WeBeLoS to Boy Scout Transition

[ScoutMythBuster]

I have a bit of a pickle here. I have a new Cubmaster, she took over for me so I could focus on the Troop; and she has done a wonderful job planning the year but she never planned the WeBeLoS to Boy Scout / Arrow of Light Ceremony until May of next year. I have six boys ready to cross over next month and the first open night we have for it is February. I could just hand out the award but I feel to not do a special ceremony leesens its importance. Would it be fair and acceptable to cross them over into the Troop in November and do the official Crossover in February? I would of course apply for their AOL now, wait a week and hand in the crossover application. I would just present it February. My concern is that they are getting board and they are ready to move up.

[The Blancmange]

Awarding AOL and crossing over to a troop are two distinct events. Granted, they are done back to back in many cases, especially in packs that hold their advancement until the end of the school year, but they are different. If the boys have met all the requirements, they should receive the award as soon as possible.

 

It should be up to the boys and their parents whether they immediately want to cross over to a troop or wait until some later time. There is nothing that says a scout who has earned AOL cannot remain in the pack, especially if there are fun activities in which they may want to participate.

 

Last year, I had 3 boys who earned AOL in December and received the award then. We had a ceremony at the B&G in March, followed by a crossover ceremony. There was also one 5th grade Webelos who had just joined and did not earn AOL. He was 11 at the time of B&G and crossed over then as well.

[ScoutMythBuster]

I guess my dilemna is that the parents are not concerned with the crossover as much as the pomp and circumstance of the AOL ceremony. And they boys are getting bored so they are yearning to do Boy Scout things. So, I guess I will talk to the Cubmaster and parents about moving them up in November and having a nice AOL Ceremony in February to make the parents happy.

[Gary_Miller]

Why not do a nice AOL and Cross over for these boys at the next Pack Meeting? After all thats what Pack Meetings are for, and both of those ceremonies can be done anytime.

[83Eagle]

SMB I think you have your answer in your last post. The boys are yearning to do boy scout things while the parents are concerned with pomp and circumstance. So....

[ScoutNut]

I suggest doing a fancy celebration in November when they receive their award, and cross into the Boy Scout Troop. How can they participate in a "crossover" ceremony in February when they will have been Boy Scouts for 3 months already? They might also have earned some Boy Scout ranks by then. Would you have the Scouts take off all of their Boy Scout insignia and pretend to be Cubbies again? I don't think so.

 

By the way, if you are now involved with the Troop, and not the Pack, you should have kept involved with the Webelos den leaders so that the crossover to your Troop of their interested Webelos could have been better coordinated. The Webelos den leaders work with the Scouts, and know how fast they are completing the AOL requirements. A Cubmaster might have only a faint clue, if any at all.

[5yearscouter]

Ask your local troop for help making it into an AOL and crossover ceremony in November if they are done done, or in December or January if there is a bit of things that might still excite them about cubs--for instance we have a night light parade in December (cover the boys in battery powered christmas lights ) and the boys wouldn't want to miss that. and we have derby in january, and some of the boys want to participate in that. if you don't have anything really special they don't want to miss out on, then contact the troop and get them to help you out. or contact the local OA and get a ceremony team.

 

make up some AOL arrows, plan a backyard campfire AOL ceremony on a den meeting night, and make out some kind of bridge and cross them over. if it's half dark they won't realize the bridge is just flat pieces of wood and the campfire is a small bit of burning wood in a pie pan on someone's grass lawn.

[GKlose]

Maybe I'm misunderstanding the situation, but let me relate our experience, which might be similar...

 

Our "feeder pack" (which doesn't necessarily always feed the entire Webelos group to us) was doing their Blue and Gold in June, as an "end of program year" awards ceremony. Over the course of several years, more and more dens timed their rank awards to coincide with the Blue and Gold. The last few years, the banquet had moved from early June to the end of June (then the pack goes on recess until October -- mostly because September is round-up month).

 

When we would get Webelos crossing over, they typically did not have time to camp with us prior to summer camp. Parents are in the Cubs mindset, therefore new Scouts didn't really show up to the troop until September.

 

We've tried as hard as we can to break this cycle...this year, we've had our first breakthrough. The new CC with the pack agrees with us that Webelos should transition sooner than the end of June, and they have a Webelos den leader this year that is ready to be done. So they've agreed to move up their Arrow of Light ceremony, and the crossover to the troop, to either February or March. We're really happy about that, and I've personally thanked both the CC and the WDL for helping us with this change. We'll see if we get more Scouts to summer camp this year. :-)

 

Guy

[SeattlePioneer]

GKlose---

 

 

Congratulations on persuading the pack to do the right thing.

 

 

[JoeBob]

Your Web IIs are bored?

 

I think that falls on the Den leader. Webelos camping has been the most fun we've had in Scouting, so far. 10 boys camping on their own with minimal adult oversight is an important transition from family car camping to Boy Scout backpacking without Momma.

 

Our Web IIs want to have an 'old-times-sake' camping trip this Spring after they cross over in March. (They're not that happy about re-joining the older group above them in Scouts...)

 

Admittedly; we have ten boys who started out bickering, wandering and whining with hurt feelings. Now they're ten fast friends who compete good-naturedly and like working as patrols to get things done. The other dads, leaders, and myself are just amazed and like watching them work.

 

The inside joke is "We might make men out of them, yet." The joke is how much they have already become men in the Scouting environment.

[Jay K]

I had one son receive Arrow of light and cross over in a brief, fun ceremony that we (of the Troop) dropped into a 20 minute slot at a regular pack meeting. I had another son who crossed over to our Troop via Paperwork in December, but participated with his den at the Blue and Gold Arrow of light/ crossover event the following February. I got the idea to do that because our Wood Badge people said that we could have our bead presentation at any time or event, and even multiple times.

I do reccomend talking it all over with the other Pack Adults, in case someone has an irrational objection to either of these two ideas.