How far to go to help a boy earn his rank?

[Pack18Alex]

Well, one of the Wolf Electives is to help a Scout earn his Bobcat Badge. Sending him off to be taught the Bobcat by a Second Grader might be a good step towards getting him to put up or shut up. You're LDS so only 12 months for him as a Webelos, he's not going to earn AoL, but so what? Honestly, I'd worry about a Boy with a Wolf/Bear Badge and some arrowheads getting his AoL, a boy that doesn't care, don't risk anyone else's advancement for him. If he shows up and has fun but doesn't earn Ranks, that's fine, but don't slow down your serious Scouts for him.

 

As a Den Leader, I always have an Elective Project planned. If I know ahead of time that a boy can't make my meeting, I do an elective instead of a requirement, and push the requirement off. Occasionally I get told, often I don't. In Tigers, I did some make-up for one boy who had a sick relative sucking his parent's time dry, we all helped him catch up in one meeting, he was ecstatic, and his Denmates had fun helping him.

 

I think that going out of your way to get a non-serious Scout Arrow of Light, the HIGHEST honor in Cub Scouting (and one that stays with you your entire Scouting Experience including as Scouter) is a disservice to your serious Scouts and will cause them to not care. I wouldn't want this Scout to get Arrow of Light and I wouldn't do anything to promote it. Now if he gets a bug up his ass and decides to earn it, good for him, but I wouldn't risk a Wolf getting one less Arrowhead to help an unworthy Scout sneak off with AoL

 

Now, probably not for this boy, but I had a boy in a Webelos Den go from no Scouting Experience to Arrow of Light from late September to March.

Like I said, if he gets a bug up his ass and decides to earn it, good for him. It is totally doable to decide that you're going to earn this award in 6 months... It's almost tragic that nothing you do in your first 3 years of Scouting goes on the Boy Scout Award, and whether you do 6 months in 4th/5th grade and earn AoL or be a dedicated Scout since 1st Grade, no difference, but oh well, that's the program.

 

However, if he's been there for two years without interest in rank advancement, I'd make it available to him, but I wouldn't worry about it.

 

When we needed to recruit in the December/January time frame to get some fresh blood in there, I asked what to do about boys signing up, did we need a new Den to march through the requirements, how to do it. They told me at Round Table that if you get people midyear, make sure that they have fun, there is no obligation to rank advance every year. And if they choose to do the work and earn it, great.

 

But yeah, the AoL requirements seem like you can do it focused in a few months.

[dedkad]

How about for the rest, though? What if one boy is sick or something on the day of the hike or the boy scout outdoor activity?

qwazse, it falls on the den leader because the AOL requirements say to visit a troop WITH YOUR DEN. That's why she's asking and why I'm asking.

[5yearscouter]

For the boy without his bobcat badge, I would go over all the parts with him. For #8: With your parent or guardian, complete the exercises in the booklet, How to Protect Your Children from Child Abuse. I would step in and tell him to read the booklet and talk to his parent about it. The next time I see his parent--even if that means standing out in the parking lot and talking to the parent in the doorway of their automobile, and ask them to please cover this part with their son. Explain that it says with parent, so you as den leader can't do it with them. If the parent isn't the one driving them to mtgs, I would assume that their "guardian" is doing it, and ask them to go over it with them. If the parent refuses, I might spend 5 minutes in a den meeting going over it with the whole den--covering the basics of don't go anywhere without telling your parent where you are going and getting their permission. There are some what if kind of scenarios in the Wolf badge that would sort of go along with it. and then I would sign it and give the boy his Bobcat badge.

 

And then go from there. Many Many parents think that if you are spending an hour a week with their kid that there should be no reason for homework or no reason for the parent to have to do anything out of the book with them. That's part of what you have to get across to parents that they don't always understand. Go thru and highlight and sticky note the items in the book that you are NOT going to do in the year and that they should do with their parent. and then do your best to get thru the rest of it with them in den meetings. keep communicating with the parents so they understand what is expected of them.

 

[DeanRx]

As a Web DL, I held up our den for 1 boys who didn't join until WEbII year... we could have crossed over to Boy Scouts in Feb., we waited until May so the lad could complete AOL, becuase without it, he would not have met the age requirement to cross over with his den. Guess what, less than 1 year into Boy Scouts and the kid is no longer active !! I learned MY lesson... offer the program, make OPPORTUNITIES for the boys to advance, but any catch up / make up is on them. I delayed the scouting expirience for 5 other boys (we still did fun stuff / web only campouts / etc...) for the better part of 3 months for a kid and his family that didn't even stick it out for two years in the program.

 

I'll never make that mistake again. I teach, I lead the program, but if you're not there when the class is offered, its on YOU to do the make up and seek ME out to sign off on the advancement. If the horse is truely thristy, he'll find his was to the trough.

 

A sadder, but wiser ex-DL.... Dean

 

[Basementdweller]

Year after year new leaders will continue to post questions like this.

 

 

I was the king of chasing scouts.....Wasting days if not weeks of effort chasing boys and families who either weren't into scouting or just don't/didn't care.

 

Like dean....the boys quit or don't show for the extra help......

[dedkad]

For the boy without his bobcat badge, I would go over all the parts with him. For #8: With your parent or guardian, complete the exercises in the booklet, How to Protect Your Children from Child Abuse. I would step in and tell him to read the booklet and talk to his parent about it. The next time I see his parent--even if that means standing out in the parking lot and talking to the parent in the doorway of their automobile, and ask them to please cover this part with their son. Explain that it says with parent, so you as den leader can't do it with them. If the parent isn't the one driving them to mtgs, I would assume that their "guardian" is doing it, and ask them to go over it with them. If the parent refuses, I might spend 5 minutes in a den meeting going over it with the whole den--covering the basics of don't go anywhere without telling your parent where you are going and getting their permission. There are some what if kind of scenarios in the Wolf badge that would sort of go along with it. and then I would sign it and give the boy his Bobcat badge.

 

And then go from there. Many Many parents think that if you are spending an hour a week with their kid that there should be no reason for homework or no reason for the parent to have to do anything out of the book with them. That's part of what you have to get across to parents that they don't always understand. Go thru and highlight and sticky note the items in the book that you are NOT going to do in the year and that they should do with their parent. and then do your best to get thru the rest of it with them in den meetings. keep communicating with the parents so they understand what is expected of them.

I honestly think it is important to go over these things with your den as well as your parents. If the parent is the abuser, the boy would need another outlet to discuss the problems.

[st0ut717]

if the boy as acun scout doesnt want the goals of a cub scout have an honest discussion with the parents that crossing of to boy scout may not be the wisest idea unless he nust wants the fun of it.

[christineka]

Good to come back to this. Home Depot finally got back to me about setting up a den meeting at the store, where the boys can come, learn about tools, and make something useful. I set it up for September. I was real happy, so I told the wolf leader. (The one who doesn't do anything other than show up with treats.) She responded with- "Can't we set it up earlier?" One wolf's birthday is this Thursday and he needs to do the tools achievement. (We are extending the deadline until the pack meeting immediately following his birthday and his mom is doing a lot. Unfortunately, the boy started late and the wolf leader never got around to explaining the program to the family. I did, when he had 3 months left.) He has to do similar woodworking stuff when he's a bear.

[Khaliela]

I wouldn't worry about it. A boy doesn't need to advance in rank in order to be in Scouts. When he is 11 or in the 6th grade he can join Boy Scouts, he doesn't need to earn the Arrow of Light.

When he is a Boy Scout he won't need to earn rank advancements in order to attend meetings or hang out with the other guys. He can still have an enjoyable experience sans all the do-dads.

[qwazse]

Ways I traumatized my daughter: on the morning of her birthday took her shooting with the crew. She had less time to spend partying with her friends (although they wern't going to get together until late afternoon, and one of her friends was coming to this crew event)! Yep scarred her for life. She grew up to be one of the finest ladies on the planet, IMHO.