How has the addition of girls affected Scouting in other countries?

[qwazse 4342]

... We would certainly attract a lot more families who would like to make use of an inexpensive babysitting service that is available to serve the entire family.  ...

I am not surprised to hear that they have a waiting list for lack of volunteers.  I wouldn't want to donate my time to be a free babysitter to families, many of whom may have little real interest in the program.

Inexpensive? I dunno, I could get a lot of babies sat for what I paid in uniforms, books, and camp fees.

Mamma certainly wouldn't have had to burn her fingers on hard tac for my Jambo fees if I'd just stuck with band.

 

Scouts UK may be a one-stop shop, but they aren't just putting anyone behind the counter. That first decade of co-Ed explorers will be bringing their kids in through the door pretty soon. They are set to impress.

[Stosh 3452]

When I was a kid, my parents did not attend Cub Scout activities except pack meetings and potlucks.  The DL and ADL were the only two adults I was familiar with.  They did everything.

 

When my son was in Cub Scouts, he and I attended Tiger activities together along with all the other boys and their parent(s)  After that I didn't attend any more den meetings with him, only pack meetings because I was awards chair of the committee.

 

I was ASM when he was in Boy Scouts and I stayed on after he quit scouting at the Star rank.

 

I guess it was somewhere after Tigers that we "went our separate ways". 

 

I have no idea when and where Cub Scouts became "family", but I did notice the "parent involvement" aspects of Boy Scouts has been creeping in in recent years.

 

Whereas I wouldn't call it babysitting, I find it strange that parents somehow feel the need to be bonding with their children in the Boy Scout program when they have far more time if they drag their kid out from in front of the TV/computer and do these things at home.  As has been mentioned, join the YMCA if you wish to have family bonding time at a membership expense.  Don't try and make all other programs a generic YMCA program.  BSA is supposed to be a young man's opportunity to grow into adulthood, not drag his family along with him.  Growing int adulthood holds quite a bit of separation and independence FROM the family, not a mere continuation of it on into adulthood.

 

In some cultures the onset of adulthood occurs around 12-13 years of age, in our culture it's been pushed back well into the 20's.  Legally it is 18, but that's restricted to just certain areas.  If one can be on their parent's health insurance until 26, that's still one apron string that hasn't been loosened.

[Cambridgeskip 658]

 I wonder how many scout associations are seeing an uptick in their numbers simply because they are becoming better babysitters?

 

I am not surprised to hear that they have a waiting list for lack of volunteers.  I wouldn't want to donate my time to be a free babysitter to families, many of whom may have little real interest in the program.

 

Babysitters we most definitely are not!

 

I've heard many reasons why people don't want to sign up as volunteers, not wanting to be a baby sitter is not one that I've had. By far and away the most common is lack of time. In the UK I think we typically have the longest working day and longest journies to work of anywhere in Europe. We have others that don't want the paper work, other's who are scared they'll be accused of something, other where it just isn't their thing at the end of the day.

 

Kids who are not interested in scouts are also few and far between. You sometimes get one sign up, but they quickly disapear again when it is clearly not for them.

 

I think you completely misunderstand what coed scouting is all about.

[Cambridgeskip 658]

When I was a kid, my parents did not attend Cub Scout activities except pack meetings and potlucks.  The DL and ADL were the only two adults I was familiar with.  They did everything.

 

 

That sounds more like cubs here.

 

While parents are the most common source of recruiting leaders, and where a pack is short on adults they may ask to set up a leader rota, it isn't a family program as such. It really operates as a younger version of scouts. 

 

So to put that in context the cub pack in my group currently has 27 cubs with 7 adult leaders, 3 of who are parents of existing cubs.

[Eagle94-A1 2687]

Yes, I'd have some challenges with Boy Scouts having family activities. I still remember when one trip was ruined because it turned into a family camp out. And I am concerned about my troop as they have had a history in the past of having a family camp out each year. One of the ASMs and the old SM both commented on it. My challenge is that we have 6 months of camp outs "preplanned:" one month we staff Webeloree, 2 months are "pre-camporee camp outs" that we must do to earn points in competitions, 2 months are camporee, and 1 month is summer camp. Add in the annual lock in that the Scouts do not want to get rid of, and over half the year is planned out.