Craig Miller
Well-known member
Without getting political or religious! Wife wants to sign up the oldest. He is six. What are your experience with them. It was a complete waste of time when i was young
boy scouts
- Thread starter Craig Miller
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TN Cattle Man
Well-known member
Craig, As with most anything, a lot depends on what "troop" they are in. In our neck of the woods most all the Boy Scout troops are sponsored by churches but there are still what I would call "Good" troops and "Bad" troops. Mostly it all depends on the leadership of any given troop.
Our family was fortunate and we had a great experience with the Boy Scouts. Very good and active troop that held the boys interest and encouraged personal development. My oldest made it to Eagle scout and that was a very positive experience for him.
My suggestion is to check out the local troops and talk to the boys and even the parents to get their perspective on the troop.
Good luck!
Our family was fortunate and we had a great experience with the Boy Scouts. Very good and active troop that held the boys interest and encouraged personal development. My oldest made it to Eagle scout and that was a very positive experience for him.
My suggestion is to check out the local troops and talk to the boys and even the parents to get their perspective on the troop.
Good luck!
chippie
Well-known member
Exactly. Check out the troop and see if you can visit a meeting so that you can see how the kids intact with each other and how the adults do too.
It is only as good as the leader. Look for a troop whose leader is in it for all of the boys, not just his son.
It is only as good as the leader. Look for a troop whose leader is in it for all of the boys, not just his son.
Caustic Burno
Well-known member
Craig Miller":11d5kloy said:
Depend's as in a lot of situation's. You get out of it what is put in.
It all get's back to district leadership . Oldest went all over the country on scouting adventure's and badge project's.
Oldest son started as a cub and went all the way through Eagle was awarded the Boy Scout Honor Medal with crossed Palms for life saving.
I don't think there is a badge he didn't get. Boy was very task driven.
Has presidential citation's from President Reagan.
The Honor Medal with Crossed Palms may be awarded in exceptional cases to a youth member or adult leader who has demonstrated unusual heroism and extraordinary skill or resourcefulness in saving or attempting to save life at extreme risk to self. First awarded in 1938.
■Awarded in 2012: 14
■Cumulative awards since 1938: 277
M5farm
Well-known member
I believe Hook was an eagle scout if I remember correctly from another thread.
My son joined the cub scouts back in the winter. It's a good orginazation. We both enjoyed the pinewood derby. As soon as spring came he started enjoying riding his horse etc. more than going to the Monday meeting. We're not big on letting the kids just quit things. I thought about it for a good while. I finally decided to let him quit. I'm still impressed with the orginazation. I should be honest as well, and say although the meetings were just an hour long. We lost two hours getting there and back etc. I wasn't sorry to see it go. He is in Royal ambassadors at church. We do camping, and outdoor things in it. We are adding pinewood derby to it as well.
TexasBred
Well-known member
I loved the Boy Scouts. Was in a small troop out in a small community. Very active. Seems we camped out about every weekend etc. etc. etc. Still have my old "Brag Rag" with all the merit badges and advancement medals on it. IF they vote to allow queers I'm thinking about packageing it all up and sending it to the national hqtrs. and telling them to stuff it.
Dave
Well-known member
It really depends on the troop. The first one I was in was great. It was very active. We seemed to do things all the time and I enjoyed it. Then our church started a troop. My Mom made me transfer to the church troop. It was a flop. I never got back to the old troop.
I never could get my boys to go. And I asked them a number of times. Later on I noticed that none of their friends were in scouts either. Makes me wonder about the make up of the local troop.
I never could get my boys to go. And I asked them a number of times. Later on I noticed that none of their friends were in scouts either. Makes me wonder about the make up of the local troop.
Jogeephus
Well-known member
TexasBred":luenclvg said:
Great idea. I still have mine as well. I'll also send them my Eagle and palms too. Also was nominated for the Heroism Medal but due to the a shuffle in the district office I never received it even though I was told I had qualified for it.
It all has to do with the troop. The first troop I was in was like a playground. The second troop was great. Learned a lot of valuable stuff that I later shared as a scoutmaster. A scoutmaster is the most thankless job there can be but a few years later I bumped into one of the parents who thanked me for teaching her son some things that ended up saving his little brother's life. This made everything seem worthwhile. Its a good organization. I just hope they don't ruin it. At that age, sex should not even be in the picture.
melking
Well-known member
I joined scouts when I was 11 and we had a fantastic scoutleader. Everything depends on the leader but it was a defining experience in my life. My son was not interested so much and chose to go a different rout via the church. He turned out fine but I do wish he had a few of the outdoor skills that I have. On his current career track, he will be able to hire someone to to do that things he didn't learn to do.
I was a boy s cout till I was about 15 and we moved. Loved the first troop I was in. we went camping about once a month and did all kinds of cool stuff. It was in a poorer area, but had a good mix of people from both sides of the tracks so to speak. When we moved my brother and I looked up a local troop. It was a richer troop, these kids actually had real uniforms and BSA camping gear, lol, but it just wasnt as much fun and I guess I thought I was too cool for it so we never went past the first time.
OP
OP
Craig Miller
Well-known member
Thanks for the reponses everyone. It sounds like a good troop. My wife has been talking to a lady so i vuess some troops have ladies as leaders? Sounds like they have lots of activities planned already.
A
Anonymous
6 years old is cub scouts, and a lot of the leaders are den mothers. Nothing wrong with that. Webelos is where he'll start. It's an awesome start to some practical knowledge. How it goes in the long term, is up to the den leaders, the Boy Scout leader, the kid and the parents. He will get out only what he puts in. That's the entire basis.
I don't personally care for the path the BSA has taken lately. Meaning the way they put so much emphasis on fund raising. And if they allow gays, I will also renounce all ties to them and send the merit badge thingy, the order of the arrow stuff, my American flag that flew over the capitol I got for getting my eagle. The whole kit and caboodle.
But....if the pack you have is a good one, and he and you both are serious about it, there isn't much better preparation for life.
I don't personally care for the path the BSA has taken lately. Meaning the way they put so much emphasis on fund raising. And if they allow gays, I will also renounce all ties to them and send the merit badge thingy, the order of the arrow stuff, my American flag that flew over the capitol I got for getting my eagle. The whole kit and caboodle.
But....if the pack you have is a good one, and he and you both are serious about it, there isn't much better preparation for life.
TexasBred
Well-known member
Only fundraising I ever did as a scout was trying to raise $13.00 selling all occasion cards so I could go to summer camp. Thought I would never get those things sold. Covered a many a mile on my bike trying to sell those things....Yep...$13.00 for a whole week at camp. :nod:hooknline":2x8x6mry said:
slick4591
Well-known member
~ BREAKING ~
GRAPEVINE, Texas (AP) -- Boy Scouts approve plan to accept openly gay boys as Scouts; ban on gay adult leaders remains.
https://www.facebook.com/Fox4DFW?hc_location=stream
GRAPEVINE, Texas (AP) -- Boy Scouts approve plan to accept openly gay boys as Scouts; ban on gay adult leaders remains.
https://www.facebook.com/Fox4DFW?hc_location=stream
A
Anonymous
They can have all my BSA stuff. It will be shipped to their headquarters by weeks end
cow pollinater
Well-known member
It's all about who is in charge. I made it to life scout and got order of the arrow and was working on my eagle when I was told to quit trying so hard because no matter what I did I wouldn't get eagle until I turned a certain age that was older than BSA requirements(I want to say seventeen but that was a long time ago) I quit under protest and rather than anyone listen to my end of things I was labeled a quitter(as were a few others who left for the same reason). That was in a really active troop where we had something going every weekend and it was a way of life.
I still think I made the right choice as I left an organization that wouldn't follow their own rules but I did learn a valuable lesson. Any organization that big will be disorganized and variable and sometimes some members will have to work twice as hard as others to get anywhere due to the incompetence of leadership.
My wife took on the role of cubmaster last year in the same troop that I was in. About halfway through we saw that there was no way our son could excel so we pulled him out and she finished her term and tried to get things as straight as she could for the other boys. There was a big push to get boys signed up and in uniform. Once the popcorn got sold everyone quit caring if they showed up at meetings or not :frowns:
I still think I made the right choice as I left an organization that wouldn't follow their own rules but I did learn a valuable lesson. Any organization that big will be disorganized and variable and sometimes some members will have to work twice as hard as others to get anywhere due to the incompetence of leadership.
My wife took on the role of cubmaster last year in the same troop that I was in. About halfway through we saw that there was no way our son could excel so we pulled him out and she finished her term and tried to get things as straight as she could for the other boys. There was a big push to get boys signed up and in uniform. Once the popcorn got sold everyone quit caring if they showed up at meetings or not :frowns:
A
Anonymous
I saw a lot of the same thing. My son has never been involved with them because of that. I can teach him all the same things. Seems I made a good choice before I even knew why
I was in it for a couple years when I was very young and had a lot of fun. It was on a small scale and a friends dad was our leader. He kept a lot of the stuff easy going. As we got older and went to larger group events it got annoying. We were packing skinning knives hog hunting with dogs already but in scouts we had to wait until a certain time to get a badge to carry a pocket knife. Most of us kind of parted ways at that point. A bunch of continued to camp, river fish, hunt and all that good stuff over the years.
Not downing the scouts... It just may not work for every one. I have been to large scout events with booths for other organizations. Any thing that gets young men in the outdoors learning actual skills is a great thing.
Not downing the scouts... It just may not work for every one. I have been to large scout events with booths for other organizations. Any thing that gets young men in the outdoors learning actual skills is a great thing.
Ryder
Well-known member
Why did they raise the age requirement on you.cow pollinater":2vyvlhh9 said:
This "quitter" label has been used forever to dominate and control kids and adults as well. Took me years and a lot of hardship to finally come to the point of realizing that many times quitting is the only intelligent thing to do. It is often worse to stay in a bad situation and let yourself become a tool for somebody else.
Just depends on circumstances.
