We have an 11 year old, home schooled, in our district that is already into his third troop in a year. He came into scouts at the absolute minimum age, possibly even fudged it a bit, since his father was the webloe leader and cubmaster. While in cubs he "earned" every award available at every level, even though few other cubs in his unit earned many of them. Okay, maybe he just worked harder.
He was wearing a First Class patch within two months of entering a troop, but he had not had a board even for 2nd yet. His father just bought the patch and said he completed everything, so he should get to wear it. When questioned about the unit activity participation, he said that they did their own in his backyard with a couple of his patrol members from the cubs, and they did some service with another cub; now there was no tour permits filed, and the service (?) was not a troop activity. When they refused to approve the ranks, his father moved them to another troop. Now, the boy, who just turned officially eleven about 6 weeks ago is wearing a Life patch, even though the troop they moved to has not had a board or approved it; similar situations. The father, you guessed it, a lawyer, intimated legal questions in their not "immediately" approving this advancement, even when it was pointed out that a couple of things were not approved by anyone authorized to do so, and that even if they did, the unit has 30 days to arrange the board.
So, now they are in the process of, or have, moved to troop number 3. Will be interesting to see how this one works, as this troop has a tradition of not letting people slide; but the current SM is also a lawyer and met with the dad a couple of times prior to now.
Council of course refused to be involved. And the father has pointedly informed all that his "son's goal" is to become the youngest Eagle ever. For a while, the scout seemed willing to step back and work in the system, but now he has become just as demanding as his father. This is making him less than the most popular boy in the unit, and is also making scouts question how he is allowed to get away with this, when our own scouts are not. They all know each other, and the scout is beginning to "lord" it over the others who are pretty much where you might expect after a couple of years, or close to it, while he has less than a year. Yes, I am aware the time frames actually do not match up for Life quite yet, but even that is questioned by dad, as he claims the first class was finished exactly 30 days into his scout participation, and that the dates should have been adjusted to when he "completed the signed" items in the book.
Whatever, the real issue is how do we make it palatable to our own scouts who we are trying to have actually "earn" ranks and so on? Talk about personal pride? Talk about how we should listen to conscience? Any thoughts?
Meanwhile, waiting for the call from dad to me, though I do not see it happening, as he likely knows better.(This message has been edited by skeptic)
He was wearing a First Class patch within two months of entering a troop, but he had not had a board even for 2nd yet. His father just bought the patch and said he completed everything, so he should get to wear it. When questioned about the unit activity participation, he said that they did their own in his backyard with a couple of his patrol members from the cubs, and they did some service with another cub; now there was no tour permits filed, and the service (?) was not a troop activity. When they refused to approve the ranks, his father moved them to another troop. Now, the boy, who just turned officially eleven about 6 weeks ago is wearing a Life patch, even though the troop they moved to has not had a board or approved it; similar situations. The father, you guessed it, a lawyer, intimated legal questions in their not "immediately" approving this advancement, even when it was pointed out that a couple of things were not approved by anyone authorized to do so, and that even if they did, the unit has 30 days to arrange the board.
So, now they are in the process of, or have, moved to troop number 3. Will be interesting to see how this one works, as this troop has a tradition of not letting people slide; but the current SM is also a lawyer and met with the dad a couple of times prior to now.
Council of course refused to be involved. And the father has pointedly informed all that his "son's goal" is to become the youngest Eagle ever. For a while, the scout seemed willing to step back and work in the system, but now he has become just as demanding as his father. This is making him less than the most popular boy in the unit, and is also making scouts question how he is allowed to get away with this, when our own scouts are not. They all know each other, and the scout is beginning to "lord" it over the others who are pretty much where you might expect after a couple of years, or close to it, while he has less than a year. Yes, I am aware the time frames actually do not match up for Life quite yet, but even that is questioned by dad, as he claims the first class was finished exactly 30 days into his scout participation, and that the dates should have been adjusted to when he "completed the signed" items in the book.
Whatever, the real issue is how do we make it palatable to our own scouts who we are trying to have actually "earn" ranks and so on? Talk about personal pride? Talk about how we should listen to conscience? Any thoughts?
Meanwhile, waiting for the call from dad to me, though I do not see it happening, as he likely knows better.(This message has been edited by skeptic)
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