The age thing on Cub Scouts can be difficult, as a past Cub Master, we adjusted to the boys skill level, not their age. We never tried change rank though. On Boy Scouts each boy advances on their own by skills learned including leadership skills, which are a big part of the scout experance. We have a boy run troop and we try mostly to just steer a little.
We leave on Sunday for 3 Nights in Yosemite then 3 nights in Mamouth. 14 Boys and 4 adults. We are trying a non conventinal Summer Camp. For the Mom's I can be reached by cell, most of the time, we have 4 new Summer campers, so it's always something new. Sometimes we have Homesickiness, but we work hard on including the boys in everything. We do discourge calling home or haveing the parents call. The best cure for homesikness, is learning you can do things on your own.
A quick funny story, this winter we had a boy with us at are ski outing. We use a cabin in the local mtns. The new boy asked for water, I said its in the kitchen. He stared at the fridg looking for the ice and water dispenser. There was none, he came back asking where the water was, I told him the tap water, He was somewaht taken back, and he did not know how to use the single handle faucet. I thought it was funny. I politly showed him.
Some scouts need a little more reponsability at home. The hardest part about being involved with scouting is the lack of parental support. Of the 4 adults going 1 is 21 and a past eagle scout, the other two adults have no children in Scouting, and then myself with my now DS16.
