Were any of you in Boy Scouts? My mother was a "Den Mother" when I was a Cub Scout, and my father was a Boy Scout Leader for more than twenty-five years, so I have many fond memories of Boy Scouts.
I regret having never finished the requirements for Eagle Scout. I didn't need much, and I think I may have just been missing the Swimming merit badge. Although I could swim quite well, I hadn't mastered all of the strokes that were required. A large percentage of my most precious memories of childhood were related to Boy Scouts. Even a lot of the camping things that we did outside of Boy Scouts were probably inspired by Boy Scouts. I know that for the camping merit badge, we had to build something of all natural materials that could be gathered in the woods, and build a shelter that would be comfortable during winter months. We built a sort of an Indian-type hut out of green branches and shoots, that could be easily bent and braided, sumac trees being particularly good for that, so once they dried they held their shape. We used evergreen boughs for the roof, leaving a hole for smoke to exit, and we were quite warm in there during a UP of Michigan January night. We used that hut several times outside of Boy Scouts.
What percentage of Boy Scouts become Eagle Scouts? http://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2015/03/30/what-percentage-of-boy-scouts-become-eagle-scouts/
During the years that I was a Scout then, the percentage was under two percent. Still, I wasn't far off.
Not a boy scout but a very short lived Brownie. At the age of 7 I diligently learned the Brownie Oath so that I could be sworn in. On the day of this momentous occasion I disgraced myself by leap frogging over the sacred toadstool (the one where you place your hand to swear the oath) and was not allowed to participate in the enrolling ceremony I was sent home vowing revenge on all authoritative figures
I, too, was a Brownie, but never moved on to Girl Scout, I can't remember why. When my son was younger, there wasn't a Cub Scout leader anywhere around where we lived, so I did it for 2 years, but he grew bored with it, and I was having problems coming up with activities for them to do, so I dropped out. Unfortunately, no one else picked up the mantle, so the Cub Scouts were short lived in our community.
I was a Cub Scout, and then a Boy Scout. My mother was a Cub Scout Den Mother and my father was a Boy Scout Leader. I enjoyed scouting quite a bit, although I began to lose interest in it at about the age of sixteen or so. I have a series of DVDs put out by the Boy Scouts of America in 2008-2011 called "Scouting for Adventure." Obviously, a promotional series, they may have been aired on television or on a cable channel because they are entitles, Season One, Season Two, Season Three, and Season Four. I have nearly finished the first season and one thing that strikes me is that it is very top heavy with women. Call me sexist but when I was in Boy Scouts, there were women leaders in the Cub Scouts but Boy Scout leaders and Boy Scout camp staff were nearly all men. Oh, there were some women involved, I know, because we did come across a troop every once in a while that had a female leader, and I don't have a problem with that. However, I am thinking that they must have carefully chosen the people who represented Scouting in this promotional series because it is very professionally done, and I don't get the feeling that they just used whoever happened to have been involved in something when the cameras came along. What strikes me as strange is that nearly every adult Scout leader or instructor portrayed in this series is a woman. Although girls have been allowed in the Boy Scouts for quite a few years now, very few actually participate, and I haven't noticed any of the Scouts portrayed in the series being a girl. But at least 90% of women portrayed as scout leaders, instructors or staff are women. It's been a while since I have been a Boy Scout, but I was a Boy Scout leader in 2008, when Season One of this series was published, and I have been an advisor for a Boy Scout Explorer Post, and there weren't very many women involved. Certainly, nowhere near 90% of the leadership were female, so I find it odd that the BSA decided to portray the Boy Scouts as being mostly led by women.
I was a Cub Scout den mother but then we moved and my son didn't want o continue. My nephew is 16 and still a Boy Scout ...they go on some pretty cool trips. Went hiking in Scotland last year.
I'm not sure where my nephew is but he's been one forever. Every time I visit NJ, he's preparing for something.
Why did you quit? I wish my son would have continued...I think it's a great organization for boys. Ive only seen a small portion of what my nephew does but he seems to enjoy it immensely. Even the week long camping trips when the temps were very cold in Sparta NJ! Once when I visited he insisted on making pancakes for everyone, a skill he must have just learned back then. I think they were just in Colorado for a week...his dad usually goes on these trips with him. While the boys did that, the girls went to their condo in Florida for a week...everyone was happy!
After my mother died, things got a little unorganized at our house. Plus, I had new friends, a different school, and a car that promised other options.