CoH = Migraine

[Engineer61]

Went to another CoH this week. Could have been a great commercial for any number of ADHD medications.

 

At least the SPL caught on that he had to bark out the orders for the Color Guard.

 

Had to down three Motrin and tough it out until my Scout got his award, then I went outside.

 

(This message has been edited by Engineer61)

[Twocubdad]

Maybe the problem, E61, is that everyone is only there for themself or their son?

 

But I agree with the subject line that CoHs are a pain. Reading off a list of stuff kids earned AND RECEIVED months ago. Frequently kids don't remember the badges their being recognized for.

 

We're down to two CoH's per year and I'd like to see that drop to one with more of an annual banquet feel. We have one "old school" CoH in September. Because we don't have regular meetings at the scout house during the summer, most of the boys are being recognized and presented their summer camp MBs and ranks for the first time. We have more of a banquet in mid-December. It's more of a family affair in that we recognize the youth and adult leaders and thank them for their service. Generally, there are few individual awards to be presented due to the short time since the September CoH.

 

Clearly, the problems is that the CoH ends up being the third time the Scouts have been recognized for the same award. The same night a Scout passes a board of review, he is recognized and is presented with the card for his advancement. The following week, or as soon as someone can make a run to the Scout shop, he is recognized again and presented the actual badge. That is fresh and right on the heels of the work and effort the Scout has put into the award. A CoH three months later is pretty ho-hum.

 

Of course Eagle CoHs are independent of all this.

[Engineer61]

We only do two CoH's a year anyway.

 

Unlike most, the MB's and awards are handed out at the CoH's, not ASAP, so the CoH's are "significant"...just filled with a bunch of boys who can't/won't behave in an assembly/presentation setting.

[fred8033]

We do four COH per year and they are high points for the year. One at summer camp. One each in Nov, Feb and May. The Feb one has less advancement as it's only been a few months, but the May one is huge with a slide show set to music showing the last year.

 

We do every COH as pot-luck meals. In May, the troop grills the main dish. The program is more relaxed and friendly. The scouts really enjoy it.

 

I've been to formal sit for 90 minute COH. Those are painful.

[Eagledad]

>>Unlike most, the MB's and awards are handed out at the CoH's, not ASAP, so the CoH's are "significant"

[Engineer61]

"What happens if the Scout misses that COH, does he have to wait for the next one?"

 

No... they get the awards at the next meeting they attend after the CoH.

[Horizon]

When I was Scoutmaster, I had the SPL hand out awards to the PLC, and he said something about each Scout. The rest of the awards were by the Patrols, with the Patrol Leader giving out the awards to his Patrol and talking about each guy. The Patrol then did their cheer.

 

It worked OK, and made it a little more interesting. Nice competitiveness between the Patrols too.

 

Sadly, it took more early work and coordination of the awards by our Advancement Chair, so it was tough to keep up. I still think there is a solution in there, we just did not have it dialed in yet before I stepped down.

[Scoutfish]

So my troops does immediate recognition.

 

You earn rank tonight, you will get your patch at the next meeting. At the end of the meeting when we circle up for announcements and such. Right before the SM minute.

 

You don't get your card until the next quarterly CoH. You will also get how ever many MB's you worked on in that quarter .

 

Scouts planned and ran the CoH. Turned out great.

 

The only thing I did not like was all the clapping. I am not sure if I ever clapped that much at any ceremony ever before in my life.

 

My hands were honestly red and slightly sore.

 

 

[Oak Tree]

We had some CoHs like this in the past. We gradually adjusted them so that they run more smoothly and are less painful to sit through.

 

They generally end at about an hour and then we have dessert and stand around and talk. It's usually a good time. We do four a year. One or two are potluck dinners.

 

We've added more structure. The Scouts can change whatever they want, but we have a much more organized default plan, and this makes things run a lot more smoothly. I no longer dread them. We do a fairly careful job of selecting the emcee, because we know that this is the primary things that many parents see of the troop, and we want to try to make a positive impression here.

[Crew21_Adv]

Engineer61 and Fellow Scouters,

 

 

WOW!

 

I thought Scouting was suppose to be fun. And COH are suppose to be fun too.

 

We didn't shake hands, we did the high five. Sometimes we would do the wave. Sometimes with a skit/song. We would judges who had the best cheer. Our adult cheer is usually "Ask your Patrol Leader!". We recognize the bubbas, without reading off each certificate. Normally the snacks are divided by patrol, once we even had a breakfast themed COH, at 6:30 p.m., that ended up being a huge success.

 

Maybe the migraine evoking COH are too much adult led?

 

I'd only recommend, if the ADHD boys have too much energy, maybe they should plan the COH, lead an action song or perform a skit that pokes fun to any recent cold/wet campouts.

 

Maybe, everyone thinks that a sit-down, formal, grip-n-grin, take-n-shake, is what is expected. Possibly your PLC could re-arrange the format, to a celebration that every parent would want to come to.

 

Scouting Forever and Venture On!

Crew21 Adv

[Eagledad]

>>No... they get the awards at the next meeting they attend after the CoH.

[Engineer61]

Eh, I just view it as kids with no boundaries or limits, with parents who've disconnected too early and use Scouts as a free sitting service.

[qwazse]

Eng, at some point ask your scout about the CoH. Try to see if the disruptive boys "got to" him. Is it routine? The same kids?

 

Point is, if it's giving you a headache, that's one thing. If it's making other boys feel less than proud about their unit, that's another. And, that's info the SM will never get without you letting him in on it.

 

Our CoH's are short and to the point. (Light some candles, make mom proud, get awards in an envelope, shake SM's hand, run downstairs for ice-cream and cookies.) Still, one CoH, a couple of older boys got "the giggles". I was thinking of reading them the riot act, but knowing their parents, I figured they'd catch all heck for it. Guess they did because so far it hasn't happened again.

 

With truly ADHD kids, I find that adding lots of "bells and whistles" -- skits and such -- only makes it worse for them. Better to streamline the ceremony so they are only stuck in the chair for 20 minutes. Calm and efficient with minimal distraction is the order of the day.

[Engineer61]

Yeah, the disruptions irritate my Scout. He referred to the offending Scouts as "those jerks who won't behave".

 

Our CoH is about as short as it can be I think... Colors ... Welcome ... Awards ... Announcements ... Colors.

 

Having both and ADD (Scout) and an ADHD (non-Scout) in my household, I know the gambit of the medications/behaviors/limitations.

 

I've always enforced on both of them that the ADD/ADHD isn't an excuse to behave badly. That even without the meds being active, you have to make the effort to control your behavior. I know that some parents use that as a "get-out-jail-free" card for setting any kind of limits.