For The Youth ONLY

[hotdesk]

In terms of earning the rank of Eagle, BSA does a great job of indentifing the role that parents and mentors play, by providing a father/mother pin and a mentor pin. Those that were involved in the process all get recognized during an ECOH!

 

In our pack, we make sure the scouts, parents, and other kids all have fun. All are welcomed to participate in our pack meetings and activities. We have an adult Christmas Party and we also do an Adult Pinewood Derby the night before the actual derby. Our Annual Planning Conference is done at a restraunt. We go out as a group after Roundtable. There's plenty of ways for adults to have fun!

 

 

[BadenP]

Gentlemen

 

It is called Boy Scouts of America for a reason, BSA24 you need to grow up. The adults are there to mold boys into leaders NOT to digress into their own childhood fantasies. That is a major problem with adult leaders in too many troops today, all they do is play like the boys instead of serving as role models and leaders for them. Yet we wonder why we continue to lose more boy scouts each year than any other scout program, I think some of the responses here answers that question very clearly.

[bigbovine]

I have to say that I haven't earned a single badge, knot, etc.. , but I am having a blast. Camping with the boys and watching them run through the woods making snare traps to catch a squirrel is what it is all about. Yeah, the Troop did the Personal Fitness Merit Badge together, but the SM and myself worked it right along with them. I didn't get no badge, but got a little more fit in the process, plus it was a big motivator for the boys.

 

It is just as much for the Adults as for the youth, because I am learning just as much from them (How to stay "Energetic and Lively") as they are from me (How to be a "Responsible Adult Leader").

 

 

[NJCubScouter]

I kind of think the current separation between youth recognitions (ranks and MB's) and adult recognitions (knots and medals for adult leadership and service, plus a couple knots corresponding to the highest ranks earned as a youth -- with some overlap for things like Mile Swim, 50 Miler, religious awards, etc., works pretty well. I don't think we need to have adults working on merit badges.

 

Interestingly, I know that my father did earn a few merit badges as a young Assistant Scoutmaster, in the late 1940's (between the two wars in which he served.) I do not think he earned any ranks as an adult, and his highest rank was Star. So he could have potentially earned Eagle as an adult, but I suspect that his military service, getting a career started, being an adult leader, and he also was a volunteer firefighter for awhile, was probably enough. And by the time he finished training to go to Korea (where he never actually went), adults could not participate in the youth advancement program. I probably should have asked him if he ever thought about going for Eagle as an adult, and if it was something that was really common, or looked-down upon, or what. I suspect it was probably somewhat controversial, since the era in which he could have done it was the same period in which the BSA did away with it.

 

[qwazse]

adult leaders in the 1970's as being jolly folks

 

Yeah, it's like in the 80's someone pounded a gavel and said "no more gay adults 'round here ..." (This message has been edited by Qwazse)

[howarthe]

I prefer Cub Scouting (and Girl Scouting and taekwondo) to soccer, basketball and little league because I get to play, too. I don't want to be my children's cheerleader. I want to be their playmate. Granted, this probably has a lot to do with my midlife crisis, but I'm certain that there are more destructive ways for me to get through it. I'm happy earning square knots instead of ranks.

 

I would like to learn the material associated with the Cub Scout Sports and Academics Program well enough to teach it. Geology is on the top of my list right now. I don't know anything about it, but I think I should. I don't need to wear the belt loops and pins though. It might be fun to collect them though. I could set a higher standard for myself: if I complete all ten items (boys choose five) then I can buy myself the pin and stick on a bulletin board in my office. Are those items restricted at the scout store?

 

I would also like to learn the material associated with some of the merit badges well enough to teach them. I was thinking about signing up to serve as a counselor for the geocaching merit badge. I like geocaching, but when I read the requirements I realized I didn't even understand one of them. It had something to do with different grid patterns aside from longitude and latitude. I read up on it a little bit, but I still don't understand it well enough to explain it to someone else. It hunk it would be alright for merit badge counselors to wear the merit badges that they were qualified to council on, but I don't think here isn't a rigorous process in becoming a merit badge counselor.

[howarthe]

Oh, this year I'm also going to try to earn the National Den Award. I think that's the perfect kind of recognition for adults: a list of requirements that let us know we are doing our jobs right. The Journey to Excellence award is like that, too. It takes the whole committee doing their jobs right, but everyone gets a patch for their shirt!

[Twocubdad]

Papadaddy beat me to it!

 

My grandfather was a Scoutmaster in the early '40s and we have records of him working on merit badges and ranks. I think he went as far as Star, which seems to be a popular cutoff.

 

I think adults earning Eagle is a terrible idea. For one, you look at the requirements and tell me it's not something you couldn't do inside 18 months. Shoot, Skeptic has boys doing it that fast. Would that really be a challenge/accomplishment for an adult?

 

On the other hand, Scouting better be fun/fulfilling for the adults or you're not going to have many adults around for long. I work with a great group of guys and we have a lot of fun together on campouts. Our troop adults camp and eat together. We enjoy each other's company but we also enjoy working with the boys as Scouters.

[BSA24]

I am not interested in personally earning eagle. I am already an eagle scout. I am interested in re-earning my merit badges and also others just for my own personal education. Maybe I will put the badges on a board or something in my home office for fun.

 

I don't think "grow up" is a snesible response from a man who enjoys being around youth who wears knee socks.

 

Thanks for the clarification on the year this actually changed. 1952. I also find the reasons for the change interesting.

 

Maybe we should not assume that the requirements for adults would be exactly stage same.

 

My main interest in this topic is that a lot of the leaders at know talk about how they wish they could do the program becuse they did not get to when they were kids. Also, a lot of our current adult awards are all based on training or working with adults or service to the company. I'd like to see our adults become better at scoutcraft and be first class scouts themselves.

 

Shouldn't the leaders be visibly marked as qualifying as first class level scouts somehow?

 

I'm still not convinced that I have read a convincing reason as to why this is a bad idea.(This message has been edited by bsa24)

[Twocubdad]

Shouldn't the leaders be visibly marked as qualifying as first class level scouts somehow?

 

They are. For SM/ASMs it is indicated by the "Trained" patch on their sleeve. T-2-1 skills are mostly what IOLS is about.

 

I have heard many adults wish they had stuck with the program as a youth, but have never heard anyone express in participating as an adult.

 

[BSA24]

What about cub scout leaders? Often they know nothing about scouting. send them to ITOLS?

[BadenP]

BSA24

 

Twocub answered your question the best. Maybe it is time for you to stop playing boy scout and worrying about earning rank/skill awards and instead concentrating on delivering the best quality program to your youth. The ranks are for the boys NOT the adults, it is time for you to let go of your childlike desires. There is plenty of recognition you can earn as an adult scouter that will teach you to develop and deliver a quality program.

[JMHawkins]

They are. For SM/ASMs it is indicated by the "Trained" patch on their sleeve. T-2-1 skills are mostly what IOLS is about.

 

Hoo-boy, talk about "one and done." Actually, "one and done" would have been an improvement, we didn't even do all the requirements ourselves at IOLS (e.g. we talked about lashings, but didn't do any).

 

I do think that adults having an opportunity to improve their scoutcraft is a good idea, especially when we have a relative paucity of those skills available to most programs. Training that is more rigorous than IOLS and goes more in depth is something I'm in favor of. I even think it should be fun!

 

But it also should be conducted separately from the ordinary youth-centered functions of the units and done in such a way that there's no chance it merges with the program delivered for the youth. There shouldn't be any sense that the scouts are competiting with the adults for recognition in the unit.

 

[howarthe]

I would jump at the chance to improve my scout craft. I really think I ought o know how to build a fire. I thought I did know. I took my children camping and learned that I don't know. At camp I kept my eyes open and noticed how the staff (and the dad) built their fires. I think I've got it now. Maybe I'll get the chance to try this weekend I'm camping with the girl scouts.

 

Pioneering is something else that interests me. I've seen the scouts build some neat things. I could probably teach myself from a book, but I'm at a loss for where to get some poles.

[JMHawkins]

Pioneering is something else that interests me. I've seen the scouts build some neat things. I could probably teach myself from a book, but I'm at a loss for where to get some poles.

 

Home Depot, Lowes, or your local lumber yard probably has lots of pole-like objects if you don't have any suitable "naturally occuring" poles. Closet rods are pretty good. If you don't want to spend that much money, get some dowels and make small models of things.