christineka

Are they Still active? I am Interested in How Many Scouters who get ASAP EAGLES...Stay involved in Scouting for Years and Years to Come after they Eagle vs. Those who Barely Make Eagle by 18. I know more Scouters who have put in Decades of Volunteer work after aging out as Eagles "barely" than I do Scouters who ASAP'd Eagle and Stuck Around to Volunteer.

 

Can a Case be Made that ASAP EAGLES are there for Themselves and Not Scouting as a Whole more than AGED OUT EAGLES?

 

Wonder if it has something to do with when someone Eagles..Could an Easily Earned Eagle lead to less Return Volunteers?

I wonder if anyone has done a Survey on the correlation of Age Achieved Eagle and Retention in Scouting...also Rank Achieved vs Retention?

Our cubs pass out the bags in February- or maybe March? It's spring-like anyway. The boy scouts collect.

do not give them worksheets. they'll go home and do webelos pins as if they are homework assignments which takes ALL the fun out of scouting.

How is a denner chosen? How long do they serve? What does a denner do? How do you remind a denner of his role? Do you have to buy the rope thing for the uniform? (Our pack doesn't have those.) Does being a denner count toward anything in webelos? We attempted having denners in Bears- gave each boy a month (to fulfill the bear achievement) and it didn't go so well.

do not give them worksheets. they'll go home and do webelos pins as if they are homework assignments which takes ALL the fun out of scouting.

In my area the day camp is for only 2 days. I have the same problem with parents marking anything that was sorta like the achievement. I even have a parent marking stuff for her Webelos that he sorta did when he was a Bear. It doesn't count if he wasn't a webelos!

Some councils offer it as stand alone, some combine it with IOLS, some combine it with BALOO. I took it combines with BALOO. Some participants only showed up for the BALOO sections. I was told at the time that OWL was required to take the Webelos den camping separate from the pack, BALOO for the whole pack. Others on this board have pointed out that is not correct. How much longer are you going to be a Webelos Leader ? Are you planning on becoming a BS leader soon ?

If I recall correctly this is the CM control freak and has a younger boy in two different packs as well, correct ? You can try and fight this battle with her and others have given good advise on how to do that. You also need to work with this person and need her to cooperate with you on certain issues. Her "bling fling" is primarily hurting her son and not yours, so I would be cautious in confronting her. Pick your battles. Her son will know he didn't earn the badges, your son will know he did.

The cub master is a reasonable person. I think she's just misguided. Our webelos leader was doing nothing for 6 months and didn't do a whole lot before. I don't think she even read the manual- just went off worksheets and check lists.

All four of my webelos have already been awarded outdoorsman. (I know 3 out of the 4 didn't complete all requirements, but the people giving out awards don't care about that.) I know knots- been the knot person in the pack because I took the time to watch youtube videos over and over, until I learned all the required knots. I know how to pitch a tent and build a fire and all that. (My dad is a scouter and he made sure I knew how to camp.)

The boys already earned geologist, naturalist, and forester.

OWL training is this Saturday. I need to know if I need to beg the committee member to use our pack money to pay for me to attend. (And if I should attend.) I gather that this is training for all the outdoor activity badges, but all of them were covered at webelos camp. Why should I need to know all about doing them, when I don't do those badges? Having attended webelos camp, I am aware that the boys are really rushed through it all and don't learn quite as much as they should, but the committee member and cub master will dole out the awards anyway. (I took more time to make sure my son had learned and completed all the camp badges.)

I am in a non-traditional unit (LDS), so the boys have one year for webelos and there really isn't a whole lot of time, especially when you consider that boys come and go throughout the year, coming in and out on birthdays, so I've got to cover citizenship and healthy eating every 6 months.

So, do I need this OWL training?

I am going to try a more educated proposal to several scout troops in attempt to find my den a den chief.

Is it worth trying?

If you don't like confrontation, it's not worth it.

If you like helping a boy (and maybe parent) get the most out of scouting, it's probably worth it.

 

I would ask the cubmaster point blank if there's anything I've done to not be worthy of the privilege of going over the boy's book with him.

Pack meeting is this week. I think I'll make up a "Webelos Fact Sheet" to give to all the parents. (This parent isn't the only one confused- just the only one that has the power to tell the committee member what to buy.) Are there any already made fact sheets? I'd love to not have to reinvent the wheel.

I am a webelos leader. I have learned that I am supposed to be the one signing off on achievements. The boys can do stuff at home, but I need to go over it with them and sign them off. The cub master has a webelos son. I've never even seen his book. She sent the cub committee member the list of awards he's earned, but I haven't talked to him about them at all! He moves on to Boy scouts in January. Is this something I should even try changing now? Is there a diplomatic way of letting the cub master know that this is not okay and that I really need to talk to her son about achievements and have me be the one to sign him off?

How do you get these boys, who want to do a great job on their craftsman projects? We did tangrams with the wood. I showed the boys how to draw the lines and the whole mathematics of making the shapes. Only my son used mathematics and a ruler to make the lines. The other boys just drew the lines (that weren't very straight and were not precise at all) and then cut themselves some sloppy shapes. These boys (minus my son, who is a perfectionist) have the mentality that they would like to do the most with the least amount of effort.

Those people are a bit weird! Anyway, in webelos breakout, they said we can do one thing and make it count for 2. Really? Isn't that cheating? Some examples: make a catapult out of wood- counts for craftsman and engineering. Make a floor plan and an escape plan- counts for readyman and engineering, make a puppet- counts for showman and craftsman. Man, I wanted my boys to work! So, really and truly this is okay?

I think it's sad that I am LDS, in an LDS chartered group, and our cub committee member expressed disdain for how the church runs scouts. What the LDS church has done is to take scouts and adapt it for a program that was already set in place. The LDS church looked at the ideals of scouting and found them to fit with the church's ideals for boys, so adapted the program. It is not the same as traditional scouting, but I don't see how that part really matters- it just makes things more difficult with kids coming and going at different times of the year.

The adult staffing is problematic. People are called to be scout leaders, instead of volunteering themselves. These volunteers are supposed to "do their best", but often the called leaders don't want to be leaders, yet they accept the position anyway, and then the boys suffer. It's really frustrating. (Dealing with this in my own pack right now.)

I also brought a lighter to melt the ends of the cords. I bet making flame in the church building is not allowed either. The boys thought that part was cool, too.

We're still working on craftsman. Tonight the boys started off sewing buttons. A few had trouble. One even complained about it being "women's work". (We took care of that.) Then we moved on to sewing a simple drawstring bag with a machine. (We split so 2 boys made duct tape wallets, two sewing and then swapped.) I was really surprised. The boys loved the sewing machine! One boy's mom was there doing the wallets and the boy had to excitedly show his mom what he had sewn in between steps. I had the kid with issues just press the pedal and help with pinning and he absolutely loved it. I was really surprised!

Not everyone is on facebook. Or they are, but never post pictures of their children. It is a sensitive subject. I would ask the parents for permission before posting photos on facebook.

While OP is off checking with pros, I propose a challenge/question: Can someone show me where, in the 2013 Requirements, or the 2013 Guide to Advancement that a Scout must perform the Joining Requirements (Scout Badge) in order to earn any rank? I've read and don't see it. In the spirit of "no more no less", does it really need to be earned?

As for tracking their achievements /pins - I used a spreadsheet I found online. Webelos tracks. It was free and I would update it at home on my computer after each meeting and then pass out the printed sheet every month or so as we completed things -still signed the book. Out troop uses a similar advancement sheet system so it was art of the getting ready to cross over preps. Prizes for uniform are fun, but be careful because you might have boys that come to the meeting right from a sport. And while it doesn't ake long to change a shirt, it might be the one thing the parent can't tackle. For me it was better to have the kid there in a sweaty sport uniform tan not have the kid there at all and miss the opportunity to earn pins. Usually the peer pressure of everyone else being dressed correctly was enough for the kid. You want it to be inclusive & fun.

I'm going to try to start implementing talking to the boy before passing stuff off, since that's the way we should be doing it. Not sure how I interview my own son, when he lives in my house and I do these interviews at home as he tells me of completing a requirement.

I attended a scout leadership meeting last night. Some things I heard were just reiterated, not anything new. (Like this topic.) I have the webelos. They've been in scouts for 2 - 2.5 years. It's something they do because they have to, though I know my son enjoys it as does one other boy. I know one boy comes because his parents make him and the last, I'm not real sure about, though my guess is that he comes because he has to, yet he is compliant and enjoys himself.

The two boys, who come because they want to, wear their uniform, their shirt is buttoned, have their neckerchief, bring their books, and have both the cub scout and boy scout law, promise, etc memorized.

The other boys might or might not wear their uniform shirt. It's never buttoned and they ignore me when I ask for them to button. I have not seen their books. (Having inherited this position after someone else, who had been mia for months, I really need to see those books to find out what those boys have and have not completed!) One boy will read the promise, law, etc from the book (guess which) and the other refuses.

How can I inspire my boys to show up with their shirts on, buttoned, and bring their books? I wear my scout shirt. I bring all the things I need for the den meeting. We used to offer double treats to the boys, who wore their uniform and brought their books, but I have issues with treats as rewards.

We have this problem in cub scouts. I have been counseling my own son to be honest, so he does not accept awards he has not earned. I need to work with the other boys in my den on this as well. Hopefully, when they move up to boy scouts, they will have the integrity to refuse badges they have not earned. I suspect the awarding of unearned merit badges is happening in the church troop. (Very, very likely)