perdidochas 658 Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 AOL requirements: 1. Be active in your Webelos den for at least six months since completing the fourth grade (or for at least six months since becoming 10 years old), and earn the Webelos badge. Six months past the end of fourth grade or after turning 10, not 6 months of fifth grade. Link to post Share on other sites
Basementdweller 608 Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 And the joining requirement for Boy scouts is 10 years old having earned the AOL. Link to post Share on other sites
Eagle92 110 Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 yep Peri is right. Met a guy who was in 4th grade who got his AOL and moved up into Boy Scout because he had an OCT bday and was 10.5 in April of his first Webelos year. It is doable. Link to post Share on other sites
Tampa Turtle 1011 Posted August 16, 2011 Share Posted August 16, 2011 Had a few barely 10 with AOL join as newbies this year. Must have gotten AOL before grade requirement. If you have paper Eagles you can have paper AOL's. Dad is guy pushing 90 day T-1. Giving me grey hair. 13 year old Eagle, maybe 12? Talked to CM of Pack not push them through ahead of time; make sure they meet requirements. They are good kids but just physically and socially immature due to age. You got 10 year olds hanging with 14 year olds and they pick up some "rough talk". The parents get very protective but what do ya want--they could have waited a bit longer. Link to post Share on other sites
scoutmom0618 10 Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 Thanks for clarifying...I guess where I confused myself was that our dens are not active during the summer...we do some Pack activities...but dens don't meet..We strat back the second week in september. as for rushing them through, I have always wondered why people do that (in anything..sports, school, scouts, church...etc) I feel like they should get all they can and enjoy it...before they have to move on. I know I have wished many times for life to slow down (since I have gotten older lol) Link to post Share on other sites
Basementdweller 608 Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 mom.....depends on the boys. This years group, 10 will crossover in February with a fairly high certainty. Three will not, they did not attend resident camp and have missed a number of events over the summer. Link to post Share on other sites
Tampa Turtle 1011 Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 We had 3 newbies all before turning 10, still in 4th. grade (two months from end of school year) all of whom had been awarded their AOL from the Pack. They had done all the activities. Kids transferred over at once to the troop with their brand new AOL. Drove me nuts! Link to post Share on other sites
perdidochas 658 Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 Tampa, Those boys didn't legitimately have AOL. The requirements say either 6 months past 10th birthday or 6 months past end of 4th grade. In fact, they cannot join boy scouts yet. The first joining requirement for Boy Scouts: 1. Meet the age requirements. Be a boy who is 11 years old, or one who has completed the fifth grade or earned the Arrow of Light Award and is at least 10 years old, but is not yet 18 years old. Link to post Share on other sites
Tampa Turtle 1011 Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 Perdidochas, Yes I figured that out. The SM should have questioned it but didn't. Eventually I saw the old Pack CM was just passing on her problem to us; super fast-tracking dad. Now the kids are 10. Besides you want to tell the boys --hey you should have not gotten that Arrow! I made it really clear to the CM not to do so again...it presented too many problems for us. I also volunteered to talk to the Webelos leaders at their leaders meeting to not rush it any faster than it is supposed to. The other boys figure it out pretty fast. The shame of it is it robs the Pack and the boys of the benefit of having some experienced top dogs at campouts, flag ceremonies, etc. But I now see the dad's involved and understand. Real "Attack Helicopter" dads. Like the boys but sure wish the dad's would transfer to another Troop. Maybe do Eagle by 12/13 and never seen again. Link to post Share on other sites
perdidochas 658 Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 The thing is, if an observant Eagle board realizes this, they may make the boys re-earn everything that was earned before 10 1/2 (6 months after end of fourth grade). Probably not if they are last minute Eagles, but I have no doubt they would with a younger Eagle. We had a case in our council of a boy who crossed over with his Webelos den before he earned AOL. The Eagle board caught it, and he had to redo the merit badges he earned between that date and his legitimate joining date (when he was 11 or completed the 5th grade). Link to post Share on other sites
Tampa Turtle 1011 Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 Ouch! Link to post Share on other sites
Basementdweller 608 Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 Peri......Using my son as an example......his birthday is early October. The crossover and AOL is March he was 10 years 5 months old, the SM did not make it to the council office but turned in his application at roundtable the following month. I am not going to bust his chops over 30 days. There were several others in similar situations...... Never heard of a brand new scout earning merit badges immediately after crossing over... Link to post Share on other sites
momof2cubs 10 Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 Peri: my son is another example. He has a summer birthday, so he turned 10 the summer before he started 4th grade. By crossover in march of this year, he had already all the AoL requirements and *could have* crossed over. By march he was well over the 10.5 age requirement. He didn't cross over(although I thought about it), but decided to do the 2nd year of webelos and cross over this coming March. Our decision was purely based on maturity level. There was a reason we held him back in school and it applied to scouts as well. But the point is, it CAN happen. Link to post Share on other sites
perdidochas 658 Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 The case I heard was a scout who did First Aid and Swimming merit badges during his first summer camp, which occurred before he could officially join. 30 days wouldn't make a difference. However, according to Tampa Turtle, they had new scouts who weren't even 10 or finished with the 4th grade yet. That is a big deal, IMHO. From what I read, those boys crossed over close to a year early. Link to post Share on other sites
Tampa Turtle 1011 Posted August 17, 2011 Share Posted August 17, 2011 Yes. I just thought they were REALLY short newbies. We are a pretty big Troop and I was ASM-nudger to the already 14 strong New Scout Patrol. So 3 more do Wasn't until I started asking around and asking our Troopmaster record keeper that I figured out what happened. I think people thought they are ALMOST 10 (in 30-60 days) and HAVE their AOL. No one on our side thought to question the AOL at the Pack end. They kinda slipped by. I would be OK with filing it under "lessons learned" if the Dads were not so dang protective of their wee ones. You push them into scouts early and then you wish the older scouts were not so rough and tumble? Should not want it both ways. It also caused a bad taste as we were just starting mixed-age patrols. The older guys were less than thrilled with "baby sitting" the newbies who had been there 6 months much less even fresher fish. I have asked our new SM and CC to be a little more careful in the future. The boys would have been welcome to do an extended Webelos shadowing if they wanted to. I am sure the boys in question would be surprised over the controversy. They think they are just super achievers wonderkinds. Well 1 of the young'uns is a super scout and volunteered to clean the latrine at camp. Also we got to eat early one night during the "send us your smallest guy" competition. So there is an upside. As to the original question our optional Arrows were loving hand made by our cubmaster but she has been overwhelmed in recent years as 18-24 guys make AOL at the B&G. Link to post Share on other sites
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