Not earning Rank?

[AnnLaurelB]

Well, T-minus 4 days and counting until our graduation/bridging ceremony. Of my 5 year-long Wolves, only 2 has earned his Badge (1 of them is MY kid.) I was feeling really bad about that (I'm the Den Leader, after all), until I laid out the attendance records and the home-assignment sign-offs.

 

Yeah, no. They each either missed SO many Den meetings (hey, if you choose baseball over Cubs, that's totally legitimate, but don't cry when you don't earn Rank), or they completely failed to even TRY to do the home stuff (new delivery method -- a lot placed on the fam's), that there's no way I can consider them for Badges.

 

I explained *very carefully* to EACH boy/parent that we were doing THIS part tonight, but if they wanted it signed off, they needed to do THAT part at home and bring me the print out, or the chart filled in, or mail me the envelope (that I provided). I made it as simple as I could, but these 3 just ... never came through, despite repeated pleadings on my part.

 

All 3 of them flaked on their Badge Check appointments with me, so I couldn't even flip through their books and compare them to the attendance and see if they could fill in more stuff. One aunt did drop off one of the absentees' books. He's missing 26 of 58 pawprints.

 

Now, they have until sometime in July (???) to go ahead and try to finish, but a lot of what this kid is missing is stuff that say things like, "With your Den, lead a flag ceremony..." Well, we won't HAVE any more Den meetings before the end of August, sorry.

 

And the other two simply didn't produce their books for the last MONTH for me to assess. So I'm not fudging it for them!

 

I've ordered these 3 their Bear neckers, and they'll be *graduated* along with the Den of course, but only the two who DID all 58 items (confirmed) are getting their Wolf Badges.

 

If they get evidence to me that they've done the Requirements by July, then I'll give them their Badges at opening next year. But not this week. Is that harsh? I don't think so.

[momof2cubs]

AnnLaurel: first of all, good on you for standing firm on rank awards. When you cheaply hand out awards, the ones that truly earned them get a raw deal. So congrats on that.

 

Now, second point: I am 99% certain that BSA considers June 1st the date where everyone moves to the next rank. In other words, your current wolves will be bears on June 1st and they can no longer work on Wolf rank. So summer work will not count. They'll be better off getting a head start on Bear achievements (Duty to God for example - that's why my kid and I are doing this summer working on the God and Me medal)

[AnnLaurelB]

Wow! Good to know; I'll check with the guy who told me it was sometime in July. Not, mind you, that I think these guys are going to fall over themselves to get this stuff done...or they would have already done it when I begged them to.

 

And if someone asks "Whyyyyy" their kid didn't get their Badge, I'll say exactly what you did: to award it to the kids who only did 55% of the requirements is not fair to the kids who did 100% of them.

 

There's no "partial" Badges. It says "Do These". And that means all of them.

[ScoutNut]

While Cub Scouts is mainly grade based, and June 1 is the official BSA graduation date, BSA also allows Cub Scouts to work past that if they wish to finish up earning their rank award.

 

Note - It is for the rank award only. Not electives, or other optional awards.

 

Also, BSA does not allow Cubs to work in two levels at the same time. If your Wolf Cubs are still working on their Wolf rank award over the summer, they can not also be working on, or getting credit for, any Bear stuff at all.

 

Give them a choice - work to finish up their Wolf rank award, or accept they will not earn that one patch, and move on to Bear, and start to work on Bear requirements/electives.

 

I have never had a Scout finish working on a past rank award over the summer. It is much more fun to move onward, and upward, to new things. I think it is the adults who obsess over a missing patch, not the boys.

 

 

[AnnLaurelB]

Ahah! Gotcha!

 

Well, I'll give them that option. But really. If they didn't do the make-up work for the missed Den meetings AS I gave them the information, I seriously doubt they're going to use up their summer doing stuff all by themselves.

 

And you know what? If someone cries over not earning Rank, and you OFFER "Hey! You have until July 31st to finish!" if that doesn't make them feel better, and make them go, "Whew! Okay! We're on it!" then they have entitlement issues, and I'm not interested.

[momof2cubs]

Honestly Ann, I don't see why they would. They had over 9 months to do it and that was WITH you prodding, leading, directing, organizing, helping, and enabling (I don't mean that in a bad way). If they didn't get it done then, what makes you think they would they do it on their own without you holding their hand?

 

 

 

[Lisabob]

Some of them just might, if they (or more likely, their parents) are shocked when they don't get their rank badge with the other boys. However, it sounds like the culture of your den is that the boys aren't all that into badges, or else they'd have finished already. With only 2 of 5 finishing, it is "normal" not to finish.

 

Now that leaves me wondering about what you said about the new delivery method. My understanding of the new cub scouting delivery method is that almost all of the rank advancement stuff gets done IN the den these days. I had thought the emphasis was on moving AWAY from expecting parents to do it at home (because, as you see, they don't do it). So what is happening for you guys, that you are moving in the other direction?

 

Don't get me wrong, I'm not attempting to browbeat you. Local options work for local situations and I'm sure you have good reasons for the delivery method you described. I just am curious about it, and wonder whether anybody anticipated and planned for the consequences that many boys wouldn't finish their rank requirements, as a result. From all you've written about the pack, I kind of doubt that this was the case?

 

Oh, and if you do get a bunch of new 5th graders next year - there is no law saying you have to cross everybody to boy scouts all at once. If your current (handful) boy is ready to go in February (or earlier?!) then let him go at that time. If the other boys aren't ready, work with the Scoutmaster to have them cross over when they are. It puts some additional pressures on the Boy Scout Troop program, but these are not insurmountable, given the situation you are dealing with.

 

 

 

 

[AnnLaurelB]

Wait, wait. No. What I was told (and shown) last night was that the "new delivery" was focusing on BRINGING THE FAMILY BACK INTO the requirements! When I looked at her new book, it was the same as I'd found online, and at least 1/3 of the stuff is done at home.

 

At any rate, when I flip through the Wolf book, I find like 26 of 58 items that say either "in your Den" (specifically, like leading an opening or attending an outdoor flag ceremony), or "with your family," (such as cooking your own breakfast and helping with another meal).

 

Almost EVERY part "A" in the chapters starts with, "Discuss with your family..."

 

One of the Req's is to visit an "important" place. I walked my Wolves down to the Courthouse (about 1.5 blocks from here), and had them read the historical marker and look at the symbols on the sign, etc...and I told them what they meant, etc... This kid was absent for that, too.

 

Chapter 11 Duty to God instructs the Wolf to find out how they can serve their church. I provided two different opportunities to serve OUR church, in case they didn't have one of their own. He didn't come to them. I provided two different opportunities to participate in an outdoor flag ceremony. He didn't come to either of those, either.

 

But even if he had, there ARE a LOT of "at home" stuff. And my understanding is that the new, NEW delivery method includes a ~homework~ assignment almost every week. Still. If a kid had COME to even MOST of my Den meetings, he'd have probably been close. But if the book said, "With your family" or "In your house", I expected them to accomplish it.

[AnnLaurelB]

Let me expand on that. One of the Wolf req's is to keep a chore chart for a week. I printed it out, and we did the Den stuff, and sent the charts home. They were supposed to be BROUGHT BACK filled out. But a couple of them didn't bring them. So I quizzed them on what they'd done, and then eyebrow'd the parent to confirm whether they'd done it. Okay, pass.

 

Another is "Plan the meals for your family for a day, using the food pyramid." We did that one IN DEN, although the whole chapter is almost solid "At home with YOUR family."

 

There's one about seeing a live performance. The Den went to one, and the Pack went to one. If a kid couldn't come to EITHER of them, the parent would HAVE to find SOMETHING live to go to. HECK, I'd have counted "We went to see Grandma's solo in the choir on Sunday.! :0) But they *didn't do it*.

 

The "Tools" one? We did it ALL in Den meetings. We painted the birdhouse pieces one week, then assembled them the next. This kid missed that assembly. So I sent it home at Pack meeting and said, "Bring that to a den meeting assembled, and I'll sign you off." But he never brought it back. What can I do? I guess I could have had them over in a corner doing it at another Den meeting, but then how would have have done whatever Den stuff I was covering right then, while he was over there hammering?

 

Even as much as I TRIED to pack Den meetings chock full o'Req's, if they didn't do ANY of the homework, they miss about 1/4 of the stuff. And he had TONS of absences (baseball), so missed a lot of Den stuff anyway. :0(

[5yearscouter]

If you look at the old Cub Scout program helps guides, they didn't do much of any of the achievements and electives in the den meetings, instead they focused on the theme activities which sometimes counted as something. so in theory, parents were supposed to do most of everything at home.

 

In comparison, the "new" cub scout delivery program has plans to do a LOT of the achievements and electives within the den meetings. Parents and scouts are sent home with homework to complete, which in many instances ends up being fill out this worksheet or handout (just like school).

 

so to BSA it looks like the new cub scout delivery program has a lot more done in den meetings.

 

In reality good den leaders used the program helps guides as just that, guides for ideas. Most den leaders tended to work thru most of the cub scout program within the den meetings, and in some instanced did everything possible. for instance if it says plan meals with your family you do it in the den meeting, calling over each kid's parent to stay and work on it with them. or for cooking, everyone would cook together for a picnic or something on an outing.

 

In our pack the scouts would get their rank badges because the den leaders knew parents didn't want to spend an hour or so a week watching the kids play games that didn't count for anything and then go home and do an hour or 3 of homework to get the book completed in time. parents wanted the stuff to be done in the den meetings, so that's how many packs would do it.

 

so whether the new delivery method = more or less homework on achievements it will depend on what you expected from your cub scout leader to begin with.

 

 

[ScoutNut]

Just a note - The Cub Handbooks have not been re-written (yet) to reflect the new 2010 delivery method. They are written to reflect the "old" method of utilizing the Cub Scout Method of Family Involvement by having the family responsible for working with their son on many/most of the requirements.

 

 

[AnnLaurelB]

But...this is where the confusion must lie... lay? I hate when my grammar fails me.

 

The Leader book that the other Pack's CC showed me Wednesday night, she said reflected the new "NEW" method, which she said, "...brings the family BACK IN to the Requirements, placing a lot of the reponsibility BACK on the family, making it an *inclusive* program."

 

Which is how I ran it this year, anyway. Do as much as possible in Den, using that time to *also* earn extra bling that might not happen all by yourself, BUT assigning a task for them to bring back the next week.

 

Is it that some of us haven't seen the new-New-NEW rollout, yet? I was confused when she told me, "bringing the family back in," because I've been requring Akela to participate, anyway.

 

As you said, the whole crux is that it's a *guideline*, and you've got to do what works for YOUR group. My guys had AMPLE opportunity to acheive Wolf...*if* they showed up to Den.

[Lisabob]

Understand, I wasn't attempting to criticize, just to understand where you were coming from. I have not seen anything about a new New "bring the parents back in" delivery method. That doesn't mean it doesn't exist, but your post is the only place I've heard this so far. It may be that your friend's info is a misunderstanding, too. I don't know.

 

Honestly - I am not a huge fan of assigning weekly pencil & paper homework/worksheets to cub scouts, though! (Thinking about my own son, who loved cubbing and has always been extremely verbal, but just struggled to put thoughts on paper until about 4th grade - this would have been a weekly battle, if we had needed to write something every week for cubs. Ugh. I shudder at the thought.)

 

Anyway, what matters is what works for you. As somebody else said, many den leaders had been doing a lot of rank work in den meetings long before the official 2010 delivery changes that the BSA implemented. And you're right, if the book actually says "at home" then that's where something needs to be done.

[AKdenldr]

Ann,

 

I found the Wolf year in both of the dens we had to be the hardest -- because the parents had to perform to some level. A few of my parents had "ah-hah" moments when they saw all the other boys being awarded. Some homes are just not that organized.

 

Bear year is easier because of all the choices for the award (12 of 24 achievements). You can cover multiple items in each category so most boys will have only a little to do at home. (And select those items that fit your meetings best.)

 

Even with the Webelos I have problems with the long term tracking items sent home.

 

Give those parents a little more time this summer. (But I don't think they will follow through). Then next year plan in some other quicker, smaller, awards so the boys are recognized often.

 

Yes the new delivery method (what I like to call, "what we have done all along") does not totally line up with the traditional at home manual. It will be interesting to see how National revises the handbooks.

 

- AK

[AnnLaurelB]

If they publish new Wolf books, to whom do I appeal for them to get the State of Georgia's flag corrected? They picture the wrong one. If you live in Idaho, who'd ever know? But here I sat talking about the meaning of the GEORGIA flag, and their books ... don't have the right flag.

 

This is not a job for people who can't think on their feet! :0)