UncleP

This sounds like my nephew. I am curious, and still trying to understand how things work, are their "social" requirements for rank advancement? I have been researching things, so I can give my nephew useful advise and encouragement. All the literature I have read showed specific task, or skills, that have to be mastered in order to advance. I have also read that requirements for rank can neither be added nor taken away. I did see the requirement for "Position of Responsibility" (POR). Is this the same thing as you were discussing? Can a boy who is primarily solitary succeed in scouts

Congratulations to your son. I am certain that he is an outstanding young man. Also, that, despite whatever disabilities he has, he is fortunate to have supportive parents who care about him and dedicate time and effort to him.

Great minds think alike. When I saw this story I thought that they should track and see if they have recruiting spurt, or at least an increase in participation by the fathers.

A lot of the comics show things that would not be acceptable today. I thought about providing a warning, but I decided that everyone on the forum had enough mileage, that they would not need a "safe space" with teddy bears to deal with it.

Those were much more innocent times.

Your son should count his blessings.

As a calorically-challenged American, I have been telling people that you can be "fat but fit" for years, and no one believes me. In some of the old comic books, you can actually see ads for programs to help you gain weight.

If you want you can find some of the comics in comic book form at the link below. The "Roy Powers" comic is part of an anthology comic with several different comics. This is the first issue that the comic appears in: http://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=39924

I came across this by accident while doing some research, and I thought someone might enjoy this information. Between 1937 and 1943, a newspaper comic was written with the authorized consent of the Boy Scouts. The comic strip was independently done, but reviewed and approved by the Boy Scouts. Below are a letter from James E. West regarding the beginning of the comic strip, and the first panel introducing the characters.

My thanks to everyone for their encouragement and good advise. My nephew is going to Summer Camp, and I will speak to the Scoutmaster regarding his needs. He will being taking the "First Year Camper Program" and "Swimming" Merit Badge. That should leave him plenty of time for fun. Maybe the problem is that I should have more confidence in him, and not worry so much.

Thank everyone for their responses. To reply to your questions: a. Homesickness: This is not a problem. He wants to get away from his family, and do something besides be quiet while his parents nap and pass gas. His only concern is leaving is dog and the family cat (he is afraid his sister will do something while he is gone). b. Does he want to go: Yes, in fact I a afraid it may be hard for him to comeback. c. Merit Badges (MB): Initially, he wanted to go for a number of MBs, but I talked to him and we agreed that to start he should take the first year program and swimm

My nephew has joined boy scouts. He is "Scout" rank, and working for "Tenderfoot". They will have Summer Camp in July,, and I was wondering: 1. Should he attend or is it too soon (experience might overwhelm him)? 2. If he does go to Summer Camp, any advise on how to get the most out of the experience. I took some of the advise from this forum, and got my nephew a scout handbook and fieldbook. I also suggested that he start an Excel Spreadsheet to log in all of his activities (hikes, night camping...). I and my nephew discussed things, and we made an agreement with each ot

I think I FINALLY get it. The outdoors part of the program is to attract boys, and to use as a tool to teach citizenship, character and physical fitness. They learn many of these things through osmosis (troop elections, carry out duties of various positions, exposure to nature...). That way they do not realize that they are being taught. It also keeps things fun, so they can be retained. I did some more research and apparently in the 1970's camping and the outdoors was greatly reduced by the "improved scouting program", and Boy Scouts underwent significant membership loses. This wa

I am glad to hear it is so popular. I researched the Boy Scouts when my nephew told me he was interested, and I read that membership was in decline (6-7%?). Boys need something like scouting, so that they do not end up a cubicle monkey like me. The National Outdoors Award is very interesting, but I do not want my nephew obsessing about it like Eagle. Right now I think one day of honest fun would do him more good than all the awards in the world.

That surprises me. I thought I was the last lone wolf left. Everybody I know seems to love the "herd" way of doing everything.

I know what you mean, I was on Ritalin for most of my elementary school years. Being a boy these days is a "square peg in a round hole" situation.

That is an excellent suggestion for a long term goal for my nephew. Right now I just want him to get started and to "get his hands dirty".

I just got an email from Duluth Trading Co., that they are having a one day sale on "Buck Naked Underwear" if you are still interested.

I have both the "buck naked' and the "armachillo", and they are the best underwear I have had. I suffer from hyperhidrosis and am very large, so comfortable underwear has been my "Holy Grail".

I think, conceptually at least, I understand what you are saying. It is out of my sphere of experience, and I have not seen anything like it. I am not a "joiner" and with the exception of work, have never belonged to any organization. That is one of the reasons I want my nephew to develop the skills I never did. The world is a much nastier place today, then when I was a boy, and he will need to do things that I never could to get by in life. Maybe it is just me, but the world just seems to have turned against boys. Local governments spend fortunes on senior facilities, but not a cent

Thank you for your input. I have told my nephew to do just as you say - to concentrate on the outdoors and fun. He is worried about all the merit badges, but I told him they will come. To tell the truth I do not see how camping and hiking will help him get all those citizenship badges, but you could fill libraries with all the material I do not understand. In the long run all that matters is that he have fun.

Thank you for the advise. I was thinking about getting my nephew the book "Eagle on Ice" about Eagle Scout Paul Siple going with Admiral Byrd to the Antarctic. I decided not to, because reading about an over achiever, like Siple, might feed the wrong fires. I have ordered the handbook from "Amazon", so he can start to look at it.

Thank you I will be there for him.

Thank you for the suggestion. I can meet his expenses for him, and I would not want to take funds away from someone else. He has enough obstacles already, he does not need any more. You did give me a good idea though. To thank everyone for their help, I went to the San Francisco Bay Area Council webpage and made a donation. In the comments, I requested that if possible the funds be used to pay the expenses of a boy who wants to be a scout, but cannot afford it. PS - Speaking as a computer geek, they have a terrible website.

Hedgehog was correct, I meant encouraging him when he thinks about quiting. It will b his decision, but I can always ask him to give it another month or two for his uncle.