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Gameboys, Walkmans and the like


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Sometime back I sat in on a meeting at which we looked at "How to make Scouting Cool."

We can if we want rant and rave about things like Gameboys, Walkman, and baggy pants.

We may or may not like or understand them.

However at the end of the day it is the stuff that the youth are into today.

It may well be something different tomorrow.

We will never accomplish the mission of Scouting unless we try to understand what the youth of today looks at as being "Cool."

"If music be the food of love, play on.."

I think the idea that the Scouts or Crew members have these "toys" is ok. Better still if they have them and don't feel the need to use them.

I think that I would as a parent sooner my son use his walkman then learn how to play games of chance such as poker.

Eamonn

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Poker is no more a game of chance than Monopoly, Magic, or Yu-Gu-Oh (sp?).

 

So you'd rather your son sit isolated from the world, with speakers jammed into his ears than have him sit with his friends, laughing and talking? Interesting, very interesting.(This message has been edited by Fat Old Guy)

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FOG,

 

I think the idea is that it is better to have the boys exposed to the methods of scouting, out in the woods, hiking, cooking with their patrol and developing their character than deciding to stay home because they can't take a device along to use in their free time. If you keep them busy, they won't have much free time to use their devices. But you understood that already....didn't you?

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We don't allow any electronics devices on campouts other than flashlights. In fact, I try to get the adults to leave their cell phones in the car. My attitude is if you are going to get away, then really get away. If there is an important enough emergency, then you will be found soon enough.

 

My troop hasn't let kids have the electronic stuff for years. The only exception was our once a year "outing" in a cabin where we do our annual planning. The first year I was SM, kids brought gameboys, earphones, etc. Things went great and the only arguments had were by the Scouts while they were using those things. In addition, like has been said before, a couple of the kids didn't interact and buried themselves in their games.

 

I put an end to that. Now, when the kids have "free" time, they play chess or Yu-Gi-Oh or Risk or some other game that requires interaction. The adults love to play Euchre or other card games. We have a great time and get to interact quite a bit.

 

On a side note, my family plays a lot of cards and board games at holiday gatherings. We interact more during that time than we do the rest of the year. At one big family gathering, about half the family (mostly men) will sit around the TV watching football while the rest of us play cards. The football crowd is usually bored to death while the game crowd is usually laughing and having a great time. I'm a big proponent of playing games so we can actually interact as humans.

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I think im different from the scouts you guys know, im a cowboy and i listen to nothing but country. No loud steros and baggy pants for me. A pair of boots, hat, jeans, and my belt buckle make me a lot happier than listening to loud sounds of the cd player. Put on some good ol' Toby Keith or Willie Nelson for me.

 

Id rather talk about the cows and farming rather than play a Gameboy.

 

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FOG,

 

So your scouts pitch a tent on Friday night and play games the rest of the trip? Guess we won't be joining your troop. We plan on hiking, backpacking, float trips, rock climbing and rapelling, caving, etc. Won't have much time for those devices till lights out.....if they can stay awake to use them.

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