Ugly Beading Ceremony

[Basementdweller]

Your Right Norm....Nobody cares......

 

I am not sure they should.

 

[SeattlePioneer]

As I think about it, the main reason to avoid the announcement song or Gilwell song is so that you don't wear it out.

 

 

I'd reserve the announcement song for Scout Camps, where it is a fun activity for Scouts for a couple of years of summer camps.

 

If it's used much outside of summer camp, I'd suppose it starts to lose its fun and freshness and will descend into being boring.

 

The same thing with Wood Badge beading ceremonies. It was meaningful to experience that the first few times I saw it, but after seeing it 'way too many times, I consider it to be boring and an imposition on those who have seen it too many times.

 

Start some new traditions for your pack or troop! Mostly what it takes is some care and imagination.

 

And please quit over promoting Wood Badge, especially by taking up people's time at meetings and especially at meetings where most people have been repeatedly exposed to Wood Badge presentations.

[JMHawkins]

...During the course, I watched a bunch of pretty experienced Scouters doing some goofy things. In it's own way, it helped me to understand that being goofy with kids is really OK...

 

Y'know, there's mixed opinion on that. I'm a big beliver in "all things in moderation" and I think a bit of goofyness now and then, especially with boys and especially with Cub Scout aged boys, is good. But there's also the idea of modelling adult behavior for the scouts. That doesn't mean being dour and grim, no no no. It doesn't mean never having any fun and never being less than serious. But if you can't make an announcement without the class clown interrupting, especially if you are the class clown, then you're not really being an adult and not setting a good example for the youth.

 

There's a big difference between a Cubmaster putting on a great "dark sucker" skit, complete with funny hats, funny accents, etc., and singing the Announcement song all the time. In fact, one of the important lessons the youth need to learn is how to switch on and off the goofyness. How to go from play time to work time and back again. The point of being goofy in front of a bunch of kids isn't to teach them that it's okay to be goofy, it's to teach them to control their goofiness, to enjoy it but not let it torpedo their lives. And to keep the attention with some fun and hilarity.

 

Which is where the Announcement song really falls on its face. It tries to make life into a living, breathing, Monty Python skit. Monty Python is great, but how many people would really like to live, 24/7, in that kind of world? African or European you ask? Um, well, doesn't matter, answer the question! And it gets boring after a while. The Announcement song isn't terribly imaginative or creative, most people start to lose the joy in singing it after a fewcouple of times.

 

 

 

 

[ParkMan]

... I'm a big beliver in "all things in moderation" and I think a bit of goofyness now and then, especially with boys and especially with Cub Scout aged boys, is good. But there's also the idea of modelling adult behavior for the scouts.

 

... Which is where the Announcement song really falls on its face. It tries to make life into a living, breathing, Monty Python skit

 

I'm on the same page with you here. All things in moderation. I think it's hard for many new Scout leaders, especially Cub Scout leaders, to find their identity as a leader. There's a time for seriousness, there's a time for fun, there's even a time for goofy.

 

I think any light element (the announcement song being an example) itself is not necessarily bad, it's how it is used that's the question. You can make your whole pack meeting a Monty Python skit, or use it judiciously to add some brevity on occasion. Know how & when is though and is different based on the person. Some (many perhaps?) are not good at finding the balance and as a result go too far one way or the other.

 

 

 

 

[BSA24]

My beading ceremony was a nightmare. They came out to the COH to do it. I told them they had five minutes. Give a two minute talk about wood badge, then hand me the stuff, and then shake hands and sit down.

 

40 minutes. That's how long the clowns went on and on.

 

I think the beads and such should be given to the SPL of the troop, and he should put them on the adult leader. In the case of the cubs, the CM should get it and give it to some cubs to give to them. It'll be fast that way.

 

WB staff should never, ever, ever get the stage at any youth meeting or ceremony. They are insufferable.

 

I loved WB. I would love to do it again. I despise beadings.

 

[NealOnWheels]

"I think the beads and such should be given to the SPL of the troop, and he should put them on the adult leader. In the case of the cubs, the CM should get it and give it to some cubs to give to them. It'll be fast that way."

 

Not only will it be fast but it will be much more meaningful to the Scouts in attendance.

[Ohanadad]

I think the bottom line of this thread is that the WB staff who is doing the beading ceremony needs to talk to the person being beaded (what is his/her expectations), judge the audience, and tailor the presentation to the audience. This is the feedback that needs to go to Course Directors and put into the staff materials.

 

I think that people tend to over do the beading ceremonies because they want to convey how much the person who is getting beaded had to do. Think about it, you pay hundreds of dollars, sacrifice six days away from your family, do the tickets which can sometimes take over a year. It's a lot and not everyone does it. For a staff members, if this is one of the first from the patrol/course that is getting beaded, you to are exremely proud of the person getting beaded. Unfortunately, they forget their audience and can go on and on. It's would be like if you did a Eagle CoH at a Pack meeting. While the cubs would understand it's a special occation, they would be bored out of their minds within 10 minutes.

[Basementdweller]

Boy you are new.....

 

Hundreds of dollars........and six whole days away from your family

 

 

I spend thousands of dollars a year on scouting, from short falls on campsites, gear for boys who have none, summer camp fees.......

 

Not to mention the hundreds of hours I spend annually on direct contact program....camping, troop meetings, round tables, committee meetings, church board, community meetings......

 

Your involved in Cub scouts....you haven't even began to see the elephant.

[Ohanadad]

BD. What is your issue that you feel you have to directly attack me? I try very hard to keep my comments in general (even when responding to other people's replies). I try to focus on my actions/feelings/behaviors and not bash others (if I did, I'm sorry to that person). My comment was on WB requirements not scouting in general. I wish I only spent a few hundred dollars and six days on scouting in total.

 

You spent thousands of dollars...great. Hundreds of nights camping...good for you. Give your entire paycheck to needy scouts...yes you're definitely in line for BSA sainthood. Making snide comments to me and any person who has a positive thing to say about WB, BSA leader awards, and anything that goes against your view of what scouting is suppose to be about...you're acting like bully which we warn our boys about (I had more colorful words, but this a scouting forum). I hate to say this, but as much as you hate WB and it's "elitism", you're behaving like those, "good ole boys" who been around forever and hates anything different from what scouting was like when they were a boy. "In my day...."

 

Yeah, I may not have the years of scouting that you have but I like to think that I'm still a scout leader and can contribute in my small way to scouting. Yes, I'm involved in Cub Scouting. I'm not going to be belittled by it. How many of your scouts have their AoL? How many of them skipped CS and joined Boy Scouts from the start? The trend is most cross over from CS and very few join Boy Scouts directly. Without CS packs, troops start to fold. I'm lucky, the troop that we feed into has a great SM which is encouraging and understands that along with the scouts, the adults also cross over to the troop and become future CCs, ASMs, SMs. Do you talk down to the CS leaders at your feeder packs like they don't know anything?

 

You got your thoughts and opinions, I got mine. Let's state it and not get into a furball going after each other. No one likes flame wars on a forum. "A Scout is kind"(This message has been edited by Ohanadad)(This message has been edited by Ohanadad)

[Twocubdad]

Easy, BD.

 

An early Halloween? Been possessed by the ghost of an old WB Course Director?

 

Many more posts like that and the council will want to make YOU a course director.

[Basementdweller]

Not in line for sainthood...... Ya I am one of the good old boys......

 

Bottom of the Page.

 

http://www.scouter.com/forums/viewThread.asp?threadID=275776

 

 

But there are thousands of BSA volunteers that give 100s of thousands of hours and millions of dollars of their own money to make the unit level program work.....

 

This is the norm for Scoutmasters not the exception.......

 

So a couple of weekends at woodbadge is nothing for these folks and nor is the couple hundred bucks.

 

That was my point.

 

 

[SeattlePioneer]

>

 

 

Personally I thank any adult leader for their contributions to the program. If they feel welcome, valued and useful the odds are good they will do more in the future.

 

Someone who takes Wood Badge is really telling you they want to do more, in my opinion.

 

 

[Basementdweller]

Or they are being forced to do it to provide a program at the District Level

[Jeffrey H]

"I've been to one "beading" ceremony - my father's. It was at a Troop Court of Honor and took all of 1 minute - he was called up, congratulated, had the beads slipped over his head, shook a couple hands, and sat back down."

 

That's the way all adult recognitions should be. A Big Thank You, Recognition, and all within the space of one to two mintues. As a Cubmaster, I know first-hand that the boys and parents like to see leaders be recognized but I also realize adult recognitions can become boring very fast.

 

 

[Jeffrey H]

"I've been to one "beading" ceremony - my father's. It was at a Troop Court of Honor and took all of 1 minute - he was called up, congratulated, had the beads slipped over his head, shook a couple hands, and sat back down."

 

That's the way all adult recognitions should be. A Big Thank You, Recognition, and all within the space of one to two mintues. As a Cubmaster, I know first-hand that the boys and parents like to see leaders be recognized but I also realize adult recognitions can become boring very fast.