AOL - when to report/award

[CPAMom]

Our son has completed his AOL requirements and will turn 11 in October. He is chomping at the bit to go into Boy Scouts. My husband & I are committed to pack leadership thru the end of February. We've found an excellent troop and are excited about the transition. We will go when we can, and we plan to have him transfer there when he turns 11.

 

Should we give him his AOL patch (which I know requires the advancement report) ASAP or wait until we are ready to transfer him to the troop?

 

Is there any reason to make him wait until the AOL ceremony at the end of February to receive it?

[AKdenldr]

I'd ask the CM to AWARD it in a ceremony. He could come back and participate with his buddies in Feb. to a more elaborate ceremony and bridging.

[ScoutNut]

Awards should be presented as soon as possible after having been earned (all requirements met).

 

The AOL is not the same as crossover to Boy Scouts. They are two separate, and very different events.

 

If your son has, as of now, completed all of the requirements for AOL, he should be presented the AOL award patch, with all due ceremony, at the very next Pack meeting (September?). He should NOT be made to wait for any arbitrary date or event.

 

After earning AOL, the decision of when to transfer to a Boy Scout Troop is up to him, and you.

 

Since he is past 10 years old, and has earned his AOL, he does not have to wait until he is 11 years old to join a Troop. He can crossover to a BS Troop at any time between when he earned his AOL, and finishing 5th grade.

 

He can crossover to a BS Troop at the September Pack meeting after he has received his AOL.

 

He can crossover to a Troop in October, when he turns 11.

 

He can crossover to a Troop in time to celebrate the holidays in December.

 

He can wait until February, and crossover to the Troop with his buddies from his den.

 

He might even wait, and encourage other Webelos Scouts to finish up their AOL before February and cross to the Troop with him.

 

Whenever you decide to do it, an appropriate crossover ceremony should be held where he is welcomed to the Troop by his new Scoutmaster.

 

You and your husband do NOT have to move into the Troop with him.

 

If he decides to wait for a month, or two, or five, after earning his AOL, to transfer to a Troop, he can continue to work on Webelos Activity Badges, and other Cub Awards, with his den. He might decide to try to earn all 20 Webelos Activity Badges, and thus the Webelos Heavy Shoulder Award.

 

(This message has been edited by Scoutnut)

[CHLees3rd]

Regardless of when anyone in your family transfers to a Boy Scout troop, your son should get his AOL award as soon as possible. Why would you wait on this? He has earned the highest award in Cub Scouting; shouldn't he be allowed to wear it proudly while still in the pack? When I was awarded the AOL at a pack meeting, I bridged over to the troop at the same time. However, I pinned the AOL medal badge on my left pocket flap and proudly wore it for the rest of the night at that pack meeting.

 

Chazz Lees

[CPAMom]

Will reporting AOL advancement to Council force him out of the pack? I mean does that action then require a transfer to a Boy Scout troop?

 

Other reasons that I hesitate - No one else has earned it. He's always ahead of the other Webelos. He's the Webelos leader's son. We have told him that he can move on to his selected troop in October, which will be a good time for him & us. That's really his biggest goal.

 

I appreciate the unanimous urging of your responses that he get this ASAP. He has worked hard. It is wrong to "dumb down" to fit in.

[CPAMom]

And some more reasons that make me hesitate -

 

He is not moving up to the troop local to our area. He's moving into a troop that is all homeschool boys. And he is not leaving any friends behind. Just acquaintances.

[perdidochas]

Have you asked the Scoutmaster if he would prefer your son come over now, or wait for the rest of his cohort Webelos to come in?

 

He should get his AOL awarded to him at the next pack meeting. Not sure about if he should crossover yet. Does he want to crossover before his friends in the den do?

[perdidochas]

CPAmom,

 

AOL is not the same as crossing over to Boy Scouts. He can stay in the Webelos den after the AOL. The AOL just gives him the option to become a Boy Scout earlier. It doesn't require him to crossover early.

 

 

That said, talk to the Scoutmaster at the troop, and ask his opinion.

[CHLees3rd]

CPAMom,

 

Submitting paperwork to council does nothing more than show the Webelos has successfully earned the AOL. It does not force him out of the pack. In fact, he could choose to stay with the pack until the school year or unit charter ends if for some reason he wanted to do so. Most Webelos do not stay wanting the adventure of a troop, but the choice is his.

 

As for no one else having earned the AOL, well look at it this way: The other Webelos could have worked towards earning by now too if they wanted. Perhaps seeing one of their own wearing it will cause them to go after it too if that is what they want. On the other hand, who's to say that any of other Scouts will earn the AOL. I had friends in my Webelos den that did not earn it and still had a great time. Why punish your son for the work, or lack thereof, of others.

 

Chazz Lees

[EJCrimmins]

As others have stated get him his AoL Award presented at the very next pack meeting. Both Cub Scouting and Boy Scouting use immediate recognition and advancement is an individual process not one you stay lock stepped in with your den. The idea that everyone must earn an award at the same time is a PC manifestation to not make anyone "feel bad." When Cub Scout dens were based on age and not school year boys would earn things every month based on how long they had been in the den, of course the boy that just became a Webelos Scout wouldn't be earning his badge but the boy that had been there for months had completed all he needed to earn rank, he didn't wait for the new guy. The shift to school years gives us packs that hold all awards to the Blue & Gold or graduation, packs that die out in summer, and boys that get their rank just for filling a seat for the year without completing requirements, none of these are good for the program IMO.

 

I understand your concern that your son is the leader's son and some might view some favoritism even if there is none. I think many leaders face this with their kids. I did until I realized this one simple fact about being a leaders kid; the leader's kid attends EVERYTHING. They never get the chance to say I don't want to do that tonight, they not only attend every den and pack activity and many (if not all) district and council activities but often have to occupy themselves through leaders meetings, roundtables, and many other activities they normally wouldn't have done. Of course they finished first, it wasn't favoritism, just that they participated more and often had much more expected of them to begin with. Recognize his hard work, any other boy that attended EVERYTHING could have accomplished the same thing.

 

As far as crossing over to another Troop, don't even think twice about it. Your son is a member of a pack, that in no way gives a certain Troop dibs on him. A boy should join the unit that will be the best fit for him, doing otherwise just limits what he may receive from Scouting. I know this is a touchy subject with some but the pack you join as a first grader should in no way predetermine the rest of your Scouting career. A boy could even join a troop and if he decides there is something he doesn't like about that troop there is nothing stopping him from pulling up stakes and seeking out another troop. Whether he crosses over now, next month or next spring is a discussion and decision for you and him in concert with the Scoutmaster, no one else needs have a say.

 

 

[Stosh]

I cringe every time I hear this: The scout has to wait _________... (fill in the blank)

 

This is not proper. The boy earned the award, he should be wearing the patch.

 

When I was WDL, I got my WebI boys in September, met weekly, and all the boys had a blast. They all earned their AOL at the following February Blue/Gold and now the problem was they were 9-10 year olds with the AOL on their shirts. What do you do? Keep doing what you're doing, the boys were having a great time. Because they didn't have any more requirements to do, that summer we went out and did camping and all the neat stuff that they would be doing in Boy Scouts in the next few months. Then they turned into WebII's (September of the second year). Already had the AOL on their shirt, did some fun activities in the fall (guest at BS activities, etc.) and looked for troops to join.

 

A lot of people were very concerned that these boys were doing BS type activities and when they got to the troop they would be "bored". On the contrary, as "experienced as these boys were they all earned Tenderfoot 1 month after crossing over, and were all FC well within the first year. And by the way were they bored? Nope, 6 of the 8 Eagled.

 

At one of the boy's Eagle Ceremony, one boy came up to me and thanked me personally for all I had done and pointed out that over the past 9 years, only his dad had spent more time helping him grow up than I had... (This coming from a boy that lost fire building competition his first year of WebI even though he had built a perfect fire lay. He sat there with the matches in his hand staring at his teepee fire lay, crying. I asked him why he didn't start his fire, he tearfully said, "My mom doesn't let me play with matches!") I had to teach him how to use a matchbook!

 

Don't wait to get these boys into and onto their next big adventure! The more you hold them back, the more damage you do!

 

Stosh

 

Addendum: This process always reminds me of the boy that earns Eagle and never gets a chance to wear the rank patch. We do the same stupid thing with AOL. He earns it and then crosses over to BS! It's almost like it's a BS award, not an award to wear on your CS shirt! Earn it, wear it, it looks best on a CUB SCOUT shirt!(This message has been edited by jblake47)

[Snow_White]

I agree that awards should be presented as soon as possible after they are earned.

 

However, I think that it is also wise of you to be sensitive to the fact the he is the DL's son and the perception that this presents. As someone else said, sometimes this happens just because the DL's son ends up being at all of the activities. But, I have also seen cases where the WDL's son got signed off before everyone else because of things that were done at home with the parent. (For instance, testing on knowing Scout Oath and Law, etc... - signed off because it was done at home with WDL's son, but WDL did not review this with other scouts that also had been working on it because they ran out of time at den meeting, so they did not get signed off.) As long as all scouts had the same opportunity to get signed off on what they accomplished, there should not be an issue that all scouts in the den haven't earned the award at the same time.(This message has been edited by Snow_White)

[perdidochas]

Jblake wrote:

When I was WDL, I got my WebI boys in September, met weekly, and all the boys had a blast. They all earned their AOL at the following February Blue/Gold and now the problem was they were 9-10 year olds with the AOL on their shirts. What do you do? Keep doing what you're doing, the boys were having a great time. Because they didn't have any more requirements to do, that summer we went out and did camping and all the neat stuff that they would be doing in Boy Scouts in the next few months. Then they turned into WebII's (September of the second year). Already had the AOL on their shirt, did some fun activities in the fall (guest at BS activities, etc.) and looked for troops to join.

 

 

I'm wondering how you did that. Webelos can't earn AOL until they've been 10 yrs old or have finished the 4th grade for 6 months. Unless your Webs were already starting the 5th grade or were already 10, they couldn't earn their AOL in February.

 

Here is the first requirement of AOL:

Be active in your Webelos den for at least six months since completing the fourth grade (or for at least six months since becoming 10 years old), and earn the Webelos badge.

 

 

 

 

[ScoutNut]

Reporting advancement will NEVER force a Cub Scout out of a Pack.

 

Please read your Cub Scout Leader Book.

 

A boy can stay in Cub Scouts (the Pack) until the end of the 5th grade school year, or he is 11.5 years old - whichever comes LATER.

 

As I stated earlier - AOL and moving onto Boy Scouts are 2 DIFFERENT and ENTIRELY SEPARATE things!

 

Since your son has no friends in his Webelos den (what a shame), then moving him into the homeschool BS Troop in October should be fine.

 

Please do NOT WAIT until October to award him his AOL.

 

Working with your son at home, when all other Webelos must work in the den, or bring in their work to be approved by you before getting credit, is why your son, and none of the other boys in your den, has earned AOL. You are right to be concerned at how this appears.

 

Please - make sure you are giving the other Webelos in your den every opportunity to earn their AOL in a timely fashion also.

 

 

[bear dad]

Working with your son at home, when all other Webelos must work in the den, or bring in their work to be approved by you before getting credit, is why your son, and none of the other boys in your den, has earned AOL. You are right to be concerned at how this appears.

 

Please - make sure you are giving the other Webelos in your den every opportunity to earn their AOL in a timely fashion also

 

 

agree with that,but don't knock the boy or parents,

some parents just drop off their kids have no ideal whats going on or don't try to help their son. I go over what needs to be done and hand out things to help them finish their requriements. Only a couple follow thru with that and wonder why some boy got this or that. because he earned it.A DL can only do so much to help, a boy needs to do his part as well. There is a reason for "earning" and not "giving" awards out.