How age appropriate merit badges fit into the scouting experience.
Show Notes:
- Troop30’s Merit Badge suggested sequence. This is another groups take on age appropriate merit badges.
- Merit Badge difficulty chart. This chart is from a summer camp, and offers another take on the merit badges they offer.
- Troop 221 suggested sequence. Offering another take.
Transcript:
Years ago there used to be a rule, I’m not sure if it was an official rule or it was a local rule within troops or councils that Scouts under first class were not allowed to earn merit badges.
I’ve heard this here or there from old time scouters, and while we don’t follow this rule today, there is some merit behind it.
In our troop I am very weary of assigning certain merit badges to younger scouts. Especially Eagle required badges.
I’m sure in most troops, you have a few eager beavers who become merit badge happy. While I have never seen this enthusiasm to be a problem with the scouts, I have seen it become a problem with some parents.
There’s a reason that we shy away from letting 11 year olds take personal management, or e-prep. I personally feel to get the most out of these badges you need to have a basis of understanding of scout skills, by earning tenderfoot, second class and first class.
While we don’t have a strict rule against taking particular badges, first aid, for example is a lot more helpful if you’ve been exposed to the ideas of bandages and breaks prior to the merit badge session.
Councils as well have been getting on board this merit badge train and have been offering badges at their day camps and council offices. The simple offering of these is also not a problem, the problem is with the feeling that council needs to bend over backwards just because the scout — mom or dad — has shelled out a few dollars so the boys need to leave with something.
This really goes against the whole idea of the merit badge program. While it shouldn’t be impossible to earn badges, it shouldn’t be as easy as watching a tv show while scooping up spaghetti-oo-s.
The backstop of all of these problems has always been the scoutmaster. The scoutmaster’s job is to make sure the badge is appropriate for the scout. But when scouts just simply sign up, and councils just give them a blue card – the card they are supposed to get from their troop — it can cause lots of friction within unit, because they leave the scoutmaster in the position of being the bad guy.
I’ve held merit badge cards back from scouts who did not follow our procedure to obtain permission and take a badge, and especially for those who I know do not have the background to do a badge.
In my mind, you can’t simply hand over a completed card for first aid without making a personal first aid kit, and you can’t get camping merit badge without actually doing the camping.
So, if in this I become a bit of the bad guy. So be it. Take what you like and leave the rest, and as we say in Woodbadge, feedback is a gift, leave yours below in the comments, with the hope we can all learn together.
I’m Scoutmaster Dave, and this was merit badges and young scouts.
