Do you do Beavers and Cubs 'activity badge' work at home independently?

[miljee]

OK, not really 'Ed', but we are the demographic!

Whilst I'd agree that B and C are so much more that a bunch of cloth badges, in the same way we're exhorted to do 'star charts = rewards' in our DCs behaviour and academic efforts, I think if a DC has put in the legwork, they deserve the badge. However, our local Beaver leader whom I'm not criticising (but I am one of the few parents who help 3 out of 4 sessions, so I'm not just hollering from the side-lines!) really isn't 'in to' the badge thing. DS1 got 1 activity badge in 4 terms (same as the others DSs)!! I also noticed that DS2's school mates who attend a different Beaver colony practically earned a badge a week! SO after asking the deputy Beaver leader, I'm going to do some badge work with DS2 at home.

Has anyone else done this? I don't mean the 'finishing off' or the odd bit of 'research this by next meeting', I mean the entire fandango from looking the requirements up and setting to, with a plan to pull together the necessary! We'll present the work in a scrapbook and DS2 may have to talk about it to the colony. I'm disappointed that we 'have' to do it this way but the alternative is weeks of 'badge-able' activity at Beavers but nothing to mark or reward their effort or progress. They're little boys, they thrive on the material reflection of their achievement.

FWIW, the new Cub leader has spurred our Beaver leader into action a bit so we have seen some badges being awarded over the past week (3 in one week, following the colony's first ever 'sleep-over' so it can be done!). I am perfectly prepared to put in my effort to help the whole colony towards badges as in specific topics BUT if I wanted to be a Beaver leader, I'd be one!

Finally, yes, it does nark me a bit that I have to do so much school educating at home THEN do their scouting at home as well!

[Madsometimes]

My daughter is in brownies and they seem to hand out a badge a week. I remember being a brownie and getting a badge was a really big deal. An external tester used to come and assess if you had done enough for the badge. Having said that I am perfectly happy that my daughter has been given lots of badges because it makes her very happy. I would be annoyed too if I had to do all the badge work at home. It's bad enough having to sew the badges onto her sash!

I think that brownies/beavers are fab and becoming a brownie has been one of the best things that my dd has done. In general, I think brown owls and their assistants are wonderful.

[RosaIsRed]

I can't comment about the boys organisations, but DD1 does all her badge work at home apart from a very occasional one they do at Brownies (eg first aid). She enjoys collecting badges so is quite keen to do one after another. I always assumed it was meant to be done this way.

[worley]

same at our cubs, ds1 has been going for just over a year and only has one badge, they seem to all start a badge there it never gets finished, so i asked baloo if we can work on some badges at home and she agreed to that, so we are now working on his book worm badge, he has to explain the book and prove he can use a dictionary and encyclopeadia (god i cant eve spell it!) so he will have to do most of the work, i'll just have to help in the right direction.

when i was at brownies and guides many many many years ago we used to do lots of badges also. i know they only get 2 hours a week but would be nice to help him collect some more.

[bozza]

Yes ours is like this. They just don't do badges in sessions at all. DS has been going since September and no badges done. I have just managed to chivvy him through his first badge - the health and wellbeing one. We did a little scrap book, looked up some stuff on the internet, DS planned a healthy (if dull) menu (haddock, brown rice, carrots and cabbage, followed by bananas and custard) and he and I cooked it together one Saturday teatime, and I took photos the he could stick in his book. We talked about reasons for keeping fit and he wrote them up in his own words ("to stop you getting fat and lazy" ) and personal hygiene - teeth cleaning, washing, changing underwear etc. He contributed the idea of checking your hair for nits. But Brown Beaver seemed rather impressed with what we had done as though it was beyond the normal level expected.

So need to start on the next badge....

[worley]

and why couldnt they just keep their centenery badge on, why did it have to be removed after a year? just to give us more work?

[Umlellala]

Like RosaisRed, when I was a Brownie we did all the badge stuff at home - with occasional ones we did as a whole pack (camping/first aid/performances etc)

[miljee]

OK, that's interesting! Thanks for all the input. I recall Brownie badges were A Big Deal, too! I only got the caterer's badge- we had to make a cup of tea, make sandwiches and serve them to some unfortunate elderly locals! I would have been 8 or 9. Most badges back then involved far more 'community' involvement than today's. Lots more emphasis on service to others, at least, at the Brownie versus modern Cub level. I suppose it's all the stranger-danger etc.

Though I am 100% behind the scouting and guiding leadership I sometimes feel opportunities are overlooked for some perhaps more structured 'achieving' - notice I didn't say 'learning'!- to keep the youngsters motivated and interested and to make them see that a steady, structured approach to a multi-faceted task reaps results.

[MaudGonne]

I'm a Brownie leader (well the irish version, which is Brigini). Many badges are designed for group work, and we do those at meetings (maybe 6 a year).

Some girls are brilliant at working towards badges outside meetings, some not so.

There are some girls who you would know get very little help or encouragement at home, and you would work with them on the individual badges.

[cornsilk]

Beaver badges are done as a group. Our colony does one each half term. Cub badges are done as a group and at home. There are lots of cub badges - not so many in beavers.

[hippipotami]

When ds was a Beaver we did most of the badges at home. Ie he prepared a presentation on owning a dog which he then presented to the group to get his Animal care badge (or whatever it was called). We did about 4 badges at home for presentation to the group. As a group they did the challenge badges and the faith badge.

Now ds is in Cubs. They do one badge per term as a group, but each badge involves an amount of 'homework' which is to be presented to the group.

I think a badge per terms is great, as it means they really put effort into earning them!

[miljee]

I'd agree that a badge every half or term would be great- enough time to make the DCs feel they're not handed out like sweeties, but frequently enough for the DCs to stay focussed.

We were looking at the Beaver Creative badge in association with Hotwheels. However- I don't know if that badge is being offered any more! It's on the scouting website but there's no 'Beaver Zone' on the Hotwheels website that I can find. No matter, we're still going to tackle the requirements, but DS may end up with a normal Creative badge, not the specific Hotwheels one. We built a formula 1 racing car out of lego, photographing each step (by DS1 who's using the photography towards his Cub hobby badge!), DS2 will then write a short sentence about what he added each time; then he'll design and annotate an F1 race track on paper (there's stuff about the DCs taking climate, hazards, etc into account!), then we'll put the lot into a project folder and we'll take it to a meeting, where he may have to talk about it.

What have other people done towards badges?

[ScienceTeacher]

My DD pores over her Brownie badge book looking for badges to do at home. You aren't really supposed to have parents authorise them though.

I am a Brownie leader, and I am willing to do badges with DD, but I have said she needs to get one of her friends to do it with her.

A lot of their badgework does require them to do work at home, but they should be able to do 95% of it themselves.

[PrimulaVeris]

My ds' Beaver colony did not do any badges at all. One of his friends went to a different colony where they did one a week. Not an issue for me because ds thoroughly enjoyed himself and he's not at all competitive.

He's now in cubs, where they work through the 'challenge' badges as a group, and one or two other 'normal' badges. Leaders are happy for children to do other badges on their own initiative IF they want to. But I don't see badgework as being all that beavers/cubs/scouts is about, really.

[miljee]

One a week is rather excessive I'd say! There are only 12!

Like I said in my OP, I think the Scouting movement is more than a bunch of cloth badges, too, but I do think opportunities should be taken where sensible. For instance, I don't think DS2 is actually working towards ANY of the challenge badges which HAVE to be done as a colony. I heard the leader tell the cub leader that, when she'd actually done a check, she realised most of her colony were one small activity away from gaining a badge which implies they'd been actively DOING badge-style work, but, bless her, she hadn't actually got her act together to DO that final activity!

I'd like more to be done at the weekly meetings in that DS would then associate his badges with shared, Beaver activities. I like the framework of the badges, I like the requirements and I think they'd be good for DS to do thus I do them at home.

[kat69]

We used to do a mix of the challenge badges and activity badges with the beavers plus they could do some stuff independently eg swimmingetc, but now that the badges have all changed, our colony will now foucs on the challenge badges and a few activities, leaving it up to the beavers to do some independently if they want to.

The new badges for Beavers have 6 challenges instead of 3, and you now have to complete all 6 for the bronze award, whereas previously you could do 2 challenges plus a personal challenge....

With the breadth of the new challenges, and especially if beavers join later than 6, it is difficult for them to complete lots of badges, so we focus on those that get them the "overall" awards so they can progress in cubs to do their silver award etc...

But, please remember, as per other posts, that scouting isn't just about badges, its the ethos of playing together, caring etc that is most important, and beavers should have fun, make friends ... the motto fun and friends was great for that age group...

[miljee]

Well, DS2 got his Creative badge with his Hotwheels inspired car, driver and racetrack! He was a very happy bunny.

I think it'd be good if the colony DID focus on the Challenges, but at the rate ours works, there's absolutely no chance any of ours would qualify for the Bronze award! As I mentioned, in 1 year and 1 term, DS1 got one challenge badge and 1 activity badge! He didn't mind TIL he saw his school mates on parade from another colony who were festooned with badges!

DS1 is off to a Cub Sleepover tonight for the weekend where they'll have a go at 3 more badges- I think it'll be fairly intense!