Bear badge in <2months oh my!

[moosetracker]

Why should Webelos take 2 yrs? if Bear is 2 months the Webelos should be 3 - 4 months tops.. Then they will wonder why they have to sit around and wait to join a troop.. anyone hear of a 9 or 10 year old Eagle?? (Yeah I know age wise they can't join a troop, just being sarcastic..)

[5yearscouter]

Yeah we are discussing how the Bears should just go ahead and finish their webelos this year, they'll be done before the Webelos 2's cross over to Boy Scouts in the springtime. then they can take 2 years off to do sports and rejoin boy scouts at the begining of 6th grade.

[Pack212Scouter]

LOL...I assume that your being sarcastic, since that's not allowed!

 

As for making an appointment before Pack leadership dropping in, that is highly suspect. If it was in her home, them she might have that right, however she is now on school property and Pack leadership is responsible to the school. I certainly would not follow such rules. For one thing, dropping in unannounced is a great way to see what is really going on. Sounds like she wants to run it her way and to devil with everyone else. With an attitude like that it would no surprise me to see some G2SS violations out of her. I know it is a long ways off, but Webelos should take significantly more effort than this. If she breezes them through Webelos like this, it would not surprise me to see a neer 100% drop the first year of Boy Scouts when they discover that Scouting does indeed occasionally require real work.

[5yearscouter]

I had a Committee chair meeting with some other pack Committee chairs in the area to see if anyone had any suggestions on how to deal with this in a calm and clear fashion without hurt feelins.

 

Most packs in the area give bobcat out once earned,

but any other rank is given at blue and gold--even if earned early. If not earned by Blue and Gold they are given at graduation in May. The boys are recognized in their den for finishing the badge however the den leader wishes, but the actual badge presentation is done in ceremony at Blue and Gold or at Graduation.

 

This would be similar to a quarterly court of honor kind of presentation for ranks.

 

what say you to this idea? My cubmaster and 2 asst cubmasters like the idea so they don't have to spend time at the Derby pack meeting in January giving awards, or the visit to the City office and tour with the Mayor, or the Christmas party.

 

hmmmmm......

 

[Lisabob]

Many packs around my area do that too. In fact, we used to when I was a cub leader.

 

I have come to see things in a different light, though. Today, I would encourage you to think twice - three times - about doing this.

 

While it is definitely convenient, it tends to lead to other logistical problems, such as:

1. Many den leaders rush to get done with their rank requirements by late January.

2. Over time, pack leaders tend to develop the (incorrect) belief that a rank badge *must* be earned by B&G.

3. Some boys and families end up being seriously pressured to "hurry up and finish your badge!" Which doesn't sit well for many folks and might turn off the boy to scouting.

4. What do you do when 6 of 7 boys have their badges at B&G, and the 7th doesn't? Tears over a badge at B&G are never good.

5. B&G is a celebration of scouting, not a "I got my badge!" night.

6. Lots of den leaders (and parents) assume that the cub year ends in March, right after the B&G where everybody gets their rank badges. After all, what's the point of staying?

7. What do you do with a boy who finished his rank in November (which is possible in legitimate circumstances)? Make him wait til FEBRUARY to get it? Not right. By then he'll have forgotten about half the stuff that made the badge meaningful to him when he earned it.

 

 

All of the above are unintended consequences and some are obviously flat-out wrong, but they're very, very common in packs that award all rank badges at B&G.

 

 

[moosetracker]

I seem to remember something similar ages ago when my son was a cubbie.. Don't know if the push to give the badge out right when it is earned was around at the time or not.. Actually troops are now to award the Badge ASAP too, and not hold onto it until the COH.

 

Maybe others in the Pack may have other ideas, this is more a "What we do at troop level between COH's" kind of answer that may work at a pack level.. At the troop we hand them their badge at the next troop meeting with a small announcement. Then at the COH, we bring them & their parent up and hand out the card and the parent pin and announce it in a more formal setting.

 

Let the den leader hand the badge to the boy in the den meeting. Then the pack can bring them up for a formal announcement at the next "normal" Pack meeting. So if you are doing a Pack meeting that you are not doing belt loops & activity pins (Pinewood Derby, xmas party), skip over these also (all those belt loops / activity pins aren't being passed out either).. But if your Pack is handing out the belt loops & activity pins during the pack meeting, honor those that earned their rank since the last time you did a meeting with awards..

 

Yes makes it not as special for the boy, because he has been wearing the badge for the last month or so.. But, this is how troops now do it in order to award the badge ASAP..

[83Eagle]

The new program delivery encourages badges at B&G. I think this makes sense because that is such a special meeting as it is.

 

As far as scouts dropping, if you keep an interesting program, this is not an issue. We have outings each month including winter camp in March and tent camp in late May. March is our pinewood, April is the raingutter regatta, and May is our year end pizza party. From March-May is the time to work on electives as well.

 

Yeah, some kids might not get done, and that's the way it goes. We stress that everyone has a chance to keep working on their badge. I'm not going to hold the bulk of kids back.

 

Which leads to the last point. If we have a boy who has completed early I discuss the option with him of presentment at the next pack meeting. This happens rarely but did happen this year with a boy who had genuinely worked on requirements over the summer and just finished, doing a better job than the other boys for that matter. But his personal reason for doing so was that he liked the program, and he never considered receiving his badge without the other boys, even though I offered to re-recognize him as part of B&G. So instead he got immediate recognition in the den via his fourth bead.

 

No matter when you set a target for completing badges, there will be straggler kids and den leaders who are doing things at the last minute. February is PLENTY of time for Tiger thru Bear (not familiar enough yet with Webelos) if you are having 2 den meetings a month, and particularly if you toss in a pack camp in fall where you can target a lot of the outdoor requirements.

 

 

[Scoutfish]

We give them the badges at the pack meeting following the earning of the badge.

 

They earned it, they did the work, and they deserve to be recognized for it.

 

But we do try to take oppertunities to make a big(ger) deal of things.

 

If the B&G is only a week or two past all the cubs earning their rank, we will ask them which time they want to do.

 

But for those who are go-getters and earned it already, we present it at the soonest possible pack meeting following the earning of the rank.

 

At B&G, we will still recognize that scout, plus mention any other electives, arrowpoints, outdoors, LNT ,service projects, etc... that he has earned, almost earned or is working on.

[afscout]

I can't remember if it starts in Webelos, but I know it definately starts in Boy Scouting where the boys can't just make an attempt to pass a requirement and have to acually do the requirement. That den leader is doing a huge disservice to her scouts if she is pencil-whipping the requirements. I hate to see what happens when those boys get the level where they have to actually know how to do something.

[momof2cubs]

5yearscout: I am sympathetic to all your issues. However, here we are at December. I would not choose that hill to die on and deny the boys their Bear badges. If other parents' eyebrows raise, you can raise them right along and says something like"such a same, those boys think Scouting is a race". And leave it at that.

 

However, one quote of yours struck me:

"At what point is it ok to just say "hey, you don't seem to fit in with our pack program, so let's agree to disagree, here's the contact info for another pack in the area, maybe they will meet your needs more appropriately. "

 

Answer: you have reached that point and BEYOND. It's time to have that conversation. Just make sure you have the backing of the rest of the pack leaders and an action plan for that den moving forward. In the end, everyone will be grateful. It will be somewhat painful for a bit, but this isn't about anyone's ego: IT'S ABOUT THE BOYS.

 

Good luck!