Cub Leaders Journey

[perdidochas]

Looking at my sons book, tenderfoot.....wow he has done all this so I sign it off, son is proud he has earned the rank already and he has been a boy scout for a week..... Meeting night come and my son is in tears because he did not earn the rank and an older boy needs to test him on the requirements.

 

Son finally got the tenderfoot requirements done and now he needs to ask the SM for a conference......Scout waits a month and still hasn't asked.....he is afraid of the SM so I ask the SM for him and the SM tells me that my son has to ask.....What should I do????

 

 

 

 

The first paragraph is a Webelos issue, not a troop issue. The Webelos Den leader or his designees should be the only one signing off requirements. Parents (unless they are leaders or are teaching an activity badge) should not be signing off Webelos requirements.

 

The second paragraph is a troop issue, and is hard for me to understand, but then again we have a smallish troop (20 or so scouts). The Scout has to ask. It's the way it works. If the Scout is so scared of the SM that he can't ask for a conference, how in the world is the Scout going to be brave enough to actually have one. Also, at this point, the SM should have a SM minute about this issue.

[AKdenldr]

Joining requirement is 11 years old. Troops need to have a way to explain the complicated process to ALL boys and parents, not expecting either earlier scouting experience or that the cub scout experience prepared parents or sons.

 

Every boy has different talents, attentions, skills and experiences. So too with parents.

 

-- AK

 

[Scoutfish]

I am not about to say that I am even close to being the perfect boy scout parent. I'm far from it, but at the parent orientation meeting after the AoL and Crossover ceremonies were over was quite the eye opener for some.

 

Me? I knew what Boy scoutin g was supposed to be. When the CC started talking about boys advancing on their own, at thei own pace, about boys voting and making the decision and the oppertunity to camp at least once a month, sometimes twice..and how the scout made their own menues, cooked their own food, cleaned up their own mess, etc... - you know - stuff boy scouts do....well, a couple moms were besides themselves with looks that just told you that afew of them just had a stroke!

 

One mom even asked if her boy was allowed to go camping without her because he really just wasn't ready for that sort of thing.

 

She looked at me and asked me what I thought about it.

 

I said: "I think I'll see him ( my son) when he gets back!"

 

She almost started crying.

 

This was the mother of one of the boys who I mentioned in another thread about being drug though AoL without learning anything.

 

The boy himself? Well....I can't blame him for his mom's and DL's actions, but if mom and the parents of the other boys from that pack had their way...it would definantly be a Webelos III experience followed by TenderWebelos and then 2nd class Webelos IV which would be followed by 1st Class Webelos V.

 

Eventually, we would have a graduating class of Mama's Little Eagles.

 

Luckily, there are far too many scouters who avoid this.

 

Matter of fact, one of the hilights of this past weekends camporee was when the (could have been ) Webelos III came over to our breakfast table and started staring at our scrambbled eggs, english muffins and patries.

 

Our CC said: "They sure look scrumdillylicious don't they?"

 

The scout just nodded and kept starring. He then asked why they couldn't have some.

 

The CC said: "You can have all of it you want.........when you vote for it, buy it, and cook it."

 

Bet we see something different at the next campout!

 

[Basementdweller]

No matter how much you train

 

No matter how much you give paper or electronic guides

 

No matter how much you talk

 

 

Parents will do what they want and say they didn't know....

 

Everyone if fixated on merit badges.....One mom insists her just crossed over scout needs to earn merit badges even though he hasn't completed second class yet... No matter how much you talk to mom she wants merit badges.......PERIOD. Probably will lose scout to eagle mill crossed the beltway....Ya know that is OK, She needs to find a troop that she likes....

 

BTW, scout really is enjoying our program is active and a leader in his patrol...When they vote at summer camp he probably will be their PL....TG thinks so as well.

 

 

 

 

[Eagledad]

>>Parents will do what they want and say they didn't know....

[Basementdweller]

Nope not bashing parents....

 

Just exploring.......

 

Everyone says that the the transition is very complicated from Webelos to boy scouting.......

 

We conduct a new parents meeting,

 

We talk about merit badges and give them a single page guide on the hows and a FAQ....

 

We talk about campouts, give them a gear list and a single Page guide......

 

We talk about advancement......

 

Boy lead

 

Troop fundraising

 

Summer camp...

 

 

I think the SM and CC do a really good job....Yet we are still told the parents don't know....

 

 

[Twocubdad]

BD's OP probably isn't too far off the mark from many parents' experience. I've had parents chew my ass good because this was their perception of crossover. On the otherhand, I've got two newly-crossed-over WDLs who are loving life as ASMs. Scout camping for them meant they took Thursday and Friday off work to take the pack camping. That we hang out in the adult site, drink coffee, swap lies eat like kings is wonderful. Life is good.

 

All depends on the parents' point of view. If they want to pine away at their son's lost childhood, they're going to. If they want to enjoy their son's growing independence and ability to take care of and entertain himself, they will.

 

 

[Eagledad]

I confess that as a scout leader, I did it wrong more than I did it right. But overall our programs were very successful and what made us successful was trying to change those things that led us to failure. I ALWAYS considered the comments from parents to determine if there was something else I could do to make the station better and most of the time I changed something about me or the program.

 

But I know there times when our style of scouting conflicts with the parents goals for their son.

 

But let's look at it this way, "Parenting" is the hardest job in the world. Wouldn't you agree? No parent gets it all right. Parents want the best for their kids future, so usually their choices in the activities they allow their sons are noble in nature. Who are we as scout leaders to say otherwise?

 

To try and get scout leaders to think on level ground with parents, I taught at SM Specific to imagine each role model that a boy meets in his life as a puzzle piece of a puzzle his parents created to develop the best possible man for a best possible future. The scout leader is just one or two pieces among many dozens. Scout leaders are just part of a big team the parent have assembled to carve out that man.

 

That is a pretty tough job and maybe parents deserve a little more respect for it. We ought to feel honored that we were selected to be part of that team, that puzzle.

 

The best we can do for our scouts is give them the best possible program that gets them to our vision. And to be up front as possible to the parents about what our vision is. Give them the information to make their choices for their sons. Their choices may not agree with our vision, but who is to say that our vision is more noble than theirs.

 

If their goals don't fit ours, we don't take it personally, we kindly help them find their way even if that is to suggest another program.

 

It's not about right or wrong, it's only about fit. Our troop is one size of shoe. Not all boys fit that size.

 

I love this scouting stuff.

 

Barry

[Basementdweller]

Print it, say it, repeat both and then put it on face book and the website the parents still don't know.....

 

I will say the video in the merit badge thread got good reviews from the parents...Put it on our facebook page.

 

 

[Twocubdad]

Absolutely agree, Barry. Unfortunately, there are a significant number of parents who don't. Far too many drop their son off at scouts with no more thought or involvement than dropping him off at the movies. Or as cheap child care. $85 for a week of day camp? You betcha, Skippy!

 

Our troop puts a great deal of effort into providing info to new parents. On the Webelos campout in the fall we take the parents off for a two-hour information session. They're given our troop handbook, which is essentially the syllabus for the session. We have a condensed version when the Webs visit a troop meeting. In March, after crossover, the troop committee holds weekly new parent classes during troop meetings. This year we added a parents-only buffet dinner for the new parents to meet the old and have an opportunity to ask questions and chat about Scouting and the troop.

 

Except for the campout, we strongly encourage both parents to attend the orientation sessions -- even if only one parent "does Scouting" we explain that it will be very beneficial for both to understand the program. We'll get about 60- to 75% participation and a handful mothers and fathers. Usually there are several families which neither parent attend any of the sessions. How the hell does a parent drop their kid off for a program like Scouting and not check it out? This year I taught a session on advancement. Three -- count 'em -- three parents attended out of 15 new Scouts. You will have to forgive me if I'm a little huffy when Johnny shows up with dad's signature on all the Tenderfoot requirements.

 

The problems with Webelos-to-Boy Scout transition are deep and structural. Most troops properly focus on the Scouts, not the parents. That parents have issues transitioning should be no surprise. (Can someone tell me why there is no national New Parent Orientation training?) Not many troops have the resources to put into parent orientation we do. I can well imagine a thinly-stretched SM, doing all he can to keep the troop program afloat, not having a lot of patience for whinny parents who won't invest the time to learn the program.

[Jeffrey H]

"The first paragraph is a Webelos issue, not a troop issue. The Webelos Den leader or his designees should be the only one signing off requirements. Parents (unless they are leaders or are teaching an activity badge) should not be signing off Webelos requirements."

 

Agree. A Webelos Den Leader should sign off on the requirements and communicate that clearly to the parents. However, The Webelos Leader, at his/her discretion, can delegate to the parents for signing off on some requirements. Some activity badges, like Traveler, are primarly done outside of a Den Meeting setting while the Webelos is with his family. At a minimum, at leader can ask the Webelo to share his experiences with his Den while earning the Traveler badge.

 

The Webelos program may be a so-called transition to Boy Scouts, but is still very much Cub Scouts in the way achievements/requirements are signed-off and the way the program is run. If the Webelos are active and show up for den meetings, they will likely complete their activity badges organized by their Den Leader (Adult-run meetings, Adult-organized activity badge classes).

 

In Boy Scouts it's completely different - a Scout can be very active in the Troop but his advancement can be very slow if the Scout does not take any personal initiative. This is a learning curve that not all scouts adjust to very well and many drop out. Alot of stuff for an 11 year old to take-in: Blue cards, unapproachable new scoutmaster, strange ASMs, boards of review? (huh), strange everything, etc. Finally, very boring Troop meetings. The last one is a very difficult one if the Webelos came from a Webelos Den that had exciting, fun, and meaningful den meetings.

 

Communication is Key: A troop that communicates poorly to new scouts and their parents regarding expectations is a further recipe for failure and this is a failure of the Troop, not the Scout.

 

 

[drmbear]

I'll start by saying that I am a Cubmaster, and I've been serving as one of the Webelos Den Leaders (along with a couple others) for my son's den - they are finishing up 4th grade. I was never a Cub Scout, but I stayed very active in Boy Scouts, am an Eagle Scout, and patrol method and "boy run" are deeply part of my understanding of Scouting, particularly as I spent several years running our council's Troop Leadership Development/Training programs. As I took on the job as CM, I knew my place, because I was essentially taking my all time favorite job in Scouting, I was getting to be the Senior Patrol Leader, and relive my youth. Although I only served briefly as an adult with Boy Scouts, I know that in that role there is someone else that has that job. Late last spring, just as my boys were getting set to transition into Webelos, I had them, completely on their own, work to come up with a den name. In the weeks that followed I left it to them to determine which activity badges we would work on and when, making sure they knew what was required. They've also been making decisions on the other activities they want to do. Among the parents, we've rotated around the role of "counsellor" for the activity badges, so it is not up to the parent when the requirements for the activity badges are met. When they satisfy the counsellor, then they are done. It will be interesting to see how they do as they move into Boy Scouts, but I know that my role is to let my boy find his own way, with his patrol, and with the Scoutmaster. I know my boy can read and follow the directions in his Scout Handbook on his own, without my involvement. Certain I will help my own boy to develop skills and mastery, but he'll get pointed to his patrol leader for working his way through the process. If a boy is not ready to have a conversation with a Scoutmaster when that is what is required, then he is just not ready. It's okay, because eventually he'll get ready.