How far would you travel for a boy-led troop?

[CubScoutJo 10]

Background: Son is currently in an adult run troop. There are only two troops in town, the other is also adult run, complete with bi-weekly merit badge classes. Next town over has quite a few troops, one of which I've found to be boy run, with the patrol method being used, patrol competitions, etc. Son is not adverse to changing troops since we only recently moved here and the troop he currently is in is a bit "clique-ish". He has no real friends there.

 

However, going to the next town would involve a 35 minute drive, a different school district so none of the boys in the troop would be in the same school as my son, and scouting events and community involvement would be in a different community than the one we live in.

 

I'm wondering if it would be worth sacrificing those conveniences to make a move to a boy-led troop?

 

The troops in the current town aren't TERRIBLE, it's just that they are more like youth groups than places where my son will learn leadership skills.

 

CubScoutJo

[EagleInKY 14]

I hear you Jo. In fact, that's exactly what led us to start our own troop three years ago. We had choices of lots to go to, most of which were adult-ran (including the mega-troop Merit Badge University where you can get a PhD in Eagle by attending their weekly Merit Badge sessions). We also had at least one "boy-run into the ground" troop, which can be just as bad.

 

My only concern would be whether you could keep up that 35 minute commute over the long haul. When your son hits that sophomore slump that some boys experience, it may be tough getting him to maintain the commitment.

[SemperParatus 1]

I share EIKY's concern about an hour's drive to and from a weekly troop meeting. It may get old fast, or it could be a great opportunity to have some quiet time to have conversations with your son.

 

We have a couple people in our troop that live a half-hour's drive away. They seem to be holding up pretty well.

 

I guess it all depends on what he wants and what you are willing to commit to.

 

Good luck.

[SR540Beaver 116]

CubScoutJo,

 

We made our move back in the fall of last year. Off of the top of my head, I can think of at least 6 troops within about 5 miles of our house. One or two are stinkers, the others have pretty good reputations. I was an ASM for Jamboree and thru that my son and I got to know our Jambo SM and about 12 boys from his troop. Within a month of returning from Jambo, we closed the troop we belonged to (a different story I won't go into here) and moved to his troop. It is approx. a 22 mile trip one way. Most of it is interstate highway getting accross town, so it takes about 25 minutes. Does making the trip get old? Sure, at times. There was one week recently where we went to the troop meeting on Monday. I went to the committee meeting on Tuesday. Wednesday night we had an orientation for Webelos crossing over and I am an ASM working with new scouts, so I needed to be there. We had just held elections and my son and I had to attend a troop JLT on Friday night. Saturday was a clean up day for the troop to go thru our equipment and meeting room and spruce things up. We started all over on Monday. So in 8 days, my son and I made six 44 mile round trips to do scout business. Obviously I burned thru a tank of gas pretty darn quick. Was/is it all worth it? You bet!!! We both love this boy led troop and the opportunities it provides. There are times I don't look forward to making the trip, but besides the benefits of being in a great troop, it does provide me a good amount of quality time talking to my son.