Stosh 3452 Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 Kinda makes one wonder how in the world BSA survived the Great Depression?, the wars when the men went off to fight, etc. etc. There's always an excuse. Those that didn't focus on excuses, focused on solving the problems they faced and thus survived and some even thrived. Stosh Link to post Share on other sites
Eagledad 2777 Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 >>Kinda makes one wonder how in the world BSA survived the Great Depression?, the wars when the men went off to fight, etc. etc. Link to post Share on other sites
Stosh 3452 Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 One of the scouters I had in my WoodBadge course did the same thing for 3 years to keep the troop going. He was 14-17 at the time. Kinda speaks well for the boy-led program. When all is said and done, maybe the problem won't be a lack of male adults after all. Maybe all we need is a couple of ad hoc babysitters that tag along to drink coffee and cover the 2-deep insurance requirements adopted by BSA. Stosh Link to post Share on other sites
OldGreyEagle 5 Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 Just a thought, where are the Lions, Shriners, and other Fraternal Service Organizations doing in your area? Just about died here. If they exist they do so very quietly. The Generation X does not have the volunteer gene that most, and I say most Baby Boomers do. Parents expect their kids programs will run themselves, and for the most part, the Sports programs do. Much higher cost but somehow they manage. Are youth sports programs hurting? ANyone know? If its the economy, then hasw Little League taken a numbers hit? Link to post Share on other sites
Basementdweller 608 Posted June 21, 2012 Author Share Posted June 21, 2012 Excuses, God forbid you ask or expect a parent to waste their vacation at a scout camp. These clowns that work multiple jobs are the same guys with $300 cell phone bills, brand new cars, vacation, eating out multiple times a week. No, idea how to save or prioritize finances.. Just sayin Link to post Share on other sites
Eagledad 2777 Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 >>Maybe all we need is a couple of ad hoc babysitters that tag along to drink coffee and cover the 2-deep insurance requirements adopted by BSA. Link to post Share on other sites
JMHawkins 15 Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 Are youth sports programs hurting? ANyone know? If its the economy, then hasw Little League taken a numbers hit? Yeah, supposedly they have taken a hit. I don't have official numbers, but I've seen news reports claiming a 13%-14% decline since the late 90's, and a 1% year-to-year decline. The WSJ claims the overall number of youth 7-17 playing baseball declined 24% from 2000-2009. Like Scouting, it's worse in some places, better in others. Lots of people complaining about the changes that have happened in the last twenty years ruining it. Official explainations from the Little League corporate types include kids having other sports to choose from, the economy, video games... All sounds familiar. My son dropped out of Little League this year. I don't blame him. The schedule is terrible (practice in February, in the Pacific Northwest? We had more practices rained out than completed last year), the fields are in bad shape, rules are poorly thought out for younger players (really, they think 8 year olds should be pitching to each other?). And last year he had a really obnoxious coach who didn't make it very fun for the kids. I've heard they have a shortage of adults volunteering their time. But, FWIW, our troop had a scout drop out of baseball because it was interfering with scouts. Link to post Share on other sites
Engineer61 19 Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 Yes, the numbers in youth sports are pretty much down across the board. When the numbers drop, the adult volunteers drop off as well. A few years ago, my league was at 700+ players in the Spring. This spring, it was under 500. Link to post Share on other sites
Basementdweller 608 Posted June 22, 2012 Author Share Posted June 22, 2012 Ya know blake.... That would remove the political adult BS out of it. I can be a chauffeur and just go camp. Link to post Share on other sites
gsdad 59 Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 I can answer the question about youth sports. The answer is yes. I serve on the board of the softball league for which my daughter plays, I also coach. Our league, and those around us lose girls every year. Some blame it on more activities being available, lazy parents, or the internet. I can tell you we struggle to new coaches. Parents would rather drop their kids off, or just sit and watch instead of helping while one coach tries to wrangle a dozen 14yo girls. Every year I ask "where are the parents?" Not just "where are the adult men?" Assuming only men can fill the roles of leader/mentor/coach is as offensive as assuming women make better parents. Link to post Share on other sites
Basementdweller 608 Posted June 23, 2012 Author Share Posted June 23, 2012 GSDAD, In my world there are plenty of Ladies around......The problem is they are single parents or grandma raising her grandchildren and have to stay home with the siblings or Boy Scout camping becomes Cub Scout Family camping. I just wonder where all of the sperm donors go????? They hanging out in bars???? War???? Riding motorcycles or just sitting on the couch playing video games????? Just looking for some help is all Link to post Share on other sites
packsaddle 753 Posted June 23, 2012 Share Posted June 23, 2012 OK, I think the high proportion of single moms first made an impression on me in the late 1970-early 80s, especially when our children started kindergarten. But when I remember my unit when I was a youth in the '60s, we had pretty much the same situation with adult male involvement, maybe for different reasons. We had a scoutmaster who was a long-term SM (and a really good one, too, I'll shed tears when he dies) and an occasional father helping as ASM. The adult males all had full-time jobs (so did the SM) and not many felt they could spare the time. There weren't any single moms, however, at least not that I can remember. I doubt the Presbyterian church culture of the local community would allow "someone like that" to remain in the community if she wasn't a widow and I even then I usually heard conversations that mentioned her carefully add, "...she's a widow, you know", as if there was something intrinsically suspicious about being a widow. It seemed to me that sooner or later most of the women would be widows since men didn't seem to live as long (I often studied the grave stones in the cemetery and around the age of 6 I began to marvel at the trends in the dates on the stones - people didn't seem to want to talk about things like that. Come to think of it, my grandmother went through at least 3 husbands, all of them died after a few years. You know....you have to wonder what goes through the mind of that third or fourth guy....but I digress). Divorce was absolutely scandalous, something that movie stars did and other "lower classes" (sometimes this included Baptists, I never understood the hierarchy of Protestant flavors, still don't). Having an illegitimate child was an event for 'the lowest class of people' and if there was such a thing in the community it wasn't within my eyesight. They spoke in whispers about such things, mixed with phrases like "low-quality protoplasm" and "mud races", usually applied with racial-type prejudice. I was quite familiar with the "mud race" thing from the Bible...I searched in vain for that thing about "low-quality protoplasm". For a while (until my days of rebellion) I 'assumed' it was a well-established scientific discovery. So did they, I suppose, those wacky Presbyterians, lol. Some of them may still. Link to post Share on other sites
SeattlePioneer 144 Posted June 23, 2012 Share Posted June 23, 2012 > Generally speaking, women are pretty free to exclude men and fathers from their home in particular, and often from their children if they are no longer desired by the mother. We have mother dominated and controlled families these days, by and large. Men are expendable and disposable. Often women feel they can try to trade in or trade up to another man at relatively low cost and risk, so they are encouraged to try this strategy. Link to post Share on other sites
desertrat77 1144 Posted June 23, 2012 Share Posted June 23, 2012 Eagledad raises a good point. Scouting doesn't need to be a overly-structured, adult-driven, logistics-intensive, high-cost program. The last troop I was in as a scout was along the lines of Eagledad's example. The SM was usually the sole adult (long before 2 deep leadership rules), and there were a couple of adults in the background taking care of advancement and such. Being in Alaska, we'd camp once a month, no matter what the weather. Meet at the scout building, and we'd backpack to the campsite (couple miles away). Hike led by SPL. The SM would meet us at the campsite. A couple dads would drop off some of the heavy gear and leave. Might be tougher to do in an urban area, but it can be figured out. Link to post Share on other sites
Basementdweller 608 Posted June 23, 2012 Author Share Posted June 23, 2012 Let me see Backpacks on the buses.....Ya we can do that.... Closest campsite is 9 miles from the end of the bus line.....Doable during the summer. Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now