MitchellC wrote: As a loner kid who much preferred building with Lego to playing sports, Cub Scouts got me out of doors and interacting with other kids who were probably better role models than those in the neighborhood.
Me too, I may have never gone outside without them. I learned a lot, including how to be a good neighbor and an adult, some lessons more people could use. My father and some of my former leaders are still invovled at their church.
Interesting timing for this thread. I'm in a similar situation to the OP. I have 3 young kids, so not only do we not have a ton of extra cash, the bigger issue is we don't have a ton of extra time. We try to encourage our kids to participate in organized events, but we try to keep our sanity too.
Our 7 year old son went to his first cub scouts meeting last week. I went with him. I left there far from impressed. Not 20 minutes into the meeting, they pulled all the parents into the hallway. Right away, they started a full court press pushing for parents to volunteer and become leaders. This was my first time there, I was just trying to figure out what was happening, and here's this guy looking right at me asking me to be a pack leader and volunteer for this, that and the other. Hold on there skippy, I just want to get my feet wet here. I took my son to cub scouts for him to be a part of. I'm not at all saying that I don't want to participate or help, but jeez. I don't have the kind of time to lead and organize cub scouts, and frankly I'm not personally interested in it. We've involved our kids in all kinds of other activities like soccer, gymnastics, swimming, etc...and never had we been pushed so hard.
Supposed to have the next meeting tomorrow...hoping maybe last week was just a one time, first week thing.
As an Eagle Scout, I say do it. BSA is a great organization but I will say there are some packs and troops that are better then others. It teaches so much and I think it helped me more then any amount of money that was spent on it.
I was a cub scout and went all the way up through Eagle. One of my brothers also got eagle and the other is almost there.
There was a breif few years where it wasnt the cool thing to be a part of, and I almost thought about quitting, but my parents encouraged me to stay.
Finding the right pack/troop is a huge part of having a good experience. FYI with smaller packs/troops, its pretty likely they will need parents to be more involved.
I was part of a very large local troop, and we were fortunate to have a huge mulch sale as a fundraiser every year. It paid for A LOT of our expenses each year for trips and such.
I made a lot of great friends, had the opportunties to go places and see and do things that I would have not been able to otherwise. I am really glad my parents encouraged me not to quit as I would have missed out on a lot. Scouting was easily one of the best things I think I did as a kid/teenager.
Too much positive comments.
I did a few months of Indian Guides as a kid, and nothing else.
As a kid growing up, I did legos, sports, planes, bb guns, camping, hiking, fishing, hunting, making up games, etc etc etc, all without the aid of some group. Maybe the handbook has all of that in one concise area, but none of the info is that hard to find.
Do you really need to do it?
if your kids wants to, that's a different story. But need? nah. Be a good parent and do all that stuff yourselves.
Someone needs to be on the "no" or "not needed" side.
stuart in mn wrote:Osterkraut wrote: Or the scout master who, in giving examples of low impact camping, said you should "shine a bunch of flashlights on the ground to simulate a fire."Did that really happen? I saw it on an episode of King of the Hill once.
This would have been... 2000. Could be the guy was spoofing it, but the rest of his little speech was about as ridiculous.
carguy123 wrote: And mndsm since you brought it up, I approve of the no gays policy.
Curious as to why. Not trying to flounder the thread, but more interested in anothers' perspective.
MitchellC wrote: As a loner kid who much preferred building with Lego to playing sports, Cub Scouts got me out of doors and interacting with other kids who were probably better role models than those in the neighborhood.
See, I personally never needed a reason to go outside. I loved biking, camping, quading, snowmobiling. At the same time, I loved computers, video games, and the aforementioned legos.
One thing I feel that I've learned growing up is that while it is good to get the kid into other activities, don't force them. While beavers/cubs/scouts was cool (I did it for probably 6 or 8 years I guess), I simply had no interest in being in an organization with rankings (I also did air cadets for 3 months, that went over real well) and found that I was still an outsider there versus the other people who were all friends and had common interests.
Oh, and it ain't cheap. To this day, it boggles my mind that I could have been doing something like racing dirt bikes vs hockey in the winter and scouts all year. I know which one would have gotten me farther along socially and into an activity I could appreciate for life. And my father did it all, he ran the show as pack leader at one point and was always helping. I didn't find it worth it. YMMV
I loved scouts. My troop was very active and the leaders were great. We went camping at least once a month and I feel the life skills learned were very valuable (fishing, sailing, cooking, shooting, leadership, first aid, etc.) Just curious how many members on here are Eagle Scouts?
Eagle Scout
Troop 4 Hingham, MA 
Tiger-Eagle here... I highly recommend the experience. Eagle in 1995....
I thought as I was getting out everything seemed to be getting a bit soft.. While women helping out is a good thing.... there were to many Women Leaders around.. and Boys/men are very different with women around.. I dunno.. It just changed things... Maybe in our case a little for the better.. but in the long run i ain't sure which is really the problem.. the women or the lawyers.. Besides in many cases the women are not to blame at all.. they are just doing what they feel right by their kids.. and DADS are really the ones dropping the ball... So while I think women should remember to let boys be boys.. it ain't fair to be pointing fingers without a glance in the mirror..
Our troop rocked though.. Weekly meetings monthly campouts.. Always backpacking with a real highlight every year of the older boys doing a 'high adventure' were we would take off to Philmont.. or whitewater rafting.. or both.. It was a great time.. and I know I am better for it...
My son and I will be in the program when he is old enough for sure.. heck.. I am still moderately active in a couple troops around here
And for that matter... my wife is the troop leader for our girl scout troop... and I am a registered Girl scout Leader.. (a program that really needs to not be afraid to look over the fence at the BSA more often)
alfadriver wrote: Too much positive comments. I did a few months of Indian Guides as a kid, and nothing else. As a kid growing up, I did legos, sports, planes, bb guns, camping, hiking, fishing, hunting, making up games, etc etc etc, all without the aid of some group. Maybe the handbook has all of that in one concise area, but none of the info is that hard to find. Do you *really* need to do it? if your kids wants to, that's a different story. But need? nah. Be a good parent and do all that stuff yourselves. Someone needs to be on the "no" or "not needed" side.
I'll second the not needed side. If you have a decent dad or some decent friends, cub scouts are at best redundant.
alfadriver wrote: Do you *really* need to do it?
I don't think anyone said anything about needing to do it - if the boy wants to try it and the people in charge check out, let him.
alfadriver wrote: if your kids wants to, that's a different story.
Yea, I did think I actually typed that out, too....
As an Eagle scout, I say do it. He'll make friends from outside of his school (most likely) and camping is good for everyone, especially young people with way too much energy. A couple times already in my life I've used stuff I learned in Scouts, usually in the "OMFG E36 M3 just hit the fan emergency" and "first aid" categories.
Cub Scouts... circa 1970s... my experience can be summed up as follows:
In reply to Giant Purple Snorklewacker:
With that attitude, I bet you never made Weeblow. Is that a real Cub Scout thing or did I make it up?
Otto Maddox wrote: In reply to Giant Purple Snorklewacker: With that attitude, I bet you never made Weeblow. Is that a real Cub Scout thing or did I make it up?
LOL, that is real. Remember... the 'no gays' thing is usually people with some repression problems. Fruedian slip.
If they are so against gays, why do they dress like this?
Ah, the cub scout book... the book that was the first insight that I was "different". No, not that way, but different in that they book presented all this "outdoorsy stuff" like it was a complete unknown (I grew up in the woods), and that I was confused by the page that had the badge for being part of some church denomination, and we weren't the church-going type.
I'm not a fan of the Church influence in Scouting, so if my son wants to go, I won't stop him, but I'd prefer to keep religion from him 'til he's old enough to discriminate right from wrong.
cub scout in the late '50's had a good time... boy scouts sucked ... didn't stick with them for long
My 7 YO just started it & seems to like it. In fact he's doing a popcorn fundraiser - which gets him out & talking to people, something he needs. I think we had to put about $100 in just the uniform but could have probably shopped around (or hit a second hand store) for better pricing. membership was $65 / yr. Judging on how much we paid for a swim class, I dont think its costly.
Also, if anyone does need some popcorn & wants to help send a 7 year old to camp lemme know, they do mail order :)
Kendall
I'm gonna throw my 2 cents out there. My experience wasn't very positive.
• As a parent, you should be involved as much as possible. Mine weren't and I slowly lost interest. Even being a child I realized that the CS became my babysitter. I was left out of many Pinewood Derbys because no one taught me how to use tools. I never knew how to sell the fundraising popcorn, because my mom never made an effort.
• Make sure that the group you get in are good people. There are too many control freaks out there who get pleasure in bossing kids (and adults).
• Newcomers are always looked down on by other kids, just like school. Unless the kids in the group are schoolmates of your son, there will be a lot of being left out of projects and activities.
• I will agree with what I saw up above. You get to make egg carton and pipe cleaner crafts in the beginning. I was still doing that 2 years later until I moved and changed troops, then we were building miniture wooden trebuchets and going camping in caverns.
• Even going into Boy Scouts, I had a less than pleasurable experience. The Scout Master's son was allowed to boss us around and be a dick. The Scout Master and other parents would disappear off into the church kitchen and leave us alone for 2 hours while the SMs son would control everything. It was two hours of hell. Luckily I had two of my friends there to ease the pain.
I guess what I'm trying to get at is that if he does want to get into scouts, please please please have as much involvement as possible. It will make the experience for him much better. I say that because I know there are many guys out there that had great experiences.
I am opposed to the Boy Scouts in general because of their policies regarding religion. The heavy Mormon influence in some areas also irritates me. The fact my tax dollars support an organization to which I am hostile also gets under my skin. What bothers me most, however, is that I can't be involved in the scouts due to their discriminatory policies.
I'm not sure what I'd do if my son wanted to join the scouts. I guess it would depend on how old he was at the time.
I'll add this...
... just for the helluva it
Tanner just got into Scouting. He literally had his first den meeting on Sunday, if the kids pawn $250.00 worth of popcorn type treats their fee is covered for the year including badges etc. Tanner went out and shoved $350.00 worth of product down the neighborhoods throat in four hours... He asked his den leader if he could give the extra $100.00 of sales to one of the kids that couldn't sell very well. The kid's still got it ;)
I like the people in charge of his den and pack. Go out talk to the den and pack leaders and meet the council management team. It is usually a good sign of how well the group is structured.
And I wholly agree on needing to get the "boys" back into Boy Scouts. Nearly all the den and pack leadership is female here, when I showed up to help out on Sunday (1pm mind you) I got the "Wow, don't you know the Lions are playing?" jab twice before they noticed I was wearing a Tampa Bay Buccaneers hoodie!
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