vogelb

Great points BP and VV. I have never implied that the approval to pursue a merit badge should be automatic. However, I do feel tha the type of discussion between a scoutmaster and a scout is EXACTLY what should be happening.

Amen ScoutNut!! And this is my point in asking the question that started this thread. Unless the merit badge states a prerequisite, the decision to pursue a merit badge is the scout's. The troop that stated you have to complete the Citizenship MB's in order??!! Who determined that there is an order? The alphabetical order that they are listed in? Then I suppose we should start with A... The Guide to Advancement, and the MBC training states that any registered scout may work on any merit badge at any time with the approval of his unit leader. The G2A and MBC training also state that no one may add to or subtract from the requirements. Unless the MB requires the scout to be a certain age, rank, height, weight, hair color, etc. no one, including the SM can add requirements.

That said, aside from explaining the requirements and the amount and nature of work invovled in a given merit badge, and understanding that it is the MBC responsibility to sign off that the scout has met the requirements, what valid reason could a SM have for denying a scout approval to pursue a given MB? Most of the reasonis that have been presented, short of the scout's behavior, centered more on the SM not approving of the MBC. Last time I checked, it is the local council that approves MBC and not the unit. Ifg the SM has an issue with a given MBC he may suggest the scout work woth someone else but otherwise the SM should bring this up to the district and or council if the MBC is not up to par.

Thanks for the great feedback. What if there is not a physical limitation such as the scout can barely pass the swim test; natural "pre-requisite" such as you should do swimming before canoeing; or there is another serious issue such as the discipline problem cited by Beavah? Should the SM "counsel" the scout who may be taking on more than the SM thinks they can handle or should he simply state "I won't approve you to start on the MB because I do not think you are ready" without further explanation or discussion?

By the way, BSA while there may be plenty of reasons for wanting the scout to pursue the MB with someone other than a parent as the conselor, BSA specifically states that a MBC can counsel a relative, including their own son. Some of the other issues brought up seem to be more along the lines of being in agreement with who the counsleor is rather than the scout pursuing the badge. A counsleor who is not Youth Protection trained cannot be a MBC per the BSA.

As for teh example cited by Moosetracker: "a scoutmaster may want the scout to wait to do a difficult merit badge until he is old enough to understand example a 10 or 11 year old may not be old enough to really understand Citizen & the World, or Environmental Science" isn't that really up to the MBC to see thatt he scout has completed the requirements to their satisfaction? Now if the SM feels the scout is unable to do that - that is again an opportunity for the SM to counsel the scout and as Jay K stated - get the two of them on the same page.

I look forward to your additional thoughts on the matter.

Under what circumsatnces can a Scoutmaster withold approval for a scout to work on a merit badge? The Guide to Advancement states that any registered scout may work on any merit badge at any time as long has he has the approval of his unit leader. What reason should a unit leader withhold approval?

If you cook on camp outs or have campfires, include several fire extinguishers. We purchased the small ones with wall mounts and mounted them on the trailer walls. Mount a first aid kit inside the door or on the side wall. D-Rings mounted on the walls also allow you to use tie-downs or bungee cords to secure equipment in place. Steel or wood shelv ing you build does add a lot of weight and are difficult to keep clean. We used metal wire shelving that we could adjust to the size of the gear being stored on that shelf. If you utilize plastic containers as others have suggested, be sure to get ones that you can see through - label as necessary but you will find things quickly get moved around. We also use the plastic containers to pack food for weekend campouts so it is protected from travel damage and organize it by meal - makes it really easy to pull out Saturday breakfast, Saturday lunch, etc. and the bread and fruit don't get crushed.

I have the opposite problem. Our council posts a training calendar in the fall that runs through December. Most of the districts schedule their training within one or two weekends because they are trying to avoid conflicts with all of the other weekend activities planned by council and the district. It is now the end of March and the Fall schedule is still all that is posted. I have five adults that want, need and are willing to attend SM/ASM training but it is not available. One district has scheduled it for this weekend which is in conflict with our Merit Badge College. The adult training at MBC includes a number of training programs that are available on line but none of the training classes that must be done live. The SE forwards my emails to others but never directly responds. The VP for training does not responid. Other staff refer me to other volunteers who have not responded to my emails. My own district just announced that they will announce training dates next month for the classroom sessions for Spring and Fall and IOLS for Fall so they can combine both groups into one IOLS session.

Every scout deserves a trained leader....where do I get the training?

How true! The transition from new cub scout parent to experienced leader is amazing. As cubmaster I often tell new parents that the job description is "be silly and ridiclous". Zwhat could be better than this?

I know that others have stated this but...

The answer is simple - as a Tiger the scout has to have a rersponsible adult partner present and invovled at all times.

Bueler?

Bueler?

If mom want's her son to be in scouting, she has to be directly invovled at all times. That is how the Tiger program works.

To answer some of your questions:

1. We have a pack of about 50 to 55 scouts, currently in 5 mostly excessively large dens. We use ScoutTrack to manage the calendar, advancement data and reports, email lists, den and pack roster, etc. The only real drawback to ScoutTrack is the lack of financial software and the need to maintain a separate website. However, the cost of ScoutTrack is extremely reasonable and as another poster stated, you can view the actual requirements and even give parents (or restrict access) to record acheivements.

2. If you have a decent size pack that is earning a lot of acheivements (belt lops and pins, patches for various activities, etc.) and very busy pack meetings, the zip lock bag may be necessary to limt the number of times you are bringing the same scouts up to receive awards. What we do for general acheivements/awards is have the den leader present the zip lock to the scout and announce everything they have earned that month. For rank advancement, religous medal recognition, and other major acheivements the scouts are brought up and presented the awards with some broef explanation of the award and why the scout is being recognized.

3. You can find some great advancement ceremonies that you can modify for your specific purpose in the monthly plan for pack meetings, the Meetings and Ceremonies book and on a million web sites.

4. I disagree with the post taht stated you only need the current year for cub scouts. This may be true if you do not want to know what belt loops and pins have already been earned so you do not have to present them again. Webelos is a two year program and many requirements build from others. If you have more than a couple of Weelos scouts, you'll never keep track of this.

Leader 1118: I assume when you say AC, you are refering to the Assistant Cubmaster. As I read your post, I sense that there are several issues here. The obvious issue is with the ACM deciding that he is in charge of everything and it does not matter what the committee decides. You do not mention how many parents or others are invovled on the committee which some may think is not important but I suggest that it is an easier problem to deal with if you have the support of your committee members. The second issue I "hear" between the lines is the sense of leadership burnout that is common when few people do the bulk of the work. After three years, it is not uncommon for leaders to be feeling overwhelmed and underappreciated. That coupled with the fact that your boys want more face time with MOm and Dad rather than sharing them with the other oys and adults and you have a recipe for leader fatigue. Believe it or not, by correcting this problem you will in all likliehood solve the problem with your ACM.

The advice you are getting form council, if I am reading correctly, is right on. You need to engage more adult leadership if you, and the pack, are going to survive. I can suggest that you be extremely selfish but in a positive way. Call a parent meeting that invovles all your current leaders and those parents that are not invovled. Call it your annual planning meeting if that is what it will take to get them there. Enlist the help of a local Boy Scout troop to have someone their to keep the kids busy while you meet. OPen the meeting with a statement that you are their to plan the pack activities and calendar for next year. Then announce that because your son is a Web 2, you and your husband will be crossing over with him to a troop and in order to continue to provide a viable pack, every parent that is not crossing over will need to assume some role and function starting in August. Hand out a sheet of paper that lists all of the positions that will need to be filled - even those that are currently filled - along with a brief job description for that position. You can find this on the BSA website or on any number pf other websites. Add any task specific roles that your pack utilizes such as treasurer, camping chair, pine wood derby chair, blue and gold chair, etc. Tell everyone thatthese these are the roles that need to be filled in order for the boys to have a program and that before they leave the meeting you need to know who will take on each of them. After that - shut your mouth and wait. Nature abhors a vacuum so if you stop talking, someone else will and the jobs will either get filled or the pack will fold after you cross over. Either way, your problem is solved - It is not your responsibility to ensure the continuation of the pack - it is the chartered organization and the committee's responsibility. As COR you simply represent the CO but if your committee and parents are not willing to step up - you cannot force them to.

When enough parents get invovled (there are never enough parents invovled) the ACM will not be able to function as an independent entity. Invovlement equals commitment not the other way around. Every leader starts out as a reluctant leader if they really got into scouting for the right reasons. Get everyone trained so they are deliveringthe program the way it is meant to be delivered and the ACM cannot hijack the program to deliver his own agenda.

Good luck

Why do you have to call her anything? She can be a committee member who takes on whatever tasks need to be done and that she is willing to or you could call her an assistant cubmaster if you really feel a title is necessary. You are allowed to have more than one ACM and her duties could be more administrative in nature than your current ACM. But for my money, get her registered, on the committee and invovled. By going that route, you will continue to show parents that they do not need to take on a "job" (read title) to contribute.

We spent a fair amount of time this summer researching alternatives to Scout Track and decided to stick with it. None of the other programs were as easy to use and allowed the ease of email notifications and reminders without having to go back in and program another email. The calendar in Scout Track works really well in this way and the ability to enter multiple acheivements for one or multiple scouts without having to click through so many screens made us choose to stay.

I will say we have a real IT savvy parent who set up our website and a shopping cart so we can register people for camp outs and other events without having to chase people for money. Also, our treasurer runs all of the accounting on Quick Books so it is not integrated with the member database in Scout Track but we have figured it all out and are very happy. If you allow parents to enter acheivements themselves, I think there is nothing better than Scout Track.

Did you have an event in June? In order to earn the pin, a scout has to have attended one activity in each of June, July and August. If they attend an activity in July and two in August, this does not qualify. The PAck earns the award fro holding at least one activity in each of the three months as well.

Since the scouts do not change from Tiger to Wolf until the conclusion of the vurrent school year (approx. June 1) they are registered as Tigers for purposes of your rechartering. Don't worry about the adult partners for your Tigers, they are at no charge when you re-charter. Since every Tiger you currently has is supposed to have an adult partner, they shou;ld already be on your roster.

Our pack charges $15 per year at recharter to cover cost of registration and insurance plus a couple of dollars for general expenses. New scouts pay $40 which goes to general funds for repairs and replacements for pack equipment (trailer,cooking equipment, derby track, etc.) Of course Boy's Life is optional and charged seperately. Dens determine their own dues but usually $1 per meeting so the boys learn to "pay their own way". We have not had a fundraiser but expect to do one this spring to cover the balance of general expenses.