How challenging to be eagle scout?

[Anonymous]

Seems like all the eagle scout projects are like “I made this sign post” or “built this box to leave books in”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS would love to become one. How challenging is that? I just take a quick look at the requirement. For example, he probably can't earn the cycling badge because he can't even bike at age 11. Swimming is just okay, only can swim pool, but not to the point to save anyone or in ocean. Do scouts have to take lessons to learn swimming and cycling lessons on their own or den leader could teach them? He also has asd & adhd, do anyone know kids with diagnosis become eagle scout? The empathy part and volunteering part might be challenging for him to understand and executive to help others.

Less than 1% of boys who start Boy Scouts become an Eagle Scout.

In the history of scouting, there have been about 2.7 million Eagle Scouts, and almost 1 million of those in just the last two decades, which shows how much easier they made it to get now, becoming more worthless as a result.

Being an Eagle Scout 40 years ago was the same as having a PhD in many ways, as far as rarity and looking good on resumes. Now it's more like an online B.S. degree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
There are different ranks of eagle scouts, and you need to spend at least 6 months at each rank before you can advance to the next one.
During those six months you need to have a leadership position (some are more time consuming than others), achieve merit badges, and other requirements before you can test for the next level.

Just don't talk about things you know nothing about.

[Anonymous]

Buy a scouting manual. Every scout has to have one. It will list the age, time, merit badge, and other requirements for each rank.

There are 7 ranks from Boy Scout, Tenderfoot, Second Class, First Class, Star, Life, and Eagle being the highest.

Extra merit badges beyond the 21 minimum required for Eagle rank, earns you palms. Bronze, Silver, Gold.

Often celebrities and politicians attend Eagle Award Ceremonies for publicity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here. Why do everyone mention summer camp sign up? He is at 5th grade with 1 year cub scout experience. He goes to day camps every summer because I need childcare, and he normally attends the outdoor sports and water activities. Are you all talking about special summer day or overnight camps organized by cub scout or boy scout?

He has been enjoying scout activities like camping etc run under the den leader. It has been many parents staying around at every meeting. Our troop has not talking about transition next year fall, but I assume that the den leader stays to lead us.

Scout camp in the summer gives them the opportunity to earn merit badges. As a cub scout it doesn't matter as much but as he progresses camp will give more opportunities that he will need to rank up quicker.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not hard

Uh huh. In the last 125 years there have been about 2 million PhD's earned/awarded.
In the same time around 2.7 million Eagle Scouts.
While it's easier now than ever to get the award, it still takes several years of dedicated work, plus approval from community members such as religious leaders, city leaders, upstanding members of the local community, and teachers.

[Anonymous]

Some of the info posted here is incorrect. Please check the sources.

It is a lot of hard work to be Eagle ranked. It is also a a lot do fun and I love what the program is teaching my son. You should visit a few troops and learn more. Find a good troop.

Once my son said he wanted to be Eagle I got educated and starting volunteering with the troop. That has helped me learn the process so I can help him.

Swimming merit badge is one of many. Go to summer camp to earn it. My son has ADHD and is a poor swimmer. We practiced at the rec center pool at least three times before we headed off to summer camp. He was fine. Troop will require a swim test too. I love that scouts makes us practice the skill!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here. Why do everyone mention summer camp sign up? He is at 5th grade with 1 year cub scout experience. He goes to day camps every summer because I need childcare, and he normally attends the outdoor sports and water activities. Are you all talking about special summer day or overnight camps organized by cub scout or boy scout?

He has been enjoying scout activities like camping etc run under the den leader. It has been many parents staying around at every meeting. Our troop has not talking about transition next year fall, but I assume that the den leader stays to lead us.

Scout camp in the summer gives them the opportunity to earn merit badges. As a cub scout it doesn't matter as much but as he progresses camp will give more opportunities that he will need to rank up quicker.

Packs and Troops are separate. Your Den leader may volunteer with new Troop or no. You all may go to different Troops! Each troops is different and has different personally, activities and level so support/ organization. Check more than one out and pick the best fit for your son - which may not be where other cubs go.

Yes, there are special camps for scouts where they work specifically on merit badges and have people sign off on them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here. Why do everyone mention summer camp sign up? He is at 5th grade with 1 year cub scout experience. He goes to day camps every summer because I need childcare, and he normally attends the outdoor sports and water activities. Are you all talking about special summer day or overnight camps organized by cub scout or boy scout?

He has been enjoying scout activities like camping etc run under the den leader. It has been many parents staying around at every meeting. Our troop has not talking about transition next year fall, but I assume that the den leader stays to lead us.

Yes, Scouts run summer camp programs that are just for Scouts. Most Troops will attend one for a week each summer, it's a sleepaway camp. They work on merit badges and have open programs for swimming and other things.

The den leader may move to the Troop when your den bridges, or may not. Depends on the den leader's interest and whether they have other younger kids still in the Cub Scouts Pack. You'd have to talk to the den leader to find out what their plans are. Also, sometimes there is one Troop that the entire den moves up to, and other times the den splits up and the Scouts transfer into a few different Troops. Parents don't generally stay at Troop meetings unless they are volunteer leaders.

[Anonymous]

I’m curious about this process as well. How are merit badges verified? Is it only in the scout setting or can you get documentation to achieve these badges via other extracurriculars as well (eg. fitness badge if you participate in a sport or first aid if you volunteer as a junior EMT)?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not hard

Have you done it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Seems like all the eagle scout projects are like “I made this sign post” or “built this box to leave books in”

I think lots of Eagle projects can be very meaningful but I know what you mean. One kid here recently sent a playground over to an African country. Which is fine, but he basically just called several local parks until he found one that was replacing their play structure due to age and wear and he had his mom arrange to have the old one shipped over. Copious quotes in the local journal from him and his mom talking about how African children had never seen a playground before etc. That one didn’t sit right with me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here. Why do everyone mention summer camp sign up? He is at 5th grade with 1 year cub scout experience. He goes to day camps every summer because I need childcare, and he normally attends the outdoor sports and water activities. Are you all talking about special summer day or overnight camps organized by cub scout or boy scout?

He has been enjoying scout activities like camping etc run under the den leader. It has been many parents staying around at every meeting. Our troop has not talking about transition next year fall, but I assume that the den leader stays to lead us.

Cub scouts transition to formal Scouts in spring of 5th grade. Scouts has official summer camps where they can get merit badges and meet other rank requirements. Scouts has way less parent involvement, many parents drop off, it's the older scouts providing leadership along with a handful of uniformed adults. I wouldn't assume your den leader stays in the same role, ours moved into a backend role where he doesn't interact with kids for example.

+1 but OP, don't read about other parents dropping off and think that you could do the same with your ASD/ADHD son. I know several ASD/ADHD boys who dropped out of scouts during middle school and in every case, I think more support and better attendance from a parent could have made the difference for them to stay.

Adult volunteers can go to summer camp for all or part of the week. I would recommend you do this the first summer your son attends. Find out who the scoutmaster is for the troop your son would be joining, and ask them about summer camp, so you can decide whether your son would be ready to go the summer after 5th grade. If you decide to wait until the summer after 6th grade, that's ok too.

[Anonymous]

Op here. Thank you for all suggestions and tips here. They are very helpful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not hard

If it’s so easy, why doesn’t everyone do it? The badges seem like life skills you’d probably have your kids work on anyway, so why not just have them accounted for and get the Eagle Scout distinction in the process?