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scout with broken leg/ankle needs 5 mile hike


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So what would you do to keep a scout interested, excited and chugging along,

when he has a broken leg at the ankle, in the growth plate, so will be wearing a brace of some kind probably til christmas,

and all he needs to do is a 5 mile hike(or 10 mile bike) to finish his 2nd class and 1st class rank badges?

he may be released to hike in a month or two,

possible bike might be earlier, as it's not so weight bearing, but 10 miles is a long ways.

 

just wonderin. got one discouraged little guy.

 

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Let him try it if he wants to. The difficulty of the bike thing depends a lot on terrain and traffic, I don't know where you are. Otherwise he can start work on requirements for other ranks which don't involve that kind of physical action. One activity which might work well is for him to work to perfect his cooking skills. This has the added advantage of providing instant gustatory gratification...he gets to eat the product.

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While I wasn't a Scout when it happened, I was a Scouter and youth Arrowman when my accident happened. Heck it was during an OA ceremony when it happened but that's a different story :)

 

Anyway. As other have mentioned, if he wants to work on MBs, let him. If he can teach some scout skills at meetings, let him. Let him decide what to do and how to do it, BUT make sure he doesn't overdue it. Been there, done that, and made the situation worse ;)

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Both hiking, and cycling are out, the break at that ankle needs to heal....modify the requirement as it's for the now a disabilty, and do a 10 miler canoe trek on a Class B river (flat water with a slow current) with no portages instead. If he's done a swim check within the past year, meeting the requirements for swimmer, he should be good to go. If not...

 

from Safety Afloat...

 

"A person who has not been classified as a "swimmer" may ride as a passenger in a rowboat or motorboat with an adult swimmer, or in a canoe, raft, or sailboat with an adult who is trained as a lifeguard or a lifesaver by a recognized agency..."

 

see - http://meritbadge.org/wiki/index.php/Alternate_Requirements_for_the_First_Three_Ranks

 

I'm sure your Council has enough flexibilty, and foresight to allow for the change ...

(This message has been edited by le Voyageur)

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I don't know the textbook answer without looking, but my off-the-cuff response would be that it is not appropriate to modify advancement requirements for a short term disability. Perhaps if it is something that is expected to last a year or more, but if 3-4 months is the most you are talking about, there are plenty of less strenuous things he can work on, as others have noted.

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My own feeling is that the lad still has a bit of growing to do, bone growth is a slow process and calcification at the break may require PT for a longer period of time, as the location of where that break is at is problematical. I would bounce it off the Doc to see what the long term prognoisis is...if it's fall within that 3 to 5 month time frame, then work on other things. Should it require a longer period of time, go to a plan B...

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Approving an alternate requirement due to disability is up to your Council Advancement Committee. If it's just a short term thing, as described, or the scout cannot absorb this delay because of age, I think the answer will be no. Never hurts to ask, though.

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Realistically he has to wait and work on MB's; preferably Eagle related ones and he should not be "slowed down" much if keeping an advancement schedule is his concern.

 

Theoretically a hand cranked recumbent bicycle could be used for a 10 mile bike ride requirement. I have an amputee friend who uses one; He burns more calories that way--it is hard work. YMMV

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This really becomes a conversation between you, the boy, and his parents.

 

Even if this is a kid who will probably be hiking anyway in January, talk to your district advancement chair about applying alternate requirements now because of his temporary situation. Regadless of what the DAC says, what you want is to be able to tell the boy, "This is what other boys around the council in your situation have done ..."

 

Out of respect for boys with permanent disabilities the kid might decide, "I want to do the req's for real. I'll wait. In the meantime, can you give me a blue card for First Aid MB?"

Or, if he knows that other boys in his shoes (cast) have been given the appropriate waivers, he might decide, "Let me do the alternate requirement. You know I'll go hiking with my patrol in the spring."

 

If you think he's ready to hold a position of responsibility, let him know that. Even if it won't count for rank advancement, the awareness that he can still be an important part of the troop might cheer him up.

 

If he is an FC scout at heart, then this will be a good lesson on how he can take is rank advancement into his own hands.

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Well the scout book does have a * next to this requirement, which says

"If you use a wheelchair, or crutches, or if it is difficult for you to get around, you may substitute 'trip' for 'hike'."

 

So the requirement states

Using a compass and a map together, take a 5-milke hike (or 10 miles by bike) aproved by your adult leader and your parent or guardian)

 

 

so how do you define trip in the place of hike?

 

*if the goal is 5 miles of exercise, that's 5 miles of walking on flat land or otherwise getting yourself from point A to point B in a way that works for your difficulty but is still physical.

*if the goal is to use the compass and map to travel over a long distance, what is an appropriate way to travel?--pulled in a wagon by his patrol as he navigates? on a golf cart? in a car?

 

Scoutmaster is thinking about it, so are parents

 

what do you think?

 

As for suggestions, he can't work on star until he gets 1st class. "while a first class scout" preferences the stuff, and he's done with all in 1st class except contacting inactive scouts and he's got the phone list for a few guys to contact. that will take an afternoon.

 

He's got a few merit badges he'll work on,

cooking he did as one of his first ones, he and his brother are troop chefs most campouts.

but cooking over the campstove while using crutches isn't exactly a good idea most of the time. :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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"While a First Class Scout" has nothing to do with merit badges. Do some. Is there some big hurry here? Why are we trying to dream up ideas to go around the requirements? When does he plan to make Star? Is this slowing him down for that?

Advancement is only one of the 8 methods. How did it become the only thing that matters? What kind of message are we giving this Scout and the rest of the troop?

I don't get it.

BDPT00

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