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folklaur
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| Posted: May 01 2006 at 4:57pm | IP Logged
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Hi,
Does anyone have opinions on Boy Scouts -- do your sons attend?
My son just started this year as a Tiger, with a nice Catholic group ( not homeschoolers, though there is another homeschool family there.) He is really enjoying himself, and as he has Asperger's, I was so surprised and pleased. But he is only 7, and I have no idea what the program looks like at higher levels. (Just from what I have seen so far, it does not seem anything like Girl Scouts, which I can no longer support. )
My husband has been asked to be a leader next year ( Den Leader? Is that right?). This group is so great, as they include the whole family at basically all their activities ( I hate the idea of always needing to split up the families or age groups for activities, so I really liked this.)
But I just don't know too much about the program itself. This pack is run out of one of the local Catholic schools, in a more conservative parish.
Thanks for any help,
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mrsgranola
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| Posted: May 01 2006 at 5:13pm | IP Logged
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Highly recommend it! Dh has been ds' leader since Wolves and he'll be the troop Scoutmaster next year. (My b-i-l has been it for a long time and is retiring.)
more later when I can...
JoAnna
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Parente Adventures
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Sarah
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| Posted: May 01 2006 at 5:43pm | IP Logged
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I'm the Cubmaster of our Catholic HS Pack. 
The only warning I have is that there is a little insert in the front of each book that is meant to rip out and it discusses child abuse that you may not want your child to read. To get the Bobcat you need to discuss abuse prevention and I always tell parent to do what's appropriate for their own children. Its not in the Tiger book. Be sure to get it out before you hand you son the Wolf.
Other than that, I say its great!! 
We started our own group here and its now growing into a Troop for older boys. Our moms and I decided we can't meet every week. We call the den our own home then get together about every 6 weeks. Our boys work at home on the book.
There are neat ideas for boys and the BSA is working hard to get parents to talk to their kids about good values and spend time together.
Plus, they want you to be active in your religion.
As I write this ds 9 is wearing his shirt. The uniform is a big part of scouting--the boys feel cool (usually).
I'm sure there are bad leaders out there and all, but as an organization I think the BSA is good and not contrary to Catholics at all. Our diocese has a priest in charge of the Catholic scouts and the Bishop gives out the religion award yearly.
It is in a totally different ballpark than Girl Scouts.
Boy Scouting is very Catholic. The scouts are taught to do their duty to God. . .
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Six boys ages 16, 14, 11, 7, 5, 2 and one girl age 9
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lapazfarm
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| Posted: May 01 2006 at 5:44pm | IP Logged
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We love scouting! Ds has just crossed over into Boy Scouts after starting way back as a tiger. He is the second to go through scouts in our family. His goal is to earn his Eagle rank some day, but that takes alot of commitment. We'll see.
Through the years we've seen a wide variety in the way different dens and packs are run. Since it is volunteer (read-parent)based, you really get a wide variety of leadership qualities and abilities. Some have been all about the fun, others are all about the achievements (badges, etc) and others are more balanced. Some are more organized and active than others.
It sounds like you have gotten in with a really good group. If your son is enjoying it, then that is the most important indicator that you have a good group. And if dh gets involved as a leader-even better!
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Theresa
us-schooling in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska.
LaPaz Home Learning
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stacykay
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| Posted: May 01 2006 at 6:33pm | IP Logged
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Our family has been involved in cub/boy scouts for the past 11 years.
When we first began, I was somewhat confused with all of the levels of cub scouts (and I am still trying to get a handle on the boy scout rankings!)
I have found nothing objectionable in either cub or boy scouts. We are with a pack/troop that is with our Catholic parish. I do think this helps. They have monthly scout Masses (the boys carry in flags and host the coffee and donuts.) There are religious medals that can be earned on both the cub scout and boy scout levels.
Family involvement is highly encouraged, and BSA do have rules in place for the boys' safety.
My oldest ds just earned his eagle scout, and not a moment too soon as he turned 18 on Sunday! (You have to earn it before turning 18.) He has gone all the way through from Tiger to Eagle. He, and my other ds's who are old enough, love it.
My next oldest has enjoyed going to Mackinac Island's service camp for a week the past two summers, and is going this year, too. The boys work at the Fort and the Governor's Mansion, giving tours; and in town giving directions.
They have loved the camping and learning so many things. The 18 and 15 yos earned their aviation merit badges and got to go up in a plane with a retired Navy fighter, who showed them an exciting time! 
My oldest went with some of the boys and dads and backpacked around Isle Royale (in Lake Superior) for a week.
My 11 yo just "crossed over," and is now a boy scout. He can't wait for summer camp!
My 8 yo is a "wolf" and is now in the "bear" group in cub scouts. He earned his Light of Christ medal this year.
All in all, scouting is fun. On the cub scout end, there aren't the camping opportunities that come with boy scouts, but the boys have all enjoyed the den meetings and learning new things and the crafts that they make.
As they get older, the emphasis is for the boys to take on more responsibility for themselves. Cub scouts is adult leading, and boy scouts is supposed to be more scout led, with adult supervision. The boy scouts plan and run the meetings. They get input on outings and other things they would like to do. (They usually plan a laser tag party before Christmas, stuff like that.)
The adults in our group are great, and I always was comfortable with them on camping trips.
I have seen a wonderful progression with my oldest, as far as his leadership skills, and his ability to work well with the adults (somewhat what we see with hs'ing!)
My 15 yo is also maturing this way.
I am glad to have the boys, because from what I have read in the girl scout manual (nothing like my old one!) and have heard, I wouldn't let a daughter in girl scouts. They are obviously run by two very different organizations!
Oooh, Mr. or Mrs. Cottontail just zipped by my window, after enjoying an evening snack in my friend's garden!
Time for our evening constitutional around the neighborhood - my 1 yo is clamoring to go!
Any more questions, feel free to e-mail me!
God Bless,
Stacy
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Mary G
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I think it just depends on how much time you want to commit and how good your pack/troop is. I've seen good ones and bad ones and some where the guys did Scouting 110 percent of the time and expected us all to do that! I was ds' Tiger and Wolf leader -- the only way I could stop was to move out of state  !
I know Boy Scouts are substantially more my cup of tea than the Girls (although I really prefer the cookies over the popcorn!)
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mairejam5
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| Posted: May 01 2006 at 8:10pm | IP Logged
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Forgive my ignorance, I heard someone else mention a problem with Girl Scouts, would you enlighten me? My last experience with them was way back in gradeshool!
Maire
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Rebecca
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Both of my sons are active cubscouts. My oldest is in his last year as a Webelo. My other son just started as a Tiger cub.
My husband is the Cubmaster of their pack, run out of our local parish church and school.
We just love scouting and the opportunities it offers the boys. No complaints here!
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kingvozzo
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| Posted: May 01 2006 at 11:40pm | IP Logged
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Sarah wrote:
The only warning I have is that there is a little insert in the front of each book that is meant to rip out and it discusses child abuse that you may not want your child to read. To get the Bobcat you need to discuss abuse prevention and I always tell parent to do what's appropriate for their own children. Its not in the Tiger book. Be sure to get it out before you hand you son the Wolf.
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I second this warning. The materials in the book were a bit too intense for us, so we reviewed safety precautions etc.
Ds8 just became a Bear cub last week, and he loves it. So far, we've had a very positive experience. We are planning on changing dens next year because our current den has changed sponsors to a Masonic Lodge  . DH and I don't feel comfortable about this, so we'll be switching. I'd love to find a Catholic group, but I'll settle for something non-Mason sponsored.
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Noreen
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Mary G
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mairejam5 wrote:
Forgive my ignorance, I heard someone else mention a problem with Girl Scouts, would you enlighten me? My last experience with them was way back in gradeshool!
Maire |
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Girl Scouts as it has evolved embraces encouraging girls to "be all they can be" sometimes to the exclusion of being wives and moms. It tends to take a very PC view of careers and how girls can do anything boys can do. It seems to have moved away from the camping and outdoors and concentrates much more on showing girls how to achieve in the secular world.
Again, as I mentioned with the boy scouts, the girls scouts and how things are encouraged/discouraged depends on the leader and the overall pack/troop. Some are great some not so great.
One thing I've always loved about the boy scouts is their oath that puts God first.
As to the abuse issue -- the boy scouts have had their troubles with some leaders (some being openly gay) and abuse in general. It's a hard fact and I hated having to go thru the abuse education that all leaders have to attend. It's too bad that we have to worry about allowing an adult to be alone with a child, but that's what the reality is.....
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3 boys (22, 12, 8)2 girls (20, 11)
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tracym
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| Posted: May 02 2006 at 6:23am | IP Logged
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My oldest is also in boy scouts-he has been in since Tigers and will be in Webloes next year. He has been with the same leader(a Catholic homescholing dad) from the beginning and most of the boys are from our church. It is great and they also are very open to the whole family coming to many activities.
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Sarah
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| Posted: May 02 2006 at 10:39am | IP Logged
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According to this article 20% of G. Scout groups are affiliated with Planned parenthood. I'm not sure if that's still the case.
Article
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Bookswithtea
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Ds did cub scouts for years, in several different troops. We've never had the opportunity to have a Catholic troop. We broke with it for awhile because there just wasn't a good troop available. Ds joined up again in Jan. with a *great* troop and we are thrilled.
I used to be a girl scout leader. I and another hs mom ran a hs troop of daisies and brownies. I am soooooooo grieved about the direction National has taken! I loved girl scouts as a child and I was even a camp counselor one summer in college. I loved being a leader and my dd's loved being girl scouts. Depends on the council, but some are affiliated with PP.  Ours was, which was why we quit. The careerist attitude in the badges gets worse at the Junior level, but can be modified with diligent leaders. So sad...
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Kelly
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We love boyscouts. You might want to shop around for troops, though. We have found that the best troops typically have a high percentage of DADS being involved-which is appropriate, it being a "guy" thing, afterall. Because of our traipsing around all the time, over the years we've basically affiliated with a troop that we did things with when we were in town, the rest of the year we do a "Lone Scout" kind of thing. The BSA has been VERY accommodating to us, and gone out of their way to help faciliate my son's badge work and other activities. He is currently working on his Eagle scout. Second ds is about to embark on Webelos. We've tended to avoid cub scouts just because it's so parent-intensive and seems like a lot of people burn out (or move out of the state, like Mary )---and understandably so. It is a big time commitment, though a good one. However, the activities get much more reliant on the boys once you get to Webelos.
I loved Girl Scouts, too, and absolutely adored working on the badges. But what Sarah said has become sadly true in many areas. I've heard some good things about people doing GS through the Juliet program (which is like Lone Scout) and re-uning with others doing the same programs once a month. The Juliets inour area, mostly Catholic hsers, use the old GS badge book---I ordered one, it was great, and SUCH a trip down Memory Lane! I may go this route with my second dd and our Catholic hsers. The plus is that such groups can focus more on the outdoors and activities, rather than cookie sales and I-am-woman-hear-me-roar activities that seem to be popular with many GS councils, alas. Not all councils, but many.
But back to BSA, definite thumbs-up from us, too (but do rip out the insert in the front of the book that Sarah mentioned. We did the same thing! Great minds run in the same channel )
Kelly in FL
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4Real Forums : Living Learning
Topic: Boy Scouts
