At what point can boys start working towards their next rank?

[Pack432Centerville]

At what point can boys start working towards their next rank?

 

Our den leaders cannot come to an agreement on this, I was wondering of anyone had an official answer. Can a boy begin working on their Wolf rank right after they receive their Tiger rank? Is there a date in-which they can begin working on their Wolf rank?

[PACK15NISSAN]

This is what the BSA says about when a boy can start working on their next rank:

 

In the Cub Scout program, all boys in a den work toward a badge that is geared to their level of development. If the Wolf badge is completed before the end of the program year, a boy may work on electives to earn Arrow Points, but he may not begin working on the requirements for the Bear badge. His work on the Bear badge will begin the next program year, when he graduates into a Bear den.

 

Officially, boys can start working on there badges after they cross over into a new rank. Our crossover is in June, so after that date, boys that where Wolves are now Bears and start working on that rank, same for Tigers or any other rank.

[ScoutNut]

Boys work in their Cub level the entire school year. They move (graduate) to their next Cub level, and can start working in their new handbooks, at the end of the school year (weather or not they have earned the rank award of their current level).

 

BSA automaticaly moves every registered Cub up to their next level June 1st.

[Pack212Scouter]

As others have said, the boys progress in rank at the end of their school year. Some Packs wait until the beginning of the school year, but even though it is a little grey, that still isn't the way it should be. Also by waiting until the end of summer to move up, you are shorting your Webelos on advancement time and opportunities. I tend to look at it from the Webelos side, since this is the area that is most demanding and has the most to accomplish.(This message has been edited by pack212scouter)

[infoscouter]

Check in your Cub Scout Leader Book and your copy of Program Helps for something called "The Cub Scout Cycle". You will see that it shows boys moving to the next level on June 1st. Here's an online version:

www.directservicebsa.org/pdf/13-027.pdf

 

[acco40]

Cub Scouts, as well as Boy Scouts has been sliding the age requirements/suggestions to the left for quite some time.

 

Back when I was a Cub Scout den leader, 5 - 10 years ago, the program levels followed the school year. Now if grade A ends in mid June and Grade B starts in early September the question was always what grade is the cub Scout in during the summer? I had a Scout who did not finish their Bear badge requirements by June and I gave him until the end of August to complete them. I also allowed other Scouts to start working on their Webelos requirements immediately after the school year ended (mid-June).

 

To muddy the waters slightly, we get the following:

MeritBadge.org - The Wolf program is for boys who have completed first grade (or are age 8).

 

ww.scouting.org - Boys who are in the second grade or who are 8 years old are members of a Wolf den.

 

So, again, where are boys who have completed the first grade but not yet started second grade? I interpret the answer to the advantage of the Cub Scout in question.(This message has been edited by acco40)

[Basementdweller]

My son is 3/4 of the way completing his wolf and he has yet to attend an official wolf den meeting. He has also completed 15 electives.

 

IMHO they can start right after school ends. He can do the swimming stuff and complete the flag ceremony and such at summer camp.

[Lisabob]

acco, you did indeed muddy the waters. Yes there are both age and grade guidelines and some packs operate by one over the other. None the less, this is typically a pack, not an individual, call, and the great majority of packs that are not LDS operate on a grade-level basis.

 

As for when the switch happens, national has used June 1 for as long as I've been aware of. This is when all the records in scoutnet shift. Most packs I'm familiar with use the end of the school year as the point at which a boy moves up to start the next rank. Again, some packs choose the start of school in the fall instead and I can see an argument for that, although I think end-of-school makes better sense. But as long as the pack is consistent so you don't have some dens doing one thing and other dens doing another, I don't think it is a huge deal.

 

There is more flexibility in this for cubbing than is the case in boy scouts where age limits come into play. Typically boy scout age limits are hard and fast (13 for certain high adventure, jambo, etc.)

[acco40]

Let's look at the beginning of the Cub Scout program. Let's say my son, age 5 lives in a state where kindergarten is not required. It is now mid July and the school year (1st grade for him) starts on September 2nd, right after labor day. Can he join Cub Scouts right now a begin the Tiger program?

 

www.meritbadge.org - Tiger Cub age group: 1st grade

www.scouting.org - Cub Scouting is for boys in the first through fifth grades, or 7 to 10 years of age.

www.usscouts.com - Cub Scouts joining as First Grade boys enter the Tiger Cub Program.

 

So, I repeat, the question is when is a boy a "first grader?" The day after kindergarten ends or the day he begins the first grade? The same can be said for 2nd, 3rd, 4th grade. I think the June 1st "rule" is a mere suggestion. Yes, I've seen it on hand-outs and pdf files but I think it is more of a guideline. However, I admit, I have not been involved in the Cub Scout program for quite some time.

[John-in-KC]

acco,

 

I understand what you are saying, but 2 of those 3 websites are not from the National Council. Further, since the National Council started posting Boy Scout Requirements #33215 online, I've stopped using meritbadge.org altogether (and a couple years ago, had stopped using it for USScouts when he mb dot org wasn't updating).

 

Here is a page from the National Council website which is pretty darn clear:

 

http://www.scouting.org/CubScouts/AboutCubScouts/Boys/scouting.aspx

 

From the page:

Cub Scouting

 

Boys of different ages have different ranks in Cub Scouting. As you go from Tiger Cub (age 7) to Webelos Scout (age 10), you learn new things and new skills that you use to meet new challenges as you get older.

 

* Tiger Cubs. First-grade boys join a Tiger Cub den, where each boy works with an adult partner on the requirements to earn his Tiger Cub badge.

* Wolf Cub Scouts. Second-grade boys graduate into a Wolf den. They go to weekly den meetings on their own, but their families still help them work on the requirements for the Wolf badge.

* Bear Cub Scouts. Boys in the third grade are members of a Bear den. They also work with their families to do the requirements for the Bear badge, but boys this old have enough knowledge and skill to take on more of the work by themselves.

* Webelos Scouts. Boys in the fourth and fifth grades become Webelos Scouts. Webelos Scouts do more advanced activities to get ready to graduate into Boy Scouting.

 

Where you begin in Cub Scouting depends on your age at the time you join. If you join when you're in first grade, you will begin as a Tiger Cub. If you do not join until the third grade, you'll begin as a Bear Cub Scout. You won't have to go back and earn the Tiger Cub and Wolf badges.

[Lisabob]

acco, what you are asking is not specified, you're correct. And I'm sure local practices differ. However, most councils I have become familiar with specifically indicate that boys who are done with K are considered new 1st graders, the day that they finish kindergarten. This allows for spring Tiger recruitment in the lead-up to day camp.

 

The council I'm in officially begs packs to recruit graduating kindergarten boys to join as of June 1st so they can go to day camp. And again, scoutnet shifts existing cub members to the next den level on June 1.

 

Consequently, yes, it is possible to have a 5 year old "new 1st grader" join as a Tiger cub.

 

I do know a few packs who don't like to accept new Tigers in June and prefer to wait until September. The rules also allow for this, but do not require this approach.

 

I hope that helps a bit. Again, there's more flexibility here than is typically the case with boy scout requirements.

 

 

[John-in-KC]

One comment:

 

Our Council encourages kids to attend District Day Camp. To that end, we waive the late fee for any new Tiger (for that matter any Cub) joining at the end of the school year... to the point we will shake H&E to get him a camp T-shirt!

 

The other side of this coin is age has to work upwards as well. His Mother and I held back EagleSon at K, malice aforethought. The upshot is he was a year older than his peers all the way up. He didn't "due course" bridge to Boy Scouts until he was weeks away from being 12.

 

 

[Karen_216]

My pack was advised by council we could register Tigers as of June 1st. As soon as a child completes K he is now a first grader and on down the line.

however, we don't usually form a Tiger den until the fall.

[meschen]

John-In-KC, I'd say those instructions are definitely not "pretty darn clear". It doesn't really provide clear guidance on classifying a boy during the summer when he has completed one grade but hasn't yet started the next.

 

This is further complicated by the fact that our council does not accept rank advancement after May 31, so there is technically a two week window at the start of June where the boys aren't allowed to work on any advancement for example, boys who are still second graders until June 15 can't do Bear work yet since theyre still Wolves, but the ship has sailed on working on their Wolf badge.

 

I do know that it is generally accepted that after the last day of the school year boys are allowed to begin work on their next rank. Our Pack is even more accommodating than that - at our final (May) Pack meeting we hold a bridging ceremony, at which point we hand out the boys new handbooks. At that point, we allow then to start work on their new rank.

 

 

 

[deerfieldmom]

Ours is what ever weekend the Pack Graduation/Campout is. In recent years its been Fathers Day weekend.

 

Reservations are made in early spring and the event info is posted enough in advance for everyone to know what the deadline this year will be to get whatever the kids are working towards done and recorded in the software so I can purchase it to hand out that weekend.