Active for AOL

[ManyHats]

"Be active in your Webelos den for at least six months since completing the fourth grade (or for at least six months since becoming 10 years old), and earn the Webelos badge."

How do you define active? We have a 2nd year Webelos scout that has attended 1/2 the den meetings to this point, but is currently missing a lot of events and meetings due to wrestling.

[Oak Tree]

In Boy Scouts, the official definition is that registered=active. Webelos have a slightly better definition.

 

Personally I would define active for a given month as having attended at least one function in that month.

[The Blancmange]

"Active" for Webelos purposes is defined right in the book:

 

(Active means having good attendance, paying den dues, working on den projects).

Interestingly, and perhaps counterintuitively, this definition is more onerous than the Boy Scout definition of active.

Of course that doesn't specifically answer your question. Personally, based on your description that he is making effort to attend when it does not conflict with wrestling, I would conclude that he is "doing his best" and does meet the requirement. I think scouting should be flexible and accomodating to boys who want to try other things as well.

[FScouter]

"In Boy Scouts, the official definition is that registered=active"

 

That is not entirely correct. Entire threads have been devoted to this topic, but whenever that idea comes up, also comes the obligation to repeat the rest of the story.

BSA says:

Question: How is "Be active in your troop and patrol" defined?

Answer: A Scout is considered to be active in his unit if:

 

1. He is registered in his unit (registration fees are current).

2. He has not been dismissed from his unit for disciplinary reasons.

3. He is engaged by his unit leadership on a regular basis (Scoutmaster conference, informs the Scout of upcoming unit activities, through personal contact, and so on).

The unit leaders are responsible for maintaining contact with the Scout on a regular basis.

[Eagle92]

F'

 

While you are 100% correct in that the SM needs to keep the scout informed per national's directive, the problem that many volunteers have is that all of the responsibility is on the volunteer leaders, not the scout himself. I was always taught, "it's your ___________, your responsibility." So if the scout wants to be involved in scouting, it should be his responsibility to maintain contact.

 

Whenever we had scouts who would not be attending troop events for extended periods, they always called their PL to keep updated.