Mom2Scouts06

Don't worry LisaBob...I did not feel like you were condeming our program in anway. I am just glad to be informed of needing to prepare the boys more because we have never really honestly thought about it! You gave some very good points that I will be passing along to my WDL husband! He has been wanting to find ways to prepare them more for the Cross Over process and you have given us a great starting point...

Yeah it kinda opens your eyes a bit about what we should be gearing them towards when they are Webelos so they aren't totally in the dark when they get to Troop! We don't want them to be disenchanted with Troop because that is where the fun begins (in most cases, lol!)

Of course I was only kidding when I said it was setting them up for failure! I wholeheartedly believe in the Scouting program or my husband and I would not be as involved in it as leaders like we are! In our den it is definitely not show up and get your book signed. They have to work hard outside of the den meetings to get what they need accomplished. I am not saying we don't give them guidelines as far as what to work on to achieve the Webelos Badge and AOL but the work they do themselves and have to bring it in to show to get their book signed off on. We have a few boys who have decided they want to try to earn every Activity Pin before earning their AOL and are working on it on their own outside of den meetings...which is Awesome!

So basically what we are saying is 4 1/2 years of Cub Scouting may set them up for failure the first 6 mos of Troop and then they drop out...LOL! All that work to get there and then they get frustrated...so we need to stress this more and more about how in Troop it is different!

LisaBob we have tried this second year of Webelos to have the activity pins be something that have parts of them that need to be completed more at home to give them a better idea of how they will need to take initiative later on in Troop. Any other ideas on helping our Webelos be prepared to Cross Over will be greatly appreciated!

We are going to visit the Troop in the next couple of weeks. All of our Webelos have been together since Tigers with the exception of one who joined last year. We have had an awesome retention year to year because the boys get along so well and all enjoy the same things. It does help that they all go to the same school and are friends with each other outside of Scouting. Our parents are not interested in quick advancement...we really want the boys to just enjoy their Scouting experience and get to do all the cool stuff! Our boys on the other hand are definitely Super Achievers so they need lots of activities! Thanks for all the advice from everyone and the nice welcome to the forums!

No I can assure the awarding of ASM to the den leader is not a "ploy". My husband is VERY involved in Scouting at a pack and district level. The other ASM at this troop is also a leader in our Cub pack who happens to value what my husband does for the boys. We have seen the other program in action as the Troop meets the same night as our pack. Total lack of organization, boys running around wild annoying the Cub Scouts, foul language, disrespect for fellow Boy Scouts, bullying...not something most of us want our boys to be a part of. We have let the boys make their own decisions. They went on a campout with the other Troop and had a fantastic time....the older Scouts really went out of their way to make the Webelos feel welcome and to teach them Scout skills. There has been no lots of advancement talk...we have just seen first hand that this other troop is way more active and does more of the activities our boys would like to be involved in.

We have a Troop that our Pack feeds into. They have shown no interest in having our Webelos II join in for campouts, troop meetings or anything. They have just now stopped by and said oh yeah by the way you can come to any troop meeting you would like. Another Troop in our town and one an older Scout of one of our Committee Members is involved in has welcomed us warmly. They have planned a Troop campout geared just towards our Webelos, invited us to Troop meetings, etc. Our 8 boy Webelos Den would prefer to all cross over together to this particular troop and not the "feeder" troop. I know we can cross over to any troop we wish to but how do we do it without stepping on anyone toes? My husband is the DL and will be ASM at the new troop and all the boys want to go where he is going. Thanks!