Not earning Rank?

[AnnLaurelB]

I have one kid in my Wolf den who just ain't gonna make it. His mom brings him to about half of the meetings, but we do A LOT of the Requirements during Den time. I always point out to Mom what he'll have to make up, and even allot time for him to do it "next time", but then more often than not, they don't come "next time".

 

I stressed to her the last time I saw her that we HAD to get him cranked through the Requirements somehow, but what else can I do? I suppose actually EARNING rank is *optional*, right? A kid can just show up, play, eat s'mores, go bowling, and call it a Scouting year, if that's what he wants. You can't MAKE someone do this stuff.

 

But here's my question: how do I handle the Pack meeting where the other Wolves will bridge, but his name will NOT be called to receive a Wolf badge? Should he stand with the rest of the Den and cross over with them to Bear, but simply not GET a badge, and not have his name called?

 

There simply aren't enough Den meetings left to *possibly* get him through his book. What do I do with this kid? More importantly, what do I do with Mama when she pitches a fit that her kid didn't get the same prize as the others?

 

 

OH! And I had a little boy JUST join Wolf den a couple weeks ago. He also has no way of actually earning his Wolf badge--he'll just have to start with Bear. Which is fine--but what do I do with these boys during the bridging Pack ceremony?

[CHLees3rd]

My take is that you need to emphasize different aspects of the program at different times of the pack meeting. First, present the Wolf Badge to the Cub Scouts who earned it just like you will present the Tiger Badge to those Tiger Cub Scouts who earned it and so on for Bears and Webelos. "You do the work and you get the pay!" This allows you to keep the integrity of the Badges which is good training for those who may not make Eagle by 18 when in Boy Scouts.

 

Second, have each den move up to the next level together (i.e. have the whole Wolf den move up to the Bear den together.) This allows the dens, which completed the year together, to move up together helping forge/reinforce unit cohesion and den bonds. Go ahead and call all the names of the Cub Scouts moving up. The "moving up" part is also an achievement.

 

If your pack meeting is not set up this way, then I suggest changing the format to allow individual recognitions and separate den achievements.

 

Good luck,

Chazz Lees

[ScoutNut]

Earning the rank award for a Cub level, and graduating to the next Cub level are two entirely separate events.

 

Their rank award should be presented to the Scouts as soon as they have completed the requirements for it, and not held in reserve until a special time, or date. Often the rank award is completed sometime in February, or March, but, depending on the den program, and the boys, can be earlier or later.

 

Graduation to the next Cub level only happens at the end of the school year. This is June 1st in BSA's computer system. Pack's will usually do their graduation ceremony at their last Pack meeting before summer (May-early June). Cub Scout levels are age/grade based only. Cubs move up to their next Cub level automatically, even if they did not complete a single patch all year.

 

So, if you absolutely must present rank awards (and all electives) at the end of the school year, do NOT combine it with graduation.

 

First, present all of the Cubs with any and all awards they have completed, but not yet received. If you have any rank awards (Bobcat/Tiger/Wolf/Bear/Webelos/AOL) you can do something a bit more special for those. After all awards have been presented, you then do your graduation ceremony, and move the Cubs up to their next level.

 

If you have any Webelos crossing over to Boy Scouts at this time also, do a separate crossover/bridging ceremony for them after all of the Cub Scouts are done.

 

BTW - if your new Wolf works hard at home he just might finish up his rank award requirements. At the very least, he will have earned Bobcat, and some Instant Recognition Beads!

[evmori]

Correct me if I'm wrong but aren't most of these requirements done by the Cub with the parents?(This message has been edited by evmori)

[Eagle92]

EV,

BSA has found that most parents do NOT do stuff with their kids, so they have created a program format where 90+% of the advancement is doen at the meetings, with little done at home, and IMHO, sounds like homework.

 

back to the OP, you do not need to get your Wolf badge to move up to the next level. I have several Cubs in the same boat, one of which has done a bunch of the elective at day camp last year, but won't get the 5 arrowpoints he earned until he gets the Wolf badge.

[jamist649]

Not much to add, just wanted to agree with what most have already said. Call up those and celebrate those who have done the work and will earn the badge (if you have not already awarded it). Then let him bridge with his buddies.

[Lisabob]

Are you sure he can't earn it? How far off is he? The wolf requirements are (mostly) pretty simple. What's he missing?

 

Other than that, I agree w/ the rest of the folks here. Separate the wolf badge from the bridging. Tell mama in advance what to expect. Let her have her tizzy fit outside the confines of your pack meeting. Maybe, depending on what the boy has left to do, that will spur her on to help him finish up the requirements in the nick of time.

 

 

[Basementdweller]

So what? He did not participate. No patch for you....and if you rush him thru it sort of cheapens the other boys efforts.

 

I would let them bridge with the rest of the scouts, remember the boys advance to the next rank at the end of the current school year. The patch is sort of irrelevant.

 

 

 

 

[Monkey Tamer]

Ann,

 

I have a slightly different take on this issue. I agree with ScoutNut on principle. In an ideal world, everyone would be sufficiently motivated to earn their award as soon as possible and should be awarded the badge when they do. That's the way we did it when I was a kid and it caused us to try and be first. However, early on as CM, I realized that It's not an ideal world. Kids have a lot more scheduled activity and many don't get it done on their own.

 

The new program isn't new to us. We have been driving the DLs to knock out as much as possible in the Den meetings for years. It's taken time, but now we have an environment where 1) the kids are EXPECTED to earn the award and 2) Due to the program being set up to foster that, it is rare for a kid to fulfill the requirements before the last Den meeting.

 

Do we still have kids fall short? Yep. Every so often it happens. Why? usually it's a doofus parent who will not follow through. For the most part, it's not the boys fault. He can't drive himself places. He can't make his parent teach him things. We spoon feed it to the recalcitrant parent and the DL and I both try and get them moving towards the end of the year, but sometimes you just can't make the horse drink. Once in a while, it's the kid who's just un-motivated, but that's less likely to stop him if the parent is on board. (Usually, those kids drop out because they're not having fun)

 

Where does that leave me? Well, My view point is that scouting is good for every kid. Maybe moreso for the ones who haven't developed a sense of responsibility yet or who have un-involved parents or an unsteady home life. I can drive those kids (or their parents) out by making things uncomfortable for them or singling them out, or I can try and minimize the damage by trying to maintain unit cohesion.

 

Hence, we all cross over with our den. Since earning the actual badge is expected, I hand it to them as they mount the bridge. Nobody really notices if a boy didn't get his at the ceremony. We don't ever pencil-whip the award, so the integrety of the rank award is maintained, but the kid doesn't feel left out at the culminating ceremony for the year. The insignia and emblems are important to the boys as they should be. So when little Johnny shows up next year and his rank badge is missing, HE knows and hopefully motivates himself to make sure he doesn't fail another rank, but he's still there. It usually works out that way.

 

You saw my ceremony, but you don't see all the ad-libbing. I'll do a lot of it. It's a balance to make the boys who achieved the rank feel special while making the one boy who didn't also feel special. Or at least not particularly called out. Spend a lot of energy describing the things they accomplished and all the fun they had. Since you are also the DL for this guy, it will be easy to point out something specific that he was involved in and play it up. Like the others have said, we all move to the next rank together, regardless of what we've earned. Hopefully, next year, he comes back because he wants to have all the fun you guys have and will be motivated to pester his mom a little about taking care of rank.

 

Cheers.

 

 

[Monkey Tamer]

SP,

 

Yeah, we still generate all the reports. We don't give anybody anything they didn't earn. What I'm getting at is that I don't specifically hold a seperate ceremony for the Tiger, Wolf or Bear rank award. I mention it at the X-over ceremony (we have a seperate cross-over for Webelos in December), and everybody expects to earn it in the course of the program year, so there's not a need to talley up during the ceremony.

 

It's counter-intuitive I know. All during the year, we make a big deal about every little belt-loop, pin, leave-no-trace etc. Then during the ceremony, we don't go all out about the one award that REALLY matters. But from all the instant recognition all year long, the kids have ample opportunity to be recognized and the high achievers get their fill.

 

Then I try to make ceremony itself very impressive. The kids who earned it, felt like it was all about them achieving rank, but the ones who didn't are probably relieved, because for them, it wasn't specifically pointed out.

 

It might be under-handed and manipulative, but if they all feel good about crossing over, there's a higher chance they are coming back. Which is one of my main jobs.

 

As for the Wolf and Bear programs, I couldn't agree more. My youngest is a Bear right now. His Dl is a good friend and laments the lame stuff he's forced to dish up. He can cover a whole geography or safety lesson (that mirrors what they've learned in school) in 10 minutes flat if they stay under control. Then it's on to fun. We've built water bottle rockets and launched them. Visited the local infantry museum and climbed all over the tanks. Made tool-boxes and burned their names on them. He's getting the program done, but with some common sense, he's zipping through the boring stuff in favor of the fun stuff.

 

Wolves and Bears need "A little less talk and a lot more action."

 

Cheers.

[AnnLaurelB]

Wow! Thanks for all your replies! Some great reading there; I've only had a chance to skim it so far.

 

I just want to say that we simply DIDN'T finish our Wolf requirements until now. Actually, we WON'T finish them until about 2 Den meetings from Monday week. Whew!

 

So I pretty much HAVE to do it ALL at our (final) May Pack meeting. But I'm starting to get the picture of what needs to happen.

 

I know everyone promotes, so I think what I will do is have the Wolves all gather together, then "graduate" the two boys to the Bear Den, first, and people can hoot and holler for them.

 

Then I'll proceed with the "You have earned..." portion of the ceremony with the remaining Wolves.

 

It just. Might. Work. :0)

[Lisabob]

Did these two boys earn anything lately? Perhaps you can make a big deal about the stuff they DID earn, and award those items to them. So they don't all earn the same patches, but is that the end of the world?

 

PS: we have had boys use summers to work on their last rank - before they officially become the next rank. I suppose you could do that, too - don't hold the "graduation" at all, and do an "investiture" ceremony into the Bear rank at your first fall meeting, instead. Not sure if/how that'll work (some boys might be working on bear over summer, others finishing wolf. Kosher? not sure)

 

 

[SeattlePioneer]

I regularly have families complete the previous year's badge requirements during the summer. I wish it would stop THEN!

 

 

Haven't had anyone slap my hands yet....

 

 

I'm so slack...

[Oak Tree]

We never did "bridging" for any rank but for the Webelos Scouts who were moving on to Boy Scouts. And in that case we separated the rank ceremony from the bridging ceremony.

 

Not everyone has to earn rank.

[Scoutfish]

We have graduation ceremonies, crossover ceremonies and AOL ceremonies.

 

They are not related to each other other than the fact that they are part of a pack ceremony.

 

Graduation means you are moving to the next rank...not that you completed enough requirements to earn your current rank patch. If a scout only come for 1 meeting after rouindup, and does not come again til next year...then next year, he is still the next rank up.

 

Crossovers are for Webelos crossing over to Boy Scouts.

 

AOL is only for WEbelos who actually earned the AOL award. During that ceremony, we either let the Boy SCouts or the OA team run things. It also involves mothers pins and dad';s tie tack and a few certificates and a carrer arrow .

 

But again, it the WEbelos boy do not get the AOL, they can just wait til next year ( or the right age point) and join the troop of their choice.