Who fills out the blue card?

[eghiglie]

 

I know this query might seem laughable to some but this topic has taken on some major implications.

 

Who is supposed to fill out the merit badge card for a boy? I'm referring to just the application part here.

 

Is it the Boy? Scoutmaster? Parent?

 

Who should fill out the worksheet?

[scoutldr]

Not sure I understand your question. I don't think it's important who actually fills in the information. But the SM must sign the card before the boy starts work (approval to begin work on the badge), and the MBC must sign that the badge has been completed. Worksheets are not required, but are just a tool that some MBC and camp staffs use. Again, it's the signatures on the blue card that are important and are the only record that need to be retained until the scout makes Eagle. Emphasis on "retained"...Council records are not always complete or accurate. The final determinant is the blue card (note: not all councils use blue cards).

[Lisabob]

Note that the worksheets are entirely optional (I'm supposing you mean the ones you can download in PDF or word doc form for most merit badges) and not all MBCs encourage them. I don't use them. Some scouts like them and certainly some parents like them though. If a scout were using the worksheets then I would expect the scout to have filled it out and not the parents or other Scouters. (Unless there's some kind of disability issue preventing the scout from recording his thoughts on his own)

 

About Blue Cards - I expect the scout to have filled out his part of the card. I'd question why a parent was doing it, if that's the case. This isn't rocket science and parents(and Scouters) need to let go if they can't trust their kid to do this on their own.

[Beavah]

Yah, I'm wonderin' what da "major implications" are for somethin' that's just an optional piece of paperwork, eh?

 

Care to fill us in, eghiglie?

 

Sometimes we adults make paperwork mountains out of molehills, eh?

 

Beavah

 

[evmori]

Who's merit badge is it?

 

The Scout fills out all the information he can (name, address, merit badge) and the Scoutmaster adds the MB counselor's info. The MB counselor then completes his part & the SM completes his/her final part prior to turning it over to the Advancement Chair.

 

Ed Mori

1 Peter 4:10

[Its Me]

The scout should fill out the blue card. Ideally I like to see all the requirements including the sub-requirements listed. I haven't run out of lines yet but there may be a MB out there with too many requirements for a Blue Card. (shame on the Zealot who engineered that MB program)

 

At the last PLC meeting I announced that I wasn't going to take a Blue Card from a parent. Not to open and not too close. As SM and an occasional MB counselor I cherish the face to face time I spend with the scout.

 

Besides if you follow the old adage, "if a scout can do it, let him" then the kid fills out his own Blue Card.

 

 

(This message has been edited by Its Me)

[thebigguy]

its always been our troops policy that the mb counciler fills in the chart but the rest is done by the scout. the parents have no busness even seeing a blue card, let alone turning one in, or asking for one.

[Ohio_Scouter]

With all sub-requirements listed, Auto Mechanics takes 3 blue cards to complete!

[Bob White]

eghiglie,

 

Other than what specific signatures are required, nothing in the BSA advancement policies or procedures requires that any specific person or person filling the form.

 

The important thing is that the card be completed, not who completes it. The purpose of the card is to create a three part receipt: one for the counselor, one for the unit records, and one for the scout.

 

To micro-manage who filled in the blanks other than the signature lines is unnecesarry.

 

 

[eghiglie]

Thanks for all the inputs.

 

When I went to training I was told one thing that "only the boy should fill out the blue card" and present his own work. I guess the training content varies widely from council to council.

 

In our troop a few parents insist on filling out the blue cards. When I went based on the training I pushed back. I realize now that pushing back on who fills it out is not a good use of my time.

 

If I could just get the parents to stop doing there work, which is another battle. All of a sudden I have 10 boys in the troop (out of 12 ) who don't know how to write or type.

 

[Lisabob]

I agree you need to choose your battles but at the same time, if parents are so into living Jr's life for him that they cannot let him fill out his own blue card, sheesh!

 

Maybe you could start circumventing parental hovering on this one by handing the card and a pen directly to the scout and reminding HIM to fill it out right there on the spot, before mom/dad gets a hand on the darn thing. Or maybe there's a SM minute in here somewhere about taking responsibility for oneself, both in big matters and in small ones.

[packsaddle]

Around these parts, we're lucky to use a blue card at all. But I get the spirit of the question and it varies. If I am doing a MB with a boy I'll ask him if he wants to fill out the card. If he doesn't, I do it for him. No big deal. FTR, I like the blue cards. But it might just be my tendency to be a traditionalist.

[acco40]

I agree with Bob White from a BSA policies and procedures perspective. However, in our troop what I do as Scoutmaster is I will not sign blank blue cards. As a minimum, I require the Scout's name and the merit badge he would like to pursue. Then I will sign it and assign a merit badge counselor. I do not write that information on the card, I have the Scout do that, but I do give him the information verbally. I have a preference that the Scout, not the parent(s) fill out all the other information. I've noticed many boys like to use pencil and I discourage that as well - stick with ink.

 

After the Scout receives my signature and date on the card the rest is up to the Scout and his counselor. As a counselor, I fill in the requirements section and dependent on the card, one requirement or sub-requirement at a time (i.e. req. 3b) or possibly just a big complete across the section. I just make sure it is easily understood. I never hold on to a blue card and am even reluctant to transport it to the advancement chair (my wife) for a Scout.

[acco40]

eghiglie - I have a simple solution to your problem. At the next Court of Honor (assuming this is where you formally recognize Scouts who earn merit badges), award a merit badge to the parent. Keep a straight face, remain pleasant, An now if Mrs. Gloria Swanson would step forward, Gloria has completed all the requirements for earning the Coin Collection merit badge. Of course, she may just sit at her chair stunned but motion her up, give her the badge, shake her hand, etc. Then call another Scout up. Then, and only then, call up Johnny Swanson and award him his Coin Collection merit badge. This tactic will only cost you the price of a merit badge and should easily get the point across to everyone.