joining requirements

[yarrow]

I had a dad recently ask me about putting his young scout in Boy Scouts and not finishing up Cub Scouts. I seems he is an older 4th grader with a friend who is in the Boy Scout troop and is "bored" with Cubs. I understand joining requirements are 11 of age, finished with 5th grade or under 18 but with Arrow of Light. My 10 year old did join Boy Scouts but he was a 5th grader and had his AOL. This boy is just 10, 4th grade and no AOL. Are exceptions made. I suggested to the dad that he leave the boy in Cubs for another year and that he contact the council for advise. Have you heard of the req.s waived?

[eisely]

I would be surprised if any council would go along with this. If I were a scoutmaster asked to sign off on a youth application to join, I would not do so. One of the adverse consequences of BSA pushing the joining age for scouts ever younger is that it increases the spread in physical and emotional maturity ever wider between the youngest scouts and the oldest scouts. It is difficult to run a coherent program as it is. Granted that this boy may be an unusual fourth grader, I still think it is a bad idea.

[Chippewa29]

The BSA policy is that to be a Boy Scout, a youth must be 1) 11 years old; or 2) 10 1/2 and finished with the fifth grade. Personally, I wouldn't allow someone who is not of "legal age" to be a member of my troop. If they are already in Cub Scouts, I would strongly encourage them (along with the rest of their den) to be a frequent visitor to our troop meetings and come to a couple of our campouts. However, I've seen some troops who let underage "geniuses" join the troop even though they've only been nine but are either in or have completed the fifth grade (basically, they skipped a couple of grades in school). Some of those Scouts have gone on to get their Eagle awards (most at 13 or 14), but in 90% of the cases, it was a very tough struggle for the Scouts as although they are intellectually ready for the Boy Scouts, they are not emotionally ready to spend time and participate in the activities with Scouts that are teenagers. It is hard enough for an 11 year old on the brink of going to middle school the next year to handle being around 14 and 15 year olds. The situation in my troop with our challenged Scout is a good example of the disparity in maturities within a person. Although this Scout is incredibly intelligent and has no problem with the intellectual aspects of Scouting, maturity-wise, he would still fit it in very well with the Cub Scouts even though he is 12 1/2 (whenever we've had any activity jointly with Cub Scouts, he has related to the Wolves and Bears very well and he still very much has that Cub Scout mentality even though he has been with the troop for almost two years).

 

If a 10 year old Webelo is bored with Cub Scouts, the den's program may need to be looked at. If the Webelos are doing the same thing as the seven year old Wolves, then I can believe he is bored. I was very fortunate that my Webelo leader (an Eagle Scout) ran our den more like a Boy Scout patrol than a Cub Scout den. We went hiking and practiced Boy Scout skills (I don't ever remember doing crafts in Webelos), but he purposely held us back from camping so we would have something to look forward to in Boy Scouts. Every single one of us in the den were absolutely fired up to join the Boy Scouts as soon as we were eligible.

[eisely]

Chippewa29, your story about nine year olds in boy scouts is downright scary. Somebody would have to lie, and the scoutmaster acquiesce, about the age of the youth. I would think that the scoutmaster, and every other adult involved, would have a serious personal legal liability if such a kid were ever hurt. One would expect the council and BSA national to be able to walk away from such a liability if the truth came out.

[pwlane]

Let him join, or you will lose him forever.

[Mike Long]

Never heard of the rules being waived (or broken) for this and I would not do it or be party to it. There is a physical aspect to this too folks.

 

Waiving the requirement is one thing but Boy Scouts willingly breaking the rules and lying about it? I think not.

 

[FScouter]

We have one Arrow of Light boy that is very proud of the fact the he didn't have to wait until age 11 to join the troop. If we let some other kid come in early because he is "bored", our AoL kid would squeal like a stuck pig.

 

Challenge the boy and his parents to get involved in the cub pack, and make it more exciting. Get the kid moving on his Arrow of Light award, and then he can join early.

[eisely]

FScouter's and Chippewa29's points about looking at the Webelos program are well taken. The solution for this kid may be a better Webelos program rather than trying to jump ahead into boy scouts. If the dad feels that strongly about, challenge him to help make the program better.

[TIGERMOM]

As a parent of two cubscouts I can not imagine letting them move on before they were qualified simply because they were bored.

This child(and his parents) needs to be made aware of what his requirements are to earn AOL so he can move on. I am sure if he is determined enough to earn his place in boyscouts and begins working toward that goal he will not have time to be bored any longer

[sctmom]

The joining requirements per the last Boy Scout Handbook are:

1) Be 11 years old

OR 2) Have earned the Arrow of Light

OR 3) Have finished the 5th grade

 

A 10 1/2 year old cannot join unless he has the Arrow of Light. I personally do not think this is a rule to be bent or modified. As someone else said, a boy with is AOL gets to join early because he has the AOL not just because he was "bored".

Someone needs to find out why he is bored. This is often a word used by young boys just because they are not getting their way or because the situation is frustrating. Also, sometimes as a way to appear "cool" in front of the other boys.

 

I have a few Webelos who have the best time at meetings and say so. But when my back is turned they tell other boys that it is "boring" and they just don't know if they are coming back. Next time, there they are excited as can be and flat out commenting "This is FUN."

 

 

[buffalo2]

Best to go with policy on this one...

These guidelines are in place for sound reasons!