Minimum Scout Age/Grade

[blw2]

Interesting situation..... I think it better for the boys to not be admitted until the 1st grade.....

 

On a parallel note, I was thinking about something just the other day when I for some reason pulled out my old BS Handbook. At B&G when our pack does it's annual crossover, my son won't technically be old enough for Boy Scouts.

Checking the modern standards, per the BSA web site

If you're a boy age 11, or at least 10 and have completed the fifth grade, or have earned the Cub Scout Arrow of Light Award, to 17 years old, the time for a real adventure is now.

At crossover time, assuming of course that my son sticks with it and wants to cross over..., he'll be IN the 5th grade and will be 10 years old. So if he doesn't earn the AOL, he'll not technically be allowed to cross over I guess...... but he was perfectly "by the book" to join as a Tiger in the 1st grade. Kind of a loop hole for sure where BSA ages don't mesh well with the school systems.....

So he's one of the youngest in the class, and one of the youngest in his den, but he fits right in with all of them..... in fact excels.

 

BUT, while his age is on the low end, his ability and maturity fall more in step I think with the school grade level. This is why I think the OP's situation with kindergarten kids is a bad fit.....

Yeah, It's an interesting potential hurdle.... But by loophole, I really meant a pitfall or potential lost boy. I can imagine a boy who finishes cubs, but for whatever reason didn't earn his AOL. Now he suddenly finds himself without a den half way through the year. If he's restricted from joining a troop, he's in limbo until next year.....I'd say odds are really high that he will be lost from the BSA roles for good.

 

Since I'm active, I'd say odds are low that my son won't push through the AOL. If he's not motivated to finish the AOL, then he's not likely to be interested in continuing anyway. But I do know other boys that are so active in other things, sports, music, church, and on and on. They may enjoy scouting and do well, but just not earn that arrow due to lack of time..... or if they have a hard time with parental conflicts, etc....

[Fehler]

There are DE's out there who will sign up short-haired girls if no one was looking, just to get their recruitment numbers up.

[ScoutNut]

Interesting situation..... I think it better for the boys to not be admitted until the 1st grade.....

 

On a parallel note, I was thinking about something just the other day when I for some reason pulled out my old BS Handbook. At B&G when our pack does it's annual crossover, my son won't technically be old enough for Boy Scouts.

Checking the modern standards, per the BSA web site

If you're a boy age 11, or at least 10 and have completed the fifth grade, or have earned the Cub Scout Arrow of Light Award, to 17 years old, the time for a real adventure is now.

At crossover time, assuming of course that my son sticks with it and wants to cross over..., he'll be IN the 5th grade and will be 10 years old. So if he doesn't earn the AOL, he'll not technically be allowed to cross over I guess...... but he was perfectly "by the book" to join as a Tiger in the 1st grade. Kind of a loop hole for sure where BSA ages don't mesh well with the school systems.....

So he's one of the youngest in the class, and one of the youngest in his den, but he fits right in with all of them..... in fact excels.

 

BUT, while his age is on the low end, his ability and maturity fall more in step I think with the school grade level. This is why I think the OP's situation with kindergarten kids is a bad fit.....

 

This will apply to my oldest as well. Thanks to where his birthday falls, he won't be 11 until August (the same August he will be going into 6th grade.) So if he ranks up that February at our B&G, he will be 10 and 3 months away from completing fifth grade (I see KDD's son is also in the same boat.) I imagine lots of kids are due to what you said (conflicting with the school system.) I was in my first year of college at 17 (never skipped a grade) for the exact same reason.

The YOUNGEST a boy can be to join Boy Scouts is 10 years old.

 

To join between 10-11 years of age, the boy MUST have EITHER completed 5th grade - OR - have earned his Arrow Of Light (AOL) as a Webelos Cub Scout.

 

A boy that is BOTH a year, and a grade, behind the rest of his Webelos den will not be able to meet either of those requirements.

 

Scouting is age appropriate. The Boy Scout program is simply not age appropriate for a 9 year old, 4th grader.

Just as the Cub Scout Tiger program is not age appropriate for a 5-6 year old kindergartener.

[Faith]

Interesting situation..... I think it better for the boys to not be admitted until the 1st grade.....

 

On a parallel note, I was thinking about something just the other day when I for some reason pulled out my old BS Handbook. At B&G when our pack does it's annual crossover, my son won't technically be old enough for Boy Scouts.

Checking the modern standards, per the BSA web site

If you're a boy age 11, or at least 10 and have completed the fifth grade, or have earned the Cub Scout Arrow of Light Award, to 17 years old, the time for a real adventure is now.

At crossover time, assuming of course that my son sticks with it and wants to cross over..., he'll be IN the 5th grade and will be 10 years old. So if he doesn't earn the AOL, he'll not technically be allowed to cross over I guess...... but he was perfectly "by the book" to join as a Tiger in the 1st grade. Kind of a loop hole for sure where BSA ages don't mesh well with the school systems.....

So he's one of the youngest in the class, and one of the youngest in his den, but he fits right in with all of them..... in fact excels.

 

BUT, while his age is on the low end, his ability and maturity fall more in step I think with the school grade level. This is why I think the OP's situation with kindergarten kids is a bad fit.....

 

This will apply to my oldest as well. Thanks to where his birthday falls, he won't be 11 until August (the same August he will be going into 6th grade.) So if he ranks up that February at our B&G, he will be 10 and 3 months away from completing fifth grade (I see KDD's son is also in the same boat.) I imagine lots of kids are due to what you said (conflicting with the school system.) I was in my first year of college at 17 (never skipped a grade) for the exact same reason.

Agreed Hopefully if my son is still interested in it come that time as he is now, he will go for his AOL and be covered no matter what.

 

And as for age appropriate, I also agree about 9 year olds / 4th grade. That's why this situation had me perplexed. Thankfully they nipped it in the bud before anything came out of it (well, moreso than it has already.)

[Khaliela]

I can think of one "exception" we used as a recruitment tool. We handed out applications at the Kindergarten graduation. They were no longer kindergartners, but had not started 1st grade yet. The draw was that if they enrolled in the summer their brand new Tiger could attend Day Camp in June. It seemed to work for us.

[Faith]

That is actually exactly what we were doing that day (the DD had went around to the schools and sent home papers about the meeting to kids who will be finished with kindergarten next week.) They all signed up for our day camp as well (one of my moving up tigers this year attended last year's before he entered 1st grade.)

[jc2008]

On June 1st your rank advances from one rank to the next. So a Kindergarden boy who is no rank, would be a Tiger. Its not a loop hole, its just true You are your rank for an entire 12 months (June-June) as long as you are registered with the BSA. Tigers are not just Tigers from August-June. The requirement to be a Tiger is "Completed Kindergarden" not "In First Grade". Some School systems have an inbetween grade that is for kids who completed kindergarden but are not quite ready for 1st grade.

 

One of the reasons a lot of Packs dont recruit graduating Kindergardeners is because most packs typically break for the summer so the child would have day camp and maybe 1-2 activities during the summer and you run the risk of them becoming disinterested. And normally Tiger dens don't form really well until fall recruitment when you have enough kids and adult leaders to take them on.

[walk in the woods]

Interesting situation..... I think it better for the boys to not be admitted until the 1st grade.....

 

On a parallel note, I was thinking about something just the other day when I for some reason pulled out my old BS Handbook. At B&G when our pack does it's annual crossover, my son won't technically be old enough for Boy Scouts.

Checking the modern standards, per the BSA web site

If you're a boy age 11, or at least 10 and have completed the fifth grade, or have earned the Cub Scout Arrow of Light Award, to 17 years old, the time for a real adventure is now.

At crossover time, assuming of course that my son sticks with it and wants to cross over..., he'll be IN the 5th grade and will be 10 years old. So if he doesn't earn the AOL, he'll not technically be allowed to cross over I guess...... but he was perfectly "by the book" to join as a Tiger in the 1st grade. Kind of a loop hole for sure where BSA ages don't mesh well with the school systems.....

So he's one of the youngest in the class, and one of the youngest in his den, but he fits right in with all of them..... in fact excels.

 

BUT, while his age is on the low end, his ability and maturity fall more in step I think with the school grade level. This is why I think the OP's situation with kindergarten kids is a bad fit.....

Happens all the time. Leave the boy registered as a Webelos scout, which you can. Depending on your taste for risk, let him participate with the NSP until he finishes 5th grade. He can't technically get any signatures until he finishes 5th grade but he could learn the skills. Make dad come along and turn him into an ASM.

[Faith]

On June 1st your rank advances from one rank to the next. So a Kindergarden boy who is no rank, would be a Tiger. Its not a loop hole, its just true You are your rank for an entire 12 months (June-June) as long as you are registered with the BSA. Tigers are not just Tigers from August-June. The requirement to be a Tiger is "Completed Kindergarden" not "In First Grade". Some School systems have an inbetween grade that is for kids who completed kindergarden but are not quite ready for 1st grade.

 

One of the reasons a lot of Packs dont recruit graduating Kindergardeners is because most packs typically break for the summer so the child would have day camp and maybe 1-2 activities during the summer and you run the risk of them becoming disinterested. And normally Tiger dens don't form really well until fall recruitment when you have enough kids and adult leaders to take them on.

 

That's about all our pack has during the summer but we still recruit out of Kindergarten as well. Even though some of our Tigers were recruited last May, we didn't form a den until September (and only one of the scouts they recruitd then stayed after camp.) So I know exactly what you mean, we saw it happen last year. I wasn't sure if you were just replying to the last few posts or the thread itself but this I completely understand and agree with I was just having trouble with kids going INTO Kindergarten being Tigers. Thankfully they were able to resolve it!

[mdp3612]

I really wish the BSA would start a kindergarten age program, my youngest son is 5 and in Kindergarten and he sat in the Tiger Den all year and there was not a single thing he wasn't able to do, he knew the law and promise by his second meeting and was better then some of our bears. We gave him a certificate for making all requirements and he will get his bobcat at out welcome back Pack Meeting since he will officially be a tiger. We did a membership drive at a Vol Fire Co open house and you wouldn't believe how many Kindergarten age kids are looking for activities. The BSA is really missing out

[SeattlePioneer]

Hello mdp,

 

Cub Scouts is too long now and 'way too many boys (and parents) get bored and drop out now.

 

Will you and your son still be excited by your den and pack programs after having done them several more times?

 

Write us again in four or five years...

 

(Personally I think the Tiger Cub year is the best year in Cub Scouts)

 

[mdp3612]

Hey Seattle Pioneer this is not my first year in Cub Scouts just new to the forum. So if Cub Scouts is too long I guess Boy Scouts is what?

[SeattlePioneer]

Boy Scouts is different than Cub Scouts. An issue in one program probably isn't going to be an issue. For example, homosexuality can be an issue in Boy Scouts but is unlikely to be an issue among Cub Scouts ---at least among boys.

 

But as long as you mention it, I might favor a shorter Boy Scout program that has as it's main aim achieving First Class and then moves boys on to Venturing.

 

[Faith]

I remember seeing someone online before about Lion Cubs I think it was? Need to look it back up, I know it was for Kindergarten age kids (not sure if it was an American program or elsewhere.) At this point, I'm glad it starts out in first grade but I know a lot of people who wish it started sooner. Our pack has a huge drop out rate as the kids get older (the biggest being from Webelos/AOL to Boy Scout.) Not sure if that's common everywhere but for now I'll just be happy to see mine make it through the next few years without wanting to sport/activity hop like so many kids here do.

[King Ding Dong]

I believe cubs does get a little long. The problem is there is to much "school" work involved and not enough fun. It also gets hard for den leaders to come up with the supplies and tools to do some of the activities. The How To book is hopelessly outdated. There are only so many birdhouse kits you can build and in the more northern states you get stuck inside for most of the program year. I did the wolf secret code elective last week and it was a HUGE hit. I never would have guessed. Shows you how much I know. My old council in a smaller city had TONS of lockins at museums and such. Those went over big. St. Louis unfortunately has none of that stuff. Our yards were bigger and we did lots of backyard campouts to change things up. Honestly in my opinion the best thing to do at the kindergarten age is to hit the learning to read hard and heavy. Introducing a second language while their brain is still receptive is also a big one. Leaf rubbings can wait a year.