Re: Awards Chairman Woes

Tammy,

A 'problem/challenge' of Cub Scout program is often training the adults to
be as responsible as the boys. The glory-hound mother is not doing her boy
any good and he probably knows it. In our Pack the Den Leaders must turn in
advancement reports and then the Cubmaster picks up the awards at the
Council office (I just wish we had an active enough committee to have your
problem).

The sports program is run very flexibly, but the general rule is that the
boy must participate actively in a sport for either a month or in some big
event such as vacation sports days (one day intros to a particular sport
run by our parks & rec department). The sports pins have more specific
requirements.

In regard to 'spurts' of achievement, I have seen boys legitimately finish
three or four achievements at the Wolf or Bear level in a week. This boy
was *very* motivated. I generally have a Parents Den Meeting at the
beginning of the year where I explain advancement and how to pace the boys
through the program. One of the other DLs has a boy who finished Wolf in
two months (without parental prodding) and *all* of the arrow point
electives by March. He is bright and gifted and a real challenge keep up
with.

The bottom line is that I do not directly challenge any boy on what their
parents sign off in the book at the Wolf/Bear level. At the Webelos level I
ask the boy to show me the projects made or to discuss the knowledge
gained. Not a complete review, but a quality check. I discovered one boy
was essentially check off things that he had done sometime in his life. I
explained that now that he was older that these activities will teach him
new things, so try visiting the animal park as a 9 year old rather than a 4
year old.

Hope this of some help.

Doug Flewelling
Webelos Den Leader
Pack 301, Bangor, ME

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