Heather sent in this question:
I have two boys one is almost done with all 137 Merit badge he is 15 and I know most of the merit badge go together. Now my 10 year old is now a boy scout and came to me the other day and said he to would like to get all 137 as will. Would you know were I could a breakdown of the merit badge that correspond with each other. For Exp. fishing,Fly fishing and Fish and wildlife management all go together and Archaeology, geology, mining in society or geocaching , orienteering and search and Rescue. If you know were I could find something like this it would help. please and thank you.
Wow! It sounds like your sons are really goal oriented. Good for them.
I do not know of any such list. I recommend that you let your 10 year old work on this with the help of his older brother. Since his older brother has already done this, he should be able to help little brother figure out which badges have similar topics.
Is this because he wants to do requirements simultaneously? If so, he really needs to consult with the counselors about this. Keep in mind that many of the requirements specifically don’t allow “double dipping”. So that is where the counselors will help him determine if he can do the same requirement once for two or more different badges.
I know it is difficult, but I recommend that you as a parent try to stay out of this process as much as possible. It will be more meaningful to your son if he works on it with the help of other youth. And this is a big part of how the Scouts BSA program is supposed to run.
Readers, what do you think? Any insights or resources?
Wow a 15 only missing one merit badge? Why the rush? What do you want to do with scouting from now until you age out? I do not have any particular feelings if a scout wants to attain all badges. It is a nice goal. You still have to do the work. Let’s try to look mathematically for a 10 year old. There are 137 badges, a scout can earn badges until they are 18, that gives them 8 years. That is roughly 17.5 merit badges a year. Granted, there is nothing that says you cannot work on more than one badge at once. The main thing to reach it is that it HAS TO BE scout lead. The scout is the one to pursue the badges, not the scout master or parent. I know of merit badge counselors who will only talk to the scout to get things moving forward. The other big thing they will need to do is have a plan in place. When are you going to do badges? Where, merit badge colleges, summer camp, home troop, How do you plan on completing this goal? THINK SMART!! ALso be realistic. You are about to enter middle and high school. There are a lot of activities there that could take time and energy away from scouts. Sports, fine arts, NHS, clubs etc. Be realistic and plan. With little tweaks along the way you can make it.
My son aspires to complete all of the merit badges as well. He is working on them in order of interest and opportunity, but isn’t particularly concerned about grouping similar badges together. He is making a point of NOT using the same materials twice. For example, the sites he visited for Citizenship in the Nation happen to be architectural gems, but he is visiting completely separate sites for the Architecture badge.
As for parent involvement, my approach as a parent is metered. I believe the decision to pursue a merit badge, as well as the completed work itself, needs to be 100% scout led. However, I don’t see anything wrong with discussing a list of possible ideas for a project, or pointing out when a family trip might pair nicely with a badge requirement. I don’t really see this as any different than sending a scout to a badge clinic where a merit badge counselor walks scouts through a list of tasks for a few hours… that isn’t exactly “scout led,” but clearly passes muster. Just food for thought.