9/15/11

Passing It Along

Time For Scouts

This evening, my brother-in-law and I took my 6 year old nephew to a Cub Scout introduction at his elementary school.  Ever since I talked to him about it last spring, he's been very excited about it.  We got him signed up for the local pack, and next Monday, he'll be an official Tiger Cub, and I'll be taking him to his meetings and activities as his "adult partner."

The pack already has a couple camping trips and other activities planned, and many of them look like opportunities to teach him and the other boys some survival skills.  And, I'm pretty sure I'll learn a lot along the way. 

Any readers involved in Scouts?

8 comments:

  1. opeeSeptember 15, 2011 at 9:35 PM

    YAY!!!! I know he is so excited, y'all will have a great time together!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. RoboSeptember 15, 2011 at 9:43 PM

    Tiger cubs through Eagle leader all the way through. Webelos Den Leader (2 years) and Scoutmaster(6 years, 7 Eagles) were my favorites! Also worked on district and council level leadership. Went to the national Jamboree as a asst. SM in 1997. Learned lots of stuff and met some great people. Oh by the way I am a lifetime 1st class scout.

    RoBo

    ReplyDelete
  3. PreppingToSurviveSeptember 16, 2011 at 5:51 AM

    Excellent! Like Robo, I've been involved with scouting for years now as both Cub and Boy Scout adult leadership and on the district and council levels.

    Scouting is a game with a purpose. He'll have a lot of fun while learning some great skills.


    Joe

    ReplyDelete
  4. - DanSeptember 16, 2011 at 10:39 AM

    Hate to be a dissenting vote here, but we signed up my son last year for scouts and I thought it would do more with camping/survival skills, etc., than it did. Just one end of year camping trip. Most of the rest seemed to be 1940s era curriculum games. Some good stuff, don't get me wrong. But we prefer 4-H because it allows us to mold the curriculum into what we're looking for. My son is raising small livestock, gardening, canning, learning about the wildlife around him, and much more, all under the 4-H program. I have heard, however, that the older Boy Scouts are much more survival skill based than Cub Scouts. Just my take. Good luck to you!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Dustin TarditiSeptember 16, 2011 at 3:59 PM

    I loved cub scouts growing up - my oldest son is just a bit young for it, but has expressed interest as he sees other family/friends who are in scouts. We look forward to his exploration of the program, but expect that much of the high adventure will be extracurricular - no problem. I can take him camping, canoeing, rappelling, hiking, etc. on my own.

    ReplyDelete
  6. preppingtosurviveSeptember 16, 2011 at 6:02 PM

    As Joe mentioned, we have been heavily involved with scouting. In addition to all the Cub/Boy Scouting Joe and our oldest son have done, our oldest daughter is in Girl Scouts also. That's a very different animal, but still has some value.

    We participate in 4-H also, but I think a lot of these things are very dependent on the local leadership. Our scout packs/troops have always been very active, whereas I am frustrated with how little really happens in our 4-H group.

    Yes, we participate in all the speech giving and such, but especially for a rural area like we live in, I'm disappointed that we don't do more active animal projects. Pets (horses and companion dogs) seem to be the focus of our leadership. They are fine, but not what I would choose from a survival standpoint. I would at least want to see a good amount of it be draft or team horses and working/protective dogs.

    Also, no one in our area can get the regional 4-H to sponsor or help with meat rabbits. Technically, rabbits have now also been lumped in with "companion animals" like cats. The ARBA folks have tried and tried to get 4-H to encourage a new generation of kids to raise rabbits, but using them for meat must not be PC anymore.

    Laura

    ReplyDelete
  7. DonaldSeptember 18, 2011 at 10:48 AM

    I think Laura has it right, it really depends on the local leadership and culture.

    Robo - in 97 you were, quite literally, in my backyard. I was living in a rented farmhouse that shared a property line with Ft. A. P. Hill.

    ReplyDelete
  8. AnonymousSeptember 18, 2011 at 4:44 PM

    joining scouts is the first step, the road ahead will be full of great things, so be active in your child's activities and they will show more interest. i know 1 son is star, 2nd son will be eagle next year, i am a ass scout master and my wife was a leader in cubs, tiger , wolf and then weeblo she then was ass cub master, when my son moved up to scouts she has been on the committee in various positions

    ReplyDelete

Please feel free to comment on my posts. I do ask that you keep the language clean. I reserve the right to moderate comments and will delete any that violate the principles of respectful discourse or that are spam. I will not delete your comment for simply disagreeing with me.

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)