Is this some kind of record for First Class?

[Zorn Packte]

If no one will talk to the "mother" no one can complain about her

 

I think that it would be easier to find a volunteer to kill her than to find someone to confront her.(This message has been edited by Zorn Packte)

[sctmom]

Sounds like it time for a Kamikaze volunteer!

 

[Zorn Packte]

Sounds like it time for a Kamikaze volunteer!

 

So I should crash my car into her home?

 

 

[ASM1]

Following this thread. I may have missed it somehwere, so if I did, please don't get angry with me. But I have a couple questions. 1) What is your position in the Troop? SM, ASM, Committee? If None, 2) WHY?

 

You should not crash your car into this mom's home. But you should crash your mouth into the Committee Chair's ear and question this. Becareful though, you may be asked to leave the Troop as we were and you will have to start your own Troop and end up with a much better unit. ;-)

 

ASM1

[shemgren]

When I was a SM, I would expect a First Class Scout to do things better than a Tenderfoor, but not as good as a Star Scout. POR non withstanding, the advancement program is designed to teach the fundemental skills of Scouting (Tenderfoot - First Class), then to enhance those skills by adding citizenship training (service projects, Citizenship in Community, Nation and World Merit Badges), personal development (Personal Fitness, Personal Management, Communications Merit Badges), and character development (the Scout Law, Motto, Slogan in practice), these all happen from the ranks above First Class.

 

A Scout who is cheating the system will pay for this as he moves through the rank system, where the requirements build on skills that should have been at the lower ranks. This concept was true when I was Scout in the 1970's, when I was a SM in the 1980's and 1990's and are still true today.

 

Can the system be circumvented? Yes it can, but the circunvention normally is by several individuals, the SM and ASM's, the Advancement Chair, even the Troop Committee. To allow a complete sidestep of the process, the process must be side stepped by the troop as a whole. As this Scout continues, he must be approved by merit badge councelors, camp staffs, the SM, the ASMs, etc. Any break down in this chain can derail a Scout that is trying to slide through without truely doing the work.

 

The ASM in question may sign off on several of her son's path to Star Scout, but not all as in the case of Tenderfoot to First Class.

 

As stated by other posts, watch the Scout and see if can tie the First Class knots, lash a camp gadet, actually create a patrol menu, etc.

 

To be fair, the Scout may have actually done all the requirements and may be on a fast track to Eagle. Mom and boy should be given the benefit of doubt and above all, A Scout is Trustworthy!

 

If that not the case, it will become every evident at the campouts and troop meetings as the Scout is asked to put in practice the skills of a First Class Scout.

 

Just my humble opinion.

 

[sctmom]

If the scouts are given lots of opportunities to practice their new skills, I would think that eventually he will learn them if he didnt' the first time around. I would be concentrating on this not happening again with other scouts and that his merit badges don't get signed off this way.

 

[Zorn Packte]

1) What is your position in the Troop? SM, ASM, Committee?

 

I'm a committe member in charge of nothing special but who does what needs to be done at the time. Maybe you could call me "Scouter at Large."

[yarrow]

There's always going to be a problem with paper ranks and paper Eagles. We have a mom just like the one you are talking about, but maybe not so abrasive. She is in with Girl Scouting and Boy Scouting so tight that she has earned both an Eagle and a Gold Award. Did I say she had earned.......my slip is showing.

[evmori]

What realy chaps my thighs about this thread is an adult who has completed Woodbadge & never got any of the stuff they were taught! It sounds like this mom is in Boy Scouts for herslf not her son. And that is the wrong reason to be involved. Training is an essential part of the BSA but all the training in the world won't help someone who doesn't understand in the 1st place.

 

Ed Mori

Scoutmaster

Troop 1

1 Peter 4:10

[John D]

As a Scoutmaster I've had to deal with a crazed mom like this, I say it is the SM's job to tell her to chill out. Some kids are in a mad rush, and as SM I tell them to relax, take a breath; unless they have a terminal disease there is no need for arbitrary deadlines and goals. A lot of our Troop activities have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with advancement, and it's OK! Next weekend we will take sailboats out for a water balloon fight and weenie roast and guess what : there is no water balloon requirement or merit badge. We have never had a boy make First Class in a year (our season is only 9 months long and we have no summer camp), but our First Class and Star scouts are damn good,they know their stuff, and can cook and navigate circles around similar age boys who transfer in from "rank mills". Our first Eagle project was a 9/11 memorial garden at the Embassy and VP Dick Cheney himself praised it, and he's a hard man to please!

Last year we took a 50 foot yacht for a week into the Persian Gulf, had a great time, but alas, not much advancement. Next March we're going to Kenya for 10 days and the clipboard is staying home. I think a lot of troops are stressing the kids out and forgetting about having a little fun.

[ASM7]

John D

Who cleans up all those pieces of balloons from the bottom of the lake? LNT

[John D]

Is this a serious question? I hope this sort of nit-picking hasn't prevented you from throwing a few water balloons. We're on the Persian Gulf, land of few environmentalists and even fewer lawyers. Praise Allah!