New 5th grader-No Transition

[theysawyoucomin']

Here's the story.

 

New boy shows up for recruitment night.

Was a tiger for a short time but was not happy after about four months.

He will turn 11 in May. Currently starting fifth grade.

His peers from school are in a Webelos II den.

We live in a small town with from 80 to 100 kids in a school grade. Everybody knows everybody.

 

 

My plan is to take him in the Weeb II den until February. After crossover He can go to the Weeb I den. and work for four more months before joining Boy Scouts.

 

 

His desire is now. I don't want to say "wait until May so you can join Boy Scouts."

 

Is this the best thing for this lad? I thank you for any comments or suggestions for the situation.

 

[mbscoutmom]

It's hard to know what's best. Our pack has not had very much luck keeping boys who join as Webelos II. But I don't like to tell any boy that he can't join.

 

My husband is the Webelos II leader. We got a new boy in Web II, and the plan is that he will cross over with the den. We told his dad that in order to get his Webelos and Arrow of Light, he'd need to get some activity pins done at home. Even if he doesn't earn anything, though, he can still cross over to Boy Scouts with the others. I don't see any reason to hold him back.

[kenk]

I'm a Webelos II den leader. My advice would be to have the boy work toward his Webelos Badge this year and not focus on the Arrow of Light. of course he'll have to work on the Citizen & Fitness activity badges on his own (or with the den leader's guidance) since the other boys earned them last year, but that is doable.

 

I would certainly have him graduate to Boy Scouts along with his den. To not do so could bring enough embarassment or hard feelings that Scouting could lose him.

[Troop185]

Another thing we have done, is work with the scout on finishing his Arrow of Light at the Boy Scout meetings in the Spring. We did not officially registered him into the troop until he got his A.of L. Thus the boy came to the meetings with his friends, but worked on different requirements.

 

I would leave it up to the boy to decide what he wants to do.

[Torveaux]

If he is not 11 until May and does not have his AOL, he can't cross into Boy Scouts with his classmates.

 

Personally, I would have the Web II leader continue to work with him from Feb-May to give him every chance to get done with the AOL. Part of that time is to check out Troops to join. Maybe if he is getting close the other boys would want to stay together for an extra month or two.