Webelos to Scout Transition

[SC_Scouter]

My son is a first year Webelos who will turn 10 1/2 on May 6, 2009. He has worked hard to earn most of the activity pins required for Arrow of Light and will have the rest completed by May. He is really excited about his next step being Boy Scouts. If I understand the requirements correctly, to earn Arrow of Light, he must be active in his Webelos den for 6 months since becoming 10. This would be 10 1/2 years old which he will be on May 6. The requirement to move to Boy Scouts is earn the Arrow of Light and be at least 10 years old. Has anyone heard of a Webelos scout moving up this early?

 

Thanks, Bryan

[GKlose]

Sure...my youngest son has pretty much decided he's done with Cub Scouts. He'll be 10-1/2 in March, even though he started Webelos I this last summer. It wasn't too difficult to get enough activity badges and activities for AoL finished, but I think he's almost done now (I think his Webelos I den is working on one more activity badge. I think he did it by going to a mix of meetings among both I and II dens.

 

He's not so excited about Boy Scouts either (I don't think he is realizing that it is a much different game than Cub Scouts), but I've asked him if he would transition and then stay through at least First Class.

[Bob White]

If he will meet the eligibility requirements why would you say that he is joining early?

 

Early would be if he didn't meet the requirements yet and tried to join.

 

 

[molscouter]

The only concern I would have is moving on without his peers and how he would feel about that. That's a call we can't make. Does he know the current Webelos IIs well, so that he'll know people in the troop?

 

Bob, I think by early, SC_Scouter meant early in relation to his den level.

[SR540Beaver]

Bryan,

 

Yes, I run into "early" scouts frequently. I work with our new scout patrol in our troop. We had 24 new scouts in 2006, 20 in 2007 and 16 this year. So I've experienced just about every condition there is from boy's with eager parents wanting them to cross ASAP to boys 13 years of age who have never been involved in scouts at any level. I won't try to discourage you, but I will tell you a few of my concerns about "early" scouts. My preference is to get new scouts who cross over in February as we design our program to begin in March. We get them throughout the year and will take them whenever they come, but it works best if we can have an organized program plan instead of backtracking for guys that come over in May, July or October for instance. Our troop goes to summer camp in June. Summer camp is a week long. For a boy crossing over in May, summer camp might be his first camping experience with the troop. He has not had time to find his place in the troop, is not used to being away from home and family for an extended time and has not had to be responsible for getting himself everywhere he needs to be while at camp. One option is to not go. That isn't a good option. The new scout programs that summer camps provide are extremely beneficial to a new scout. Those guys who come to our troop "early" in the fall are way behind the eight ball compared to their peers who came in in February. Crossing in February allows a boy to go on a number of campouts before summer camp and get accustomed to patrol and troop life and get some skills under his belt. Another concern is the maturity of the boy. Some kids do just fine while others just are not ready to be put into the Boy Scout environment yet. It helps if they move with their fellow Webelos instead of alone.

 

You know your son and we don't. Only the two of you can make the call on whether or not to cross over "early". Something to keep in mind is that Boy Scouts runs thru a boy's 18th birthday. Crossing him at the absolute earliest time possible really isn't buying you anything as he has 7.5 years to be a scout.

[SC_Scouter]

Thanks for all the feedback. I too have thought out many of the concerns stated here and have talked to my son about them. He is a very intelligent and mature boy and this is his decision. I only try to help him see both sides of it. He is not concerned with moving on without his peers as we are not moving into our own troop. Our troop meets on Sunday at 4pm and this does not work for our family schedule. We have visited other troops in our area and together have chosen a new troop that has a meeting day that works for us and has a history of providing an excellent scout program.

 

I am however concerned with the fact that summercamp will be in July and this might be his first camp experience with the troop. Looking at the troop camp history it seems they camp in late May or early June before summercamp and this may allow him to atleast get one trip under his belt. He is very adaptive to his environment and think he will be fine with the transition.

 

I think we will go ahead and get a meeting with the Scoutmaster so he may express any concerns he may have.

 

Thanks,

Bryan

[Bob White]

SC_Scouter

 

A simple solution would be for your son to begin camping with the troop prior to his joining. There is nothing in the BSA regulations that prohibits that. The troop is allowed to bring youth guests on activities and they are covered by the BSA insurance as long as they are potential members, which your son certainly qualifies for. He is not even required to have a parent or guardian with him. (Although you might attend anyway and hang around with the Scoutmaster, who know you might decide you want to join as an assistant scoutmaster.)

 

If your son began camping with the troop in March or April, he should have sufficient experience for summer camp by July.

 

But I would caution you against making your son or the scoutmaster believe that he is joining the troop "early". At 10 1/2 and with the Arrow of Light he is joining at a perfectly acceptable time.

 

 

 

[SC_Scouter]

Good idea.

 

I will be joining the troop also. I am currently the Webelos I Den leader and our current Bear leader will be moving up to take my place at the end of May.

[Lisabob]

I agree that, if he is going to join the troop prior to this summer's camp, then he ought to be invited along as a guest on some troop outings before he joins. This allows him (and you, and the SM) to make a more informed judgment about just how ready he is. It may be that he's exceptionally mature for his age, but that he's still not quite ready for the rather different demands and pressures of boy scouting. I've seen that happen on occasion, and in part I think it has to do with the wider age range of boy scouting. Some 10 year olds, mature as they may be, aren't ready to be hanging around with 14-17 year olds, especially if the troop is made up primarily of older boys. Going on a couple of campouts might highlight this and save everyone a lot of grief. Of course, it may also be that he fits right in and is ready to go!

 

 

[evmori]

If he will meet the eligibility requirements why would you say that he is joining early?

 

Early would be if he didn't meet the requirements yet and tried to join.

 

Well that was no help!

 

Bryan,

 

As long as your son has met the requirements, he can move up. While you might think this is early based on his age, I would bet ya a lot of Webelos have moved up exactly the way your son plans to.

[insanescouter]

My parents worked with the local troop and moved me in to scouts pretty early becuase my dad was being sent to the Azores (he was activity duty air force) and parents decided to keep us kids state side so dad wanted to get me moved before he left. I think for me it worked out great.

 

Scott Robertson

http://insanescouter.org

http://www.linkedin.com/in/insanescouter

 

Helping leaders one resource at a time....

[SC_Scouter]

I would like to thank everyone for the great advice.

 

Happy New Year,

Bryan