Advancement to Boyscouts

[Cheech]

My son is a Webelo 2, his brother was a Webelo 1 last year. This provided my son with the unique opportunity of attending both his brother's patrol and his patrol for part of the time. As a result, my son is close to earning the super achiever award for cub scouts. At the Blue and Gold in January of this year, I would like for my son to advance as he will have all twenty activity badges, is ten years old and has been a member to scouting since he was a tiger. Under these circumstances, can a scout crossover before his patrol? He is ready and willing to move on. I feel that holding him back will frustrate him and possibly disengage him.

[King Ding Dong]

What are they doing in Patrols if they are in cub scouts ?

[Cheech]

Our Webelo's choose a patrol name instead of being in a den.

[King Ding Dong]

January of this year (2013) has already past. If you mean January of next year, the question is does he meet the joining requirements. If he does then it is up to the troop and if he will fit into their program. If you are fudging the joining requirements then ???

[Baseballfan]

But earning all 20 activity badges and being a Cub since Tigers aren't qualifications for crossing over, Webelo isn't a word, and Webelos are in Dens. Boy Scouts are in patrols. I also don't understand your opening sentence... most Webelos 2 were Webelos 1 last year... it sounds to me like you might need to look into some training to understand the program... and Ding Dong is correct... January is 6 months away!

[dedkad]

January of this year (2013) has already past. If you mean January of next year, the question is does he meet the joining requirements. If he does then it is up to the troop and if he will fit into their program. If you are fudging the joining requirements then ???

I think he might mean program year, which is June to May or thereabouts. So January of "this year" would be January 2014.

[dedkad]

Is he going to earn his Arrow of Light by January? That's the key to crossing over early, not 20 activity badges. If he's met the requirements to bridge and would prefer to be with the older boys rather than his friends from Cub Scouts, then I don't see a problem with him bridging before the rest of his den. When will the rest of the boys in his den earn their Arrow of Light? Since Webelos is designed to be an 18 month program, they should all be earning their Arrow of Light and be ready to bridge in January or February. Why would he be going earlier than the rest?

[5yearscouter]

My son is a Webelo 2' date=' his brother was a Webelo 1 last year. This provided my son with the unique opportunity of attending both his brother's patrol and his patrol for part of the time. As a result, my son is close to earning the super achiever award for cub scouts. At the Blue and Gold in January of this year, I would like for my son to advance as he will have all twenty activity badges, is ten years old and has been a member to scouting since he was a tiger. Under these circumstances, can a scout crossover before his patrol? He is ready and willing to move on. I feel that holding him back will frustrate him and possibly disengage him.[/quote']

 

Re-read the requirements for the Arrow of Light. Cause certainly you want him to earn that before moving to boy scouts? Have him stay til he completed those requirements would mean he's working towards a goal and shouldn't bore him too much.

 

Then read the requirements to join a boy scout troop from the application.

When he meets the requirements to join boy scouts,complete the application and have him join the local troop.

 

 

However, if possible don't have a barely 10 year old join a boy scout troop. He'd have to have his AOL and the way I read it he'd have to be out of 4th grade, but some packs seem to read the requirments differently than I do.

So in our troop we have some boys who joined at just barely 10 (day after birthday) with their Arrow of Light. And they are honestly too immature and too intimidated by the older boys to really fit into the troop well. We have some that are less than half the size of my 13 year old and roll around playing on the ground with matchbox cars during troop meetings....

So Don't push that hard. Be sure he gets everything out of cub scouting and the webelos that he possibly can before crossing him over--especially chances for webelos den campouts without mom and dad right there tenting with him. Let him grow up a bit if possible. O

[Cheech]

Thanks everyone for your help. Just for clarification (I know sometimes communication is difficult via email), some troops allow their Webelo's (We Be Loyal Scouts) to adopt a patrol name and start acting more like a patrol in preparation for boy scouts, this was done for my son's group, this is why I refer to his "den" as a patrol. My son will be eligible for the Arrow of Light award as well as completing all 20 activities by January, 2014 (sorry for not clarifying the year). The other three Webelo 2's in his group (small group) may or may not be eligible for the Arrow of Light and in addition they wish to stay until April 2014 when we traditionally have the bridging ceremony. My son will be turning 11 in February of 2014. He will be able to complete all twenty tasks plus the arrow of light (and yes, he has or is close to completing them all, they are not "fudged"). I understand that this is a difficult task, however, he has a brother who is one year older, so when his brother was a Webelo 2 and the son I am referring to was a Webelo 1 he was able to go to both his brother's meetings as well as his own and worked "doubly hard for almost one full year. Since I am aware that earning 20 activities was a difficult task and he was tracking to complete them early, I had him document all his work with pictures and video, so there is no question regarding how hard he worked. The reason why he would like to move up early is 1. Other than completing the God and Me or more belt loops/pins he has done all of the work. 2. He attended his own plus his brother's group for 3 years and he developed a relationship with his brother's leader and scout members. 2. Since his group is so small (4 scouts including him), it has been difficult for him to develop the group/family atmosphere that you would hope for, particularly when one or two are absent and others are not as "involved". In addition, in his 3 1/2 years he has had three leaders which has not helped with building rapport. My son has always related more to brother's group.

[ScoutNut]

There is no rule that a den of Webelos must cross to Boy Scouts together. There is also no rule that they must all go to the same Boy Scout Troop.

 

When your son has met all of the requirements to join Boy Scouts, and it is what HE wants to do, then there is no reason to hold him back.

 

And, just a note - although many see it as unimportant, the Cub Scout program only utilizes dens. Even if it is the Flaming Raptor Den. The Boy Scout program utilizes patrols. While it is true that Webelos are transitioning to Boy Scouts, they are still Cub Scouts. Dens, and patrols (other than both being able to have a cool name) are VERY different, and the terms should not be used interchangeably.

[King Ding Dong]

Thanks everyone for your help. Just for clarification (I know sometimes communication is difficult via email), some troops allow their Webelo's (We Be Loyal Scouts) to adopt a patrol name and start acting more like a patrol in preparation for boy scouts, this was done for my son's group, this is why I refer to his "den" as a patrol. My son will be eligible for the Arrow of Light award as well as completing all 20 activities by January, 2014 (sorry for not clarifying the year). The other three Webelo 2's in his group (small group) may or may not be eligible for the Arrow of Light and in addition they wish to stay until April 2014 when we traditionally have the bridging ceremony. My son will be turning 11 in February of 2014. He will be able to complete all twenty tasks plus the arrow of light (and yes, he has or is close to completing them all, they are not "fudged"). I understand that this is a difficult task, however, he has a brother who is one year older, so when his brother was a Webelo 2 and the son I am referring to was a Webelo 1 he was able to go to both his brother's meetings as well as his own and worked "doubly hard for almost one full year. Since I am aware that earning 20 activities was a difficult task and he was tracking to complete them early, I had him document all his work with pictures and video, so there is no question regarding how hard he worked. The reason why he would like to move up early is 1. Other than completing the God and Me or more belt loops/pins he has done all of the work. 2. He attended his own plus his brother's group for 3 years and he developed a relationship with his brother's leader and scout members. 2. Since his group is so small (4 scouts including him), it has been difficult for him to develop the group/family atmosphere that you would hope for, particularly when one or two are absent and others are not as "involved". In addition, in his 3 1/2 years he has had three leaders which has not helped with building rapport. My son has always related more to brother's group.

You keep mentioning all 20 activity badges, that is not relevant to crossing over. AOL is relevant, and that is what we are concerned about fudging. From your description that is not the case, but we see it all the time and opinions vary if it is acceptable.

 

Congrats to your son on super achiever. It can be difficult to do if they are viewed as items to do sequentially. If your son has a firm grasp of all the requirements in Boy Scouts he can strategize efficient advancement. For instance work on cooking MB along with T-1 cooking requirements. When making a one pot meal for cooking MB utilize the tripod lashing to make a useful camp gadget (Dutch oven stand). Those responsible may not feel he has mastered each skill well enough to sign off, but he did get practice at them.

[Cheech]

Thanks very much, that is the piece of information that I was trying to find out about. I appreciate the clarification on the den/patrol usage.

[5yearscouter]

Lots of people get confused about webelos dens/patrols because the webelos get to choose and wear a patrol patch on their shoulder rather than their den numbers. I know a lot of people here get all caught up in the difference between the webelos den with a patrol patch and a "real" boy scout patrol- but there can be a lot of similarities between a webelos 2 den and a new scout patrol within a troop.

 

-I know some Webelos 2 den leaders who really work to transition their den towards the beginnings of acting as a patrol--with a patrol name, cheer, flag, patrol leader (denner) and the den leader starts to act more like a SM or ASM for the group, or mb counselor for covering the activity pins--advising as the boys plan and run their own meetings, set up their camps, do their own cooking with lots of supervision and instruction of course. yes, even while still webelos.

In dens where the Web2 den leader has tried to get the boys to start thinking like boy scouts, we have higher retention when those boys do bridge to our boy scout troop. Web2 dens that stay completely adult led and planned the boys tend to take longer to adjust to being boy scouts and following boy led and more drop out before they figure out the difference. just my 2 cents.