Scouting History
Share and celebrate the history of the world's largest youth Movement
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LATEST POSTS
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By InquisitiveScouter · Posted
LOL, thought you were talking about council/district events. Training is another matter... Disagree Sure, but if a PLC decides they do not wish to participate in these events, you should support their decision. For example, our Scouts choose not to go to many of these events because they are tired of WINNING!! For most competitions, it isn't even close. We have the capability and experience to plan and execute our own program, thank you. Most council/district events are tailored for units with little time or experience. They need the program support. We do not. And, for the record, we would operate fine without any council overhead here. We can even (and have) run our own summer camp. That is up to them... Perhaps they see those events as more value-added to their program than your council events. To each his own. I side with the units on that one. -
It took a while, but I stopped letting overly demanding sports programs, and over the top coaches, get to me. I tried to make the youth understand that there are myriad choices in life, and making them is part of the "growing up" process. Ultimately, they need to choose, hopefully with focus and balance. Too many chose the overly demanding sports road, but with luck may have carried a small piece of the tenets of Scouting with them. A few, returned and refocused on Scouting. We never know. One of the good things about contact with the troop family over decades is that on occasion I see the result in the now adult. -
When our troop was 100 scouts strong, I would say 50 percent of those scouts were in sports and other outside activities that demanded some of their time. But, it was seasonal. I average troop meetings between September and December averaged about 60 scouts. 100 scouts January through March, then 60 to 80 scouts until June. We took 100 scouts to summer camp and then the cycle started over again. I agree that parents understand the value of the scouting experience better than their kids, but, I also think if the troop has a good (fun) program, the scouts will attend when they can. They will come to meetings late after practice and arrive at campouts after their Friday night or Saturday games. The parents are big part of that because they have to take up the slack for getting their kids to scouts. I remember one scout showing me his schedule to be the elected SPL in two years. It was impressive to see on paper, but I also remember it included the time on the high school swim team. And he did it. Of course, I'm learning that families today are different than when I was a scout leader 20 years ago. But, that was our experience. Don't sweat sports. You just need to make sure the program is worth coming back to. Barry -
This has always been the situation during my time in scouting. What might be a little surprising is that even some two-parent families look for programs with male role modes to help develop their sons. I'm not sure if the reason is because the culture is anti-male and they are looking for reinforcement of masculine behavior, or the father is out of the picture a lot from work. But our troop had several scouts in that situation. Looking at this further, I wouldn't be surprised that families would be looking for the experiences for their daughters since the evidence also shows that girls suffer greatly from single-parent lifestyles. The GSUSA probably has some statistics on that. Yes, I believe this to be the situation as well. Barry
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I find parents understand the merits of scouting. It's the kids who have trouble grasping it. Sports are fun. They can run around on a field everyday after school, again and again. It's an everyday commitment for a season. If they want to keep up and get ahead, they are encouraged to join offseason programs, another everyday commitment. After you factor in school commitment, then they are practicing/playing sports every day, they are not left much time for other endeavors. Scouting is different. We only meet once a week and have an outing once a month. The rest of the time they are supposed to be working independently: reading the handbook, working on merit badges, etc. Scouting is not only physically demanding; it is mentally challenging, socially and spiritually. It is hard work. Scouts are free to choose how much obligation they want. It is easy to fall in the sports trap, coaches demanding you practice everyday. It is difficult to lead yourself through scouting. Then realize families are strapped for time and money. It takes a lot of investment to play a sport, buying nice equipment and travelling around. It takes investment to adventure in scouts, to have good equipment and to keep up abilities (swimming, fitness, etc.). Often it becomes a choice, one or the other.
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