If the DL is following the BSA Wolf den meeting plans, and doing all requirements in the den meetings, then your son will be repeating the requirements he has already done. Repetition is not a bad thing. It helps solidify the lesson/skill. Perhaps he can offer to act as Denner for those meetings that feature a requirement he has already completed, and help the other Scouts in the den.

 

 

[Eagle92]

Ditto what others have said about giving the rank ASAP. TRUST ME if you don't give the rank when he earns it and KNOWS he's going to get it, only to not receive it. I've seen the meltdown.

 

Yep the new program is very advancement oriented at the den level. But you still have cubs going to CSDC, resident camp, etc, who will be doing things and not even knowing until they look in the book and want it signed off. So I still won't hold back.

 

On a side note, it will be interesting to see what happens with the new program and supply of ranks come February. I would start to stockpile now as I bet supply will have problems, if the past year or two is a sign of things to come.

[JoeBob]

A Wolf in our pack worked hard with his soon-to-be-deployed dad to complete his Bear requirements in November. Do you think we could hold that award back?

I liked the fire and peer pressure it brought to bear on the rest of the den.

Pun accidental.

[trainerlady]

Eagle92 - It's not supply with the problem, it's the stores that wait too long to order their supplies. There are thousands of rank emblems in stock (2010 and regular) at the warehouse right now. A good store manager will be ordering his/her supply of ranks for CS within the next month. After the initial fall round up is completed the manager should be talking to their council and finding out how many kids there are at each level and order accordingly. I have personally ordered this fall's bobcat supply for my store (got them in June). Nothing worse than diappointing a new kid to the program.

 

The problem with the 2010 badges was the idiots at the warehouse brought them out 2 weeks before B&G season kicked off. But as other threads on other topics of this forum discuss national's inability to follow through in a timely manner on their announcements, it wasn't surprising to have supplies be limited. But to their defense (not sure they should get one) every store should have had enough of the original badges in stock by that time to do the job anyway. I'm not terribly concerned about the problem this year, I had my badges ordered and received by November 2009. So when we revert to the original badges after the New Year I should be set.

 

As for when to give a badge out, the policy is as soon as possible. My pack tried to refuse my son his Bear in September of that year. I politely told them that if they weren't going to follow the national policies I would find a pack that did and most of my den would be coming with me. Amazingly we got the badge at the September pack meeting.

 

As for repeating what has already been done at home with the den, odds are you aren't going to do exactly the same activity twice so it shouldn't be a big deal.

[Jeffrey H]

As a former Wolf and Bear Den Leader and soon to be Tiger Den Leader, I would discourage completing all of your achievements at home during the summer. We had one boy that did that over the summer and he was completely bored when our den meetings started up in September. He was so bored that he dropped out. We awarded his Bear rank in the Fall because he was finished, but in the end he quit Cub Scouts.

 

It's much more enjoyable for the boys to work on their achievements together and have fun doing it during Den meetings. Sure, some will get a little ahead of the others, but we encourage those that are little behind to get caught up so we can award their rank by February or March.

 

[MarinesWife]

We encourage boys to do belt loops or work on electives over the summer. If there is an achievement they just HAVE To do, so be it, but we just remind them that they'll be working on achievements in their den meetings.

 

having said that, in our pack, your son would receive his rank award at the very next pack meeting. We think its important that boys get immediate recognition.

[Pack212Scouter]

Our Pack saves the actual rank awarding for the graduation baquet. HOWEVER, as soon as they complete the requirements, they have received all of their beads and can begin working on electives for arrow points. We don't stop the immediate recognition.