Cub Scout Rank Advancement

Hello everyone,

We hold a 12-month pack schedule, including day camp, mini-webelos camp,
full-week webelos camp, and summertime fun days. We "graduate" Scouts into
the next level in May, and our Webelos II usually go into Boy Scouts at the
Blue & Gold. We have Scouts earning their rank badges almost every month!
We work on themes, and usually just mentally make up some sort of
celebration for the Cubs who earn their ranks each month. I just make sure
and bring some token items for the theme, and carry on from there.

We also are adamant about school work coming first. If the Scout shows up
with homework, or someone mentions that "their homework is in the car" --
they get the honor(?) of bringing it inside and working on it at a
different table while we're doing Scout stuff. Our pack feels that the
order of responsibility for our pack is (1) school work, and then (2)
organizations that you are team members of -- and that includes Scouts,
organized sports or academic groups, and church groups. Now yes, sometimes
that means that a Cub may not be around for a month or two depending on
their other commitments, but part of what we try to impress on each boy is
that their life will be filled with choices, and they must stand by those
choices. If they are a member of a team (whether that be a Scouting
activity that they agreed to do or a sports team), the other members of
that team depend on them to accomplish/fill in what they said they were
going to do. "Loyalty" as a concept is not always clear, but we work on it
constantly.

We do not push the boys to earn their rank badges. The pack committee has
always allowed them the summertime to finish their previous rank, and then
if they come up in October or November and say "we did it!" -- That's
when they'll be awarded that rank. We know they've been working on their
present rank since September, cause we check their books every week and
help them where needed.

This is, of course, only one suggestion of how a pack works with rank
earnings. We did have one boy who finished his Wolf rank badge within two
months of joining the pack, and we know he did every solitary thing! He
has learned to "pace" himself!

Deb


Deb Morrow (corzines@siu.edu)
CubMaster, Pack 115, Murphysboro IL
Roundtable & Training Staff, Kaskaskia District
Offical Webmaster, Kaskaskia District
http://www.siu.edu/~women/KaskaskiaDistrict.html
Greater St. Louis Area Council
HOME: 1096 Macedonia Ridge Rd., Pomona IL 62975

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