nettie0523

Beavah, I hear you on that. I am planning some camping with my den (WI after June 1st) and the other two W1 dens in the fall. I have 9 boys in my den and only my son and the son of my ADL have slept in a tent before. I did manage to get two of the other boys to sign on for Webelos Resident Camp this summer. I think they will enjoy it. My biggest concern about the SM is that when one of those boys that crossed over last year and then quit (that I mentioned previously), his father sent the SM a lengthy email explaining their concerns and why his son was not happy. He asked the SM to call him so they could talk about it. The SM never even acknowledged it. He sent another one and again no reply. I just want our boys to be given the option of checking out other troops without feeling like it will be held against them.

Thank you for all of your replies. We are an urban Pack and there are three other Packs and at least two other troops in our city alone. Beavah, thanks for the welcome. Everyone makes some good points and its helpful to hear how other Packs do things to get an outside perspective. The reason I am looking into this now is that we have already had a couple of boys crossover (last year) that were BIG into Scouting and the affiliated Troop wasn't a good fit, so they dropped out. One boy never made it through summer camp. We have boys coming up that are not all about back country camping and hiking 30 miles (including my own), and I would rather help them find a troop that's right for them so they stay in Scouting. I think if we can coordinate it (we set our crossover date in August) early enough, inviting an SM from another troop to welcome the new boys shouldn't be too difficult.

I am a DL for a large Pack with an excellent CM BUT when our boys are getting ready to crossover they are channeled directly into the Troop that is affiliated with our Chartered Org. and run by our former CM. That is not the real problem but it has always been my understanding that Webelos are supposed to try out different troops to see what is a good fit. This year was the first year since I've been with the Pack that we had a WII go to a different troop. His mother was concerned that he would be singled out and treated differently by his Den leader so she didn't tell anyone until the night before. While the SM was very understanding and even made a point of getting the other SM there for the crossover on short notice, it appears that our CM was not. I agree that the parent should have notified the first SM much sooner but in the meantime our CM sat down with next year's WII leaders and gave a big speech about how every boy can choose where they go but if they go to a different troop they don't go to this crossover ceremony. This is a big weekend for our Pack, we always have a Pack camping weekend at the same time and the boys that crossed over go off to spend the night with their new troop. Since it is the Pack that pays for the person that comes and leads the ceremony, makes all the food for the party afterwards, and supplies the labor, etc., why shouldn't a boy going to a different troop get to participate in the same crossover? I am wondering how other Packs/Troops handle this and also at what point in the year? Traditionally we do our Blue and Gold in March and then a month later we do our Crossover. Are there guidelines for when these events take place or is it up to the individual units?