Life Skills merit badge

[Basementdweller]

I got a question for the group.

 

 

So explain to me again. Aren't most of the things your discussing here things that their Parents are supposed to be teaching them at home??????

 

Yet year after year we see boys who have never made a piece of toast or PB&J entering the troop. Pretty sure my son can change the brakes on my truck, change a flat tire, sew his patches on his uniform, shower and make himself dinner after he is done.

 

 

How sad the BSA is replacing what parents should be doing.

[Stosh]

I got a question for the group.

 

 

So explain to me again. Aren't most of the things your discussing here things that their Parents are supposed to be teaching them at home??????

 

Yet year after year we see boys who have never made a piece of toast or PB&J entering the troop. Pretty sure my son can change the brakes on my truck, change a flat tire, sew his patches on his uniform, shower and make himself dinner after he is done.

 

 

How sad the BSA is replacing what parents should be doing.

????

 

Day care gets them up to pre-school.

Then pre-school gets them up to school

Then the schools work their magic.

And voila, you have a well-adjusted 18 year old that's ready to go out in the world.

Now all you have to do is work the next 18 years getting him out of the house. You can send them off to college, but like any stray, they're going to be back soon sitting on your stoop.

 

What's there really for the parents to do until they're 18+?

 

Stosh

[perdidochas]

I got a question for the group.

 

 

So explain to me again. Aren't most of the things your discussing here things that their Parents are supposed to be teaching them at home??????

 

Yet year after year we see boys who have never made a piece of toast or PB&J entering the troop. Pretty sure my son can change the brakes on my truck, change a flat tire, sew his patches on his uniform, shower and make himself dinner after he is done.

 

 

How sad the BSA is replacing what parents should be doing.

That is the way of the world these days. Parents aren't teaching kids as much, in general. My boys, when they entered Boy Scouts, could cook eggs or toast. They can do laundry and wash pots/pans/dishes, in a kitchen sink, camp sink or dishwasher (even commercial dishwasher now, due to helping out on a service project involving the church kitchen). That said, if you look at personal management or Family life merit badges, parents should be teaching that as well. Same with cooking merit badge, etc.

[Tampa Turtle]

I was getting so frustrated about the boys never putting their POR patches on. Then it occurred to me--your term doesn't start until we see you with your patch sewn on!

Serving, by our local definition--and agreed to before taking the POR, includes 70% of attending meeting (excused absence beforehand can be permitted--most don't bother), some specific duties, and 70% campouts, The way I see it if you didn't do anything in a given month we could say he was active for 5 of the 6 months. Or we could extend the POR by a month and see if he improves which is what we are doing and I think may be a BAD idea. BTW there is no "surprise" ambush going on.

[Tampa Turtle]

When I hit 13 my mom started "Batchelor proofing" her 3 boys. Her requirements:

 

(1) Be able to cook 3 basic dishes so we wouldn't starve. (I believe grilled cheese counted)

(2) Do your own laundry. ( skill that had me helping many pretty girls who were clueless in the freshman dorm laundry.

(3) Be able to do some basic sewing. Use a sewing machine. Make a pair of pants.

(4) Learn how to shop for your own clothes and judge quality of garment. We bought our own school clothes.

(5) Be able to order from a restaurant with good table manners.

(6) Basic slow dancing with a girl (the mom waltz) with the hands in the right place.

 

She said being the mother of 3 boys she did not want us making our girlfriends do all that. My sister did not have to do any of this!

 

My Dad insisted:

(6) Rotating your tires.

(7) Changing oil.

(8) Bleeding brakes.

(9) How to build a basic stud wall.

(10) Update an account in a ledger, calculate interest, and set up our own bank account. (our allowances were in THE ledger)

(11) Wire a switch and an outlet.

(12) Snake a drain clog, swap out a toilet innards, and change faucets washers.

(13) Be able to identify 10 basic hand tools. Do not leave Dad's saw in the rain (fail)

(14) Look up entries in reference materials. (My Dad would leave volumes of "How Things Work, the Oxford Dictionary, and Von Nostrand's Scientific Dictionary on the toliet tank in the boys bathroom. Quizs were at the dinner table)

 

No MB was given upon completion.

[Stosh]

I got a question for the group.

 

 

So explain to me again. Aren't most of the things your discussing here things that their Parents are supposed to be teaching them at home??????

 

Yet year after year we see boys who have never made a piece of toast or PB&J entering the troop. Pretty sure my son can change the brakes on my truck, change a flat tire, sew his patches on his uniform, shower and make himself dinner after he is done.

 

 

How sad the BSA is replacing what parents should be doing.

If it is the goal or Scouting to provide men of good character that can take care of themselves and care for others, and the parents aren't doing their job, it makes it a greater task for Scouting to address these issues.

 

Programs that don't assume this responsibility aren't following BSA goals.

 

If BP said take the houligan and turn him into a good citizen, then that's what we are to do. Yes, the world around has changed, but the goal hasn't.

 

Stosh

[Kudu]

Maybe a tie into the new marketing slogan "Prepared. For Life," which was introduced as "Life" being the opposite of the Scoutcraft defined by our Congressional Charter.

The Chief Scout Executive's "What do we mean by 'Prepared. For Life'?" speech never mentions Scoutcraft, except to say that the 1916 requirements are "not important."

 

The video is still online:

 

http://inquiry.net/leadership/sitting_side_by_side_with_adults.htm

[skeptic]

Definitely feel Personal Management is one that absolutely needs to stay, especially in this era.

 

Now the other skills might also include tieing a necktie with a basic overhand and maybe even double Windsor.

 

They could call the badge Living Single Skills, or maybe the old Home Economics.  

[qwazse]

How about somebody posting proof (besides some plackard found in a disorganized scout shop) that this is still currently being considered by the merit badge task force, please?

[perdidochas]

My Scout son was just taking the BSA survey regarding potential new merit badges. One that caught my eye was "Life Skills". It would include sewing, cooking, & I didn't see the rest of it. It struck me as kinda different as the parts of the merit badge (potential) are already covered in other merit badges. Seemed like really a "fluff" mb. What's your opinion?

I'm with Tampa Turtle--I'd be ok if it was a replacement for Family Life, for example. 

[perdidochas]

I got a question for the group. So explain to me again. Aren't most of the things your discussing here things that their Parents are supposed to be teaching them at home?????? Yet year after year we see boys who have never made a piece of toast or PB&J entering the troop. Pretty sure my son can change the brakes on my truck, change a flat tire, sew his patches on his uniform, shower and make himself dinner after he is done. How sad the BSA is replacing what parents should be doing.

My sons can do all of the above except change the brakes on a truck (they are third generation non-mechanics).  They can jumpstart a car, though. 

 

I've found that through my time in Scouts as a parent, that a lot of the "requirements" from Tiger Cub on are things that we had already been doing with our sons.  The way I see it, if the parents are teaching it at home, it's a piece of cake for the boys to do it in Scouts.

[Back Pack]

I had a new Scout volunteer to be cook. His PL walked him though the menu planning (done as a patrol), helped him work out his shopping list and even picking certain brands (food allergy issue). The kid was set. He knew what to do. The Sat dinner was "Sliders". Simple enough.

 

Come Friday night the young man got sick and could not go camping. Mom dropped off the food in the cooler.

 

Saturday afternoon the PL comes to me and says "We've got a problem." I go with him and the SPL to investigate.

 

The Scout (or the mother) purchases individually wrapped MICROWAVEABLE Sliders, clearly marked for microwaves in big red letters across the box!!!

 

Our PLs stopped assuming ANYONE could cook after that. We now start ALL of our scouts at Step #1 as part of teaching cooking at camp.

Edited April 20, 2017 by Back Pack