Jump to content

Menu

I have a Cub Scout question...


Recommended Posts

YDS wanted to try scouts. We signed up and I was quickly turned off. The entire troop meets at one time, and my husband's ex (my stepson's mother) has her youngest child there. This woman is ..... uncouth would be the polite term. She makes inappropriate comments about her past with DH, she discusses bedroom issues with whoever the current man is, she is too loud and obscene. She SEEKS ME OUT at things like this, like we are friends. Even without the kids she makes me very uncomfortable, but I'm on pins and needles when I see her and I have the kids. For that reason, we ended up stopping attending scout meetings. Like, almost immediately :( There are no other troops locally, this serves the whole county. DS's best friend goes but his mother isn't in love with the troop, either. I think she would be agreeable to going to another troop if we found one.

I'm wondering 2 things. DS would have to "catch up" to whatever the second level of cub scouts is or he wouldn't be in the same group with his friend. I wish I'd known about Lone Scouts, we'd have done that when we left the troop. Anyway, could we Lone Scout the first level? How long would it take? Or maybe I should say does it have to take a full year or can you accelerate? Can we even Lone Scout? I looked at the website and it said for boys abroad, without local troops, it didn't mention ones with fathers that have crazy stalker exes :glare: The other thing I'm wondering is whether we can join another troop? There is one thirty minutes away, but not only is it another town, it's another state. Will they take us or are we *required* to join this local troop. I guess if it's this troop or nothing, we'll have to look for something else. I can't stomach that on a weekly basis.

My mother says we can't do this. She says we have to join the local troop and that we can't Lone Scout. Of course, she'd never heard of Lone Scouts She has no experience with scouts, though, so I thought I'd ask others....

Edited by Gingerbread Mama
Link to comment
Share on other sites

There is a scout program to do on your own through Boy Scouts, but I don't know that much about it.

 

I would look at joining a different Pack (Troop is Boy Scouts, Pack is Cub Scouts.)

 

No way I would join that one! Did you know she was there?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I didn't know she'd be there. I saw the little boy and his father at the sign up, but then they split up and she refused to let him take the boy to scouts. If it was just the boy and his dad, it wouldn't bother me. I'm not wild about the dad, but he doesn't talk about %$#!ing my husband, either.

 

I mostly wondered if DS would have to be a year behind forever now... if so, we'd just have to come up with something else. He's already almost 2 years older than the kids we joined with, because I held him back in school and you had to be 1st grade to join.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I didn't know she'd be there. I saw the little boy and his father at the sign up, but then they split up and she refused to let him take the boy to scouts. If it was just the boy and his dad, it wouldn't bother me. I'm not wild about the dad, but he doesn't talk about %$#!ing my husband, either.

 

I mostly wondered if DS would have to be a year behind forever now... if so, we'd just have to come up with something else. He's already almost 2 years older than the kids we joined with, because I held him back in school and you had to be 1st grade to join.

 

No, not at all! It goes by grade level, not by experience or whatever. So a kid in say 3rd grade is whatever level that is, even if they have never done scouting before. He will have to earn his bobcat badge, which doesn't take long at all, before he gets any other stuff, but that is common with new kids.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ok, so he would still get to be grouped with his friend (if they switched troops as well) and just have to earn a different badge? I'm pretty sure our local one grouped by badges, or maybe it just worked out that way. I'm not even sure I saw any boys joining later, so I really can't say.

 

Thanks. I think he would enjoy scouting, there just was no way to make that situation work :ack2:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You can totally go across state lines!!

 

I live in one state and have always gone to the pack across state lines (very close) in state 2.

 

My friend lives in state 2 and started off going to a pack in my state! lol. Then they switched to the one I go to in state 2.

 

:)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

They group by their grade each year, regardless of previous scouting experience. So a first grader will be a Tiger, second Wolf, third Bear, fourth Webelos I and fifth Webelos II.

 

My oldest is a Webelos I this year and another fourth grader new to scouting started in the Webelos I group. It's a little confusing at first because they are in the den, but they spend the first 2/3 of the year earning the patch for that den, so they don't actually receive their Tiger or Bear or Webelos patch until around March.

 

All new cub scouts, regardless of the level they start at, have to earn their Bobcat badge first thing. It usually only takes a few weeks, and it's a sign of learning the basics of cub scouting.

 

You can join whatever pack you want to join. We recently moved and joined a new pack and almost immediately realized it was not organized in a way that worked well for my kids, so we switched to another pack. You are not bound to join the nearest pack to you. So I definitely wouldn't stick around in a toxic environment!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There are many threads here where it's suggested that you shop around for a troop that suits you. We did, and it worked very well, even though we had to drive a bit.

 

(When you do find a troop, make sure to volunteer to do a little job of some kind - the best troops have a lot of parents each taking a bit of the work of running the troop, so it's not an undue burden on anyone and lots more can be done, and done well.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You can definitely join another Pack! And yes, your ds would be in a specific den by his grade level. You don't accelerate CS, other than working hard to earn Bobcat. What grade is he school-wise and what grade age-wise?

 

I would also suggest that you could pick which grade you want to tell them he is in since you homeschool (school-wise or age-wise). In our school district they are placed in grades according to age no matter what level they are in academics. Since you are the head of your school, you could pick whatever suits you best.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

He's already almost 2 years older than the kids we joined with, because I held him back in school and you had to be 1st grade to join.

 

This was why I was suggesting that she might possibly want to tell them that he is in a different grade. He's 2 years older (not younger--totally different situation) than the other kids. It certainly wouldn't hurt for him to jump ahead in cub scouts at this point even though he is at a different grade academically.

 

However, the computer will flip out if the birthdate and the grade are too far off. If, for example, you call him two years ahead, the boy won't be able to cross over into BS with his den. There is a minimum age for BS. Just wanted to give you a heads-up. And if he's "held back" he will be able to cross over before his den. If he doesn't cross over then, he loses time as a BS. That doesn't really matter now, but I did want to give you the info. Anyway, the important thing now is to find him a good den within a good pack, away from the creepy stalker X!
Link to comment
Share on other sites

:iagree:

No, not at all! It goes by grade level, not by experience or whatever. So a kid in say 3rd grade is whatever level that is, even if they have never done scouting before. He will have to earn his bobcat badge, which doesn't take long at all, before he gets any other stuff, but that is common with new kids.

 

They group by their grade each year, regardless of previous scouting experience. So a first grader will be a Tiger, second Wolf, third Bear, fourth Webelos I and fifth Webelos II.

 

My oldest is a Webelos I this year and another fourth grader new to scouting started in the Webelos I group. It's a little confusing at first because they are in the den, but they spend the first 2/3 of the year earning the patch for that den, so they don't actually receive their Tiger or Bear or Webelos patch until around March.

 

All new cub scouts, regardless of the level they start at, have to earn their Bobcat badge first thing. It usually only takes a few weeks, and it's a sign of learning the basics of cub scouting.

 

You can join whatever pack you want to join. We recently moved and joined a new pack and almost immediately realized it was not organized in a way that worked well for my kids, so we switched to another pack. You are not bound to join the nearest pack to you. So I definitely wouldn't stick around in a toxic environment!

 

This was why I was suggesting that she might possibly want to tell them that he is in a different grade. He's 2 years older (not younger--totally different situation) than the other kids. It certainly wouldn't hurt for him to jump ahead in cub scouts at this point even though he is at a different grade academically.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you for the information. Ds is eight and a half, but was in first grade in public school last fall. He has some learning issues, is very small for his age, and is emotionally closer to seven than nine at this point. I don't know that he would fit well with a group of kids who would be third grade next year, which he technically could be based on age. I did know about the boy scout crossover issue, but unless he matures a ton before then, I can't see him handling it too well at... Is it 11 or 12? He is going for neuropsych evals in August and we will know more about what to expect then.

 

Hmm. My friend *is* LDS, and there is a LDS church in the town across the state line. Perhaps she knows about that, I'll ask.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...