Response to a parent who think their scout is entitled to a rank?

[dedkad]

With so many Achievement options available at Bear level, I find it hard to believe that any boy can't complete the requirements with minimal effort. The fact that he missed meetings certainly complicates it, but not everyting has to be done with the den. Since my son is in my den, I follow his school work closely. Are there some things they did at school, like projects and field trips and assemblies, that may qualify for some of the Bear requirements? I've also found that if I just ask the boys if they did a particular requirement, they will tell me no. But don't just take their word for it. Try expanding the reach of your questions. You'd be surprised how much a boy has done throughout the year if you start digging and thinking creatively. A boy has a life outside Scouting. Try applying some of those life activities to his Scout requirements and see if that gets you a little closer. Then make a specific list of the remaining things that need to be done to finish his Bear rank and give that to the grandparents.

[Scouter Dad]

I'm a Cubmaster, Webelos Den Leader and a dad of a Webelos 2. I have run into this sort of thing on several occasions and den leaders have asked me what to do in these instances. My first question to them is did they adhere to "Do Your Best"? Sometimes given learning disabilities or family situations call for being a little less stringent when the effort looks to be there. That's been my belief but I have also run into the type of family that doesn't do a thing and expects to get something for no effort. that usually doesn't fly.

 

I hated the Bear year because it was tough to make a themed den meeting toward the end as it seemed the electives are so different from one another. It was also confusing because the requirements were vastly different from the wolf year. Instead of doing a set number of achievements you had to do a certain number from each section. For a new Bear leader/parent most of us found it confusing at first.

 

That being said, we always made sure we covered in the den and assigned homework so that each scout had the opportunity to get their Bear badge by the B&G in February. Yet we still seemed to award them in the May pack meeting for those that fell behind. Some never got it.

 

The way I explained it to my parents was that from Tiger year to the time they cross over to boy scouts they grow and work more independently. To give the badge to a scout who did 58% wouldn’t be fair to the others who did the work.

 

But I have to ask, in keeping with the theme of “Do your best†what’s the rest of the book look like? If you take BearTrax out of the equation did he do a lot of achievements and electives? I remember it was confusing for one of our den leaders. She had set up a whole curriculum of den meetings and in early January realized that no scout had earned a single progress bead because they did random achievement s from different sections. I’m not suggesting that you cut them some slack because they didn’t follow the requirements correctly. As you indicated they weren’t there and you gave them many chances have help and told them exactly what to do.

 

I don’t know their situation but I have had a few grandparents who had to take custody of their grandchildren and scouting is sometimes a way to keep some normalcy in their kids’ lives. Maybe if the book looks like it’s been filled out you give them a “Nice effort†and explain that given the communication and warnings previous to the end of the year it wouldn’t be fair to award their scout something he didn’t earn.

 

Things will certainly get harder in the Webelos year for sure.