Advice from an Eagle Scout mom

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How can parents best motivate their sons to continue on the Trail to Eagle? A mother of three Eagle Scouts suggests a one-step-at-a-time approach. Here’s her advice in her own words:

As the mother of three Eagle Scouts, I know a bit about the ins and outs of the Trail to Eagle. My first advice to Scouts? Don’t give up! My first advice to parents? Don’t give up!

Some parents bribe or force their sons into achieving the rank of Eagle, but I feel that a true Eagle Scout candidate will have the goal written on his heart. The desire comes from within. But that isn’t to say parents shouldn’t encourage their sons or that incentives aren’t a good idea — especially at crucial times when the goal seems overwhelming or time too fleeting.

Encourage your Scout to take one step at a time. Glance ahead every once in a while to remember the future goal but keep focused on what needs to be done this month, this week, or by the next troop meeting.

The Trail to Eagle may be filled with hurdles to jump and pitfalls to avoid; it was not meant to be easy. The key element in the journey is not speed, but endurance. And every boy’s experience is unique.

Our first son, Randall Jr., trod a fairly straight path to Eagle. He set his goals and kept at them steadily so by his 16th birthday, I was tearfully glowing as the rank of Eagle was bestowed upon him.

Our second son, Daniel, also kept faithfully to his objectives until he hit a roadblock at his proposed Eagle project. He had organized a blood drive and set the goal of getting a minimum of 24 pints for the American Red Cross. As we live in western New York State, it probably wasn’t a good idea to schedule it in the dead of winter. A snowstorm hit just as the equipment was being set up, and only 14 donors braved the weather.

Dan also discovered he had put the horse before the cart by setting up the blood drive before it had been officially approved by the council. Although it had been accepted, he technically should have waited to make arrangements with the Red Cross until after receiving written notification of approval. So the blood drive didn’t count as a service project.

Instead of giving up, however, he chalked it up to experience and moved on. He promptly started thinking of a new project, and by the next year he had successfully completed all the steps (in the correct order). We had two Eagles in the nest.

Our third son, Russell, was tripped on the Trail as a Star Scout. When he thought he had completed all the requirements for Life, it was discovered that the Scout office had no record of him receiving the Star rank.

We had recently moved to a new town and therefore to a different troop, but within the same council. We couldn’t figure out what went wrong, but Russ immediately started working on the Star rank again.

He had his merit badge cards, so he could prove they had been earned; but he had to wait out the four-month requirement, perform six more hours of service (never a problem in Scouting), and participate in another Scoutmaster conference and board of review. Shortly after he had received his Star for the second time, his former Scoutmaster found the green sheet with proof that Russ had earned it almost five months earlier.

Upon taking the green sheet to the office, it was discovered that the wrong birth date had been entered in the computer, and two separate records had inadvertently been made. Within the next two years, we had three Eagles in the nest.

Which brings me to another piece of advice to Scouts and their parents: Keep meticulous records!

Find a place to keep every merit badge card, names and addresses of people who have helped with the journey (such as Scoutmasters, merit badge counselors, camp personnel, etc.), pictures labeled with places, names, dates — anything and everything that might come in handy when filling out the paperwork that goes along with the process of becoming an Eagle.

(Editor’s note: Read more about Scoutbook, an app that simplifies this record keeping.)

If in doubt as to what to keep, stash it all and toss unnecessary stuff out after the Eagle ceremony! (Or use the “extra” information in putting together a memorable Eagle scrapbook.)

The Trail to Eagle is filled with opportunities to learn new skills, develop leadership and experience personal growth and understanding.

It’s on that journey that each Scout learns to stretch his limits and become an exceptional individual and a contributing member of society.

My final advice is the same as the first: Don’t give up!

Laura S. Shortridge and her husband, Randall, live in Albion, N.Y. In addition to three Eagle Scout sons, they have three daughters involved in Girl Scouting.


5 Comments

  1. Your third son should not have had to wait an additional four months if council’s records were messed up. If his old troop had copies of of the Advancement Reports turned in, they could have been used to verify the date of earning First Class and the SCOUTNET records could have been fixed. Also a copy of the BSA transfer form found here http://www.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/28-401.pdf could have been used to correct the council’s records since that information is listed.
    Finally if neither copies of the Advancement Report were found nor the tranfer form used, then his Boy Scout Handbook with all the requirements including the Board of Review’s initials should have been used to correct the records. There should have been no need to redo everything.

    Had a similar thing happen to one of my scouts, except the young man was going for Eagle. According to the council records, he was only First Class. We had to use a combination of his handbook and Advancement reports to correct the council’s records.

  2. This was not helpful for those of us who have a son who is no longer interested. The three boys seemed like they wanted it and just needed a little help with ot becoming overwhelmed. I was looking for advice on how to motivate a boy who was absolutely certain he wanted Eagle and couldn’t wait till he was 14 so he could join Venture Crew until just recently. Now he wants nothing to do with Boy Scouts or Venture Crew.

    • Katie I am right there with you….but as the post mentioned, the scout must have the goal “written on his heart.” Try as I might, I could not keep scouting a priority for him. I have been told that while it is an awesome achievement, it has to be HIS achievement. His heart wasn’t in it. All I could say to you is find one of his friends who is enjoys who is a scout to encourage him.

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