Hello - I had a strange question and was wondering how others have handled it or if it was even an issue for others. We just signed DS6 up for Cub Scouts tonight. He seemed very interested in the whole concept and I honestly think it will be good for him in building self-confidence and how to work with others in a team atmosphere. The local den seems very much into parental involvement with both myself and my husband being part of everything (I always thought it was a daddy thing so I was glad to hear that moms can join in too) :-)

My only concern was that at the meeting tonight, there were 5 other children who were also signing up...4 of them would be in my son's "tiger" den since they are all 1st graders and the other was in 4th grade. I saw immediately that my son gravitated to the 4th grader (and they were both the same size) and the two of them started having a great conversation about rocketry and camping. The person there that was telling info about cub scouting said that Tigers start out with a lot of arts and crafts since they are so young and then the next year when they become Wolves they move onto things like astronomy, science, first aid. My husband and I are both concerned that intellectually our son is a 2nd-3rd grade kid and he rarely gravitates towards arts and crafts when he has the choice and he is the same size as a 2nd-3rd grader. The den leader was shocked that DS was just in First Grade and he pegged him as a 3rd grader due to his size...we are worried that he will be bored and not make a personal friendship connection with the others in the 1st grade group since whenever he is in a group of kids his age and older kids, he always without hestitation gravitates to the older children since he tends to have more in common with them.

Has anyone else dealt with this issue? We homeschool and he prefers to be with the 8-10 year olds instead of the 6 year olds. His best friend is several years older than him. When we go do his various science museum classes each center has placed him in the 2-4th grade groups because he is too advanced for the K-1 groupings. Would love to hear any comments/suggestions. It might not be a problem at all but DS6 showed some disappointment when the den leader said that the astronomy, weather, geology.... activities aren't usually done in the Tiger group since they were usually too advanced for 1st graders - but those are my son's favorite past times. Thanks!

Last edited by Belle; 10/06/09 05:08 PM.