Cub scouts age vs grade

[EagleRey]

Hello,

 

Has anyone came across this or a similar situation on age vs grade of cubs? I have a child joining who is currently in the 3rd grade as a 10 year old and will be 11 this coming January. According to the official rules, he should be a Webelos getting ready for Boy Scouts. Both he and his parents want him to be in the Bears with his friends & classmates. I found it interesting that his sports teams go off grade only, not age, so staying with his friends has not came up previously. I talked very briefly with the scout office and they were hesitant about making any recommendations and are supposed to get back with me. The official rules say Webelos, but they were looking into any exceptions. They were concerned about him being 2 grades lower than most kids entering Boy Scouts.

 

Thanks in advance

 

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[Daped01]

I have the same issue, I had a mother call me last week saying he has a kid that should be in 3rd grade (bears) but was held back in 2nd grade for a 2nd year. I asked my DE where he should go, and without skipping a beat she told me he needs to be a wolf because of his grade.

[perdidochas]

Hello,

 

Has anyone came across this or a similar situation on age vs grade of cubs? I have a child joining who is currently in the 3rd grade as a 10 year old and will be 11 this coming January. According to the official rules, he should be a Webelos getting ready for Boy Scouts. Both he and his parents want him to be in the Bears with his friends & classmates. I found it interesting that his sports teams go off grade only, not age, so staying with his friends has not came up previously. I talked very briefly with the scout office and they were hesitant about making any recommendations and are supposed to get back with me. The official rules say Webelos, but they were looking into any exceptions. They were concerned about him being 2 grades lower than most kids entering Boy Scouts.

 

Thanks in advance

 

While not two grades, we held my son back in the second grade. He was a wolf his first year in second grade, a bear his second year in second grade, and then we kept him at bear for third grade, etc. I found it worked better, because it put him with his grade peers. The down side, is that he lost one year of eligibility for working on BSA advancement. It's ok--he became an Eagle at 15 anyway.

 

I'd put the boy in Bear, and keep him with his grade peers. I think the way it reads, as long as he's in third grade, he can be a Cub Scout. Fourth and Fifth grade, he can be a Webelos. That said, if he really wanted, he could join Boy Scouts in January. I would not recommend that at all.

 

Below is quoted from the Scout Application form. Note, it doesn't say that a Cub Scout can't be older than 10.

Tigerâ€â€Must be under the age of 8, have completed kindergarten or be in the first grade, or be age 7.

Cub Scoutâ€â€Must have completed first grade but not completed third grade, or be age 8 or 9.

Webelos Scoutâ€â€Must have completed third grade but not completed fifth grade, or be age 10 but not yet 111â„2.

 

 

[qwazse]

...I talked very briefly with the scout office ...

 

My buddy was held back, two years older, and went through cubs with me (his mom was a den leader). I'm pretty sure nobody asked permission. They told the unit commissioner how it was going to be. Which brings me to ...

 

Rule #1: Don't ask anyone for a rule. Don't read anything into their hesitation. They didn't give you an outright "no", so take it as a "yes." This was not a question that the scout office should be bothered with. If you don't have a unit commissioner who understands your situation, has seen the boy at pack meetings, and maybe even can help you talk to the parents, don't expect any professional behind a phone to know how to handle things any better. Frankly, you should even take what we said with a grain of salt. (Although I think Perdi's interpretation is the right one.)

 

Explain to the boy, that the pack will support him. Let him know that when he feels like he is ready to cheerfully try Webelos, have his parents call you, and you'll talk to the Web1 DL about maybe letting him visit a den meeting. But if he wants to be loyal to the buddies in his den, that's fine to. Give him options.

[Sidney Porter]

I am also surprised tha his sports teams go by grade not age. That is not what I have experienced with my kids. What I have experienced is age cutoffs at the beginning of the season so if you are 10 at the start of the season you stay in that age group for the entire season even if you have a birthday.

[Sidney Porter]

I would keep him with his grade going with the assumption that his maturity and intelegence are at that level.

[NJCubScouter]

If my math is correct, if this young man stays with his grade-level peers all the way through the end of Webelos (or "Arrow of Light" as I guess it will then be called), he would still be in the pack at time of his 13th birthday - or right before it, or as late as 2 or 3 months after it, depending on local practice and the impact of the coming changes in the Cub Scout program. But leaving aside the precise details, we are basically talking about a crossover at age 13. Is that what his parents are planning? And doesn't the council's computer system start coughing and spewing black smoke and kicking back the pack's charter, before that point is reached?

[koolaidman]

There is a procedure for scouts to register beyond the date of eligibility in Cub Scouts or Boy Scouts:

~~

http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/guidetoadvancement/specialneeds/registerqualifiedmembers.aspx

[ScoutNut]

Cub Scouts are age - OR - grade based. He can stay with his classmates in Bears, and beyond..

 

He will have no problem registering in Cub Scouts down the line as the ending of Cub Scouts is 11.5 years old - OR - the end of 5th grade - which ever is LATER.

 

The only thing he will need to understand is that Boy Scouts is strictly age based. He will be done with Boy Scouts at 18 years of age - period. If he wants to go for his Eagle rank, he will need to keep that in mind. However, it should not present much, if any, of a problem to him.

[Momleader]

When I was the Tiger leader, we had a boy in the pack who washeld back in school after he had finished the Tiger requirements. School and parents made the decision together over the summer break. That boy was advanced to wolf as 1st graders, as he had met the scouting requirements to advance. This was done after I spoke with the council about the issue. The following year we had a 2nd grader who needed to repeat that grade, again though he had kept up with the wolf program and completed the requirements with the den. Council again was called and they agreed that he should advance on to bear, since he had done his best and finished the requirements. These kids were allowed to cross over to Boy Scouts after they completed their AOL as Webelos and are doing well in Boy Scouts. They were a year older than their classmates but same age as their Scout-mates. Keeping a boy with his peer group is important but it must be looked at as only a part of the picture. While there is as academic portion of scouting - a boy who excels in scouting might have other academic difficulties that cause him not to do well in school.pl

[Twocubdad]

Default should always be to keep a boy with his buddies. Being in Scouts with his friends is the #1 predictor of success and longevity in the program. Q-- love the rule. We should have t-shirts made.

[ShutterbugMom]

Our pack has always allowed a child to advance even if he was held back. If a new cub scout starts, we have him start with his grade, even if he had been held back previously. We had one instance where a parent wanted his son with the correct den based on age instead of grade, so we said that was fine, but now after a year, at pack meetings we see the boy gravitating toward his school friends instead of his cub scout den friends. It's not a problem, but I think now he would have been happier to start with the correct grade children.

 

As far as sports go, I have found with both my children that many parents hold their kids back so they excel at sports. I've even had other parents tell me that. When they are younger (Little League, etc.) most of the sports are age based. However, once they hit middle school, a 13 year old 6th grader is going to fare much better than an 11 year old at 6th grade sports tryouts. I personally do not think it is fair to hold them back based on future sports achievements, but, of course, we cannot control other parents. :-)

[perdidochas]

I think the decision on the above should be up to the parents and the scout. I held my son back for academic reasons. We started by his progressing by age. We then switched to by grade. Yes, he repeated Bear, but that was fine as his second year of Bear was my year as a Bear leader, and he helped out. It's worked out well, as he seems to have more in common with his grade peers than with his age peers. With an August birthday, he was either going to be the youngest in his classes (or after we held him back) among the oldest.