we attended a cub scout open house mtg last night..
2/3 of my boys are interested in joining..

Does anyone have any feedback on the benefits of scouting these days?
We live in NNJ - the pack meets once a week.. with varous outings and activities planned..

thanks !

Lisa mom to Melanie(29)
Guillermo,Jonathan,William(10.9.01 @34 weeks)
grandma to Brianna(6)

My DS joined last year as a 2nd grader (Wolf). He LOVED it and is planning on going through 5th grade. He is even up for going back and completing the Tiger requirements (1st grade) so he can earn the very cool arrow that most of the 5th grade boys earned last year.

Our pack (all dens) meets once a month. It male-run, but there is a lot of involvement from moms too. The den meets once or twice a month, depending on scheduling and urgency to complete some requirements before the March Blue & Gold Banquet. There are some things they'll ask you to complete at home, but most requirements are done as group in the den.

Other events that are optional participation are popcorn selling, pinewood derby, stick building, 2 campouts each year.

Our group is very laid back and accepting of scheduling issues. At our first pack meeting, one of the boys in my DS's den showed up late in tackle football pads and cleats. But he wore his Cub Scout hat. They are also well organized and well funded through popcorn sales. In talking with other parents from other schools, I think ours is one of the best (and largest) in the area.

The whole family is invited to campouts and are "come as you can." We haven't made one yet due to scheduling conflicts, but hope that DH and DS will do the fall one at the end of October. I understand that some moms and siblings go when they can make it. So, if you have a soccer game Saturday AM, then come Saturday afternoon. Can't spend the night? They are only 1 hour away. Don't have gear? Usually enough to share.

For us, this has been a great experience thus far, for both DS and DH. Neither of them gets enough "man time" so it's been good. They are out right now selling popcorn outside the hardware stor .

I know it's not for everyone. Our Pack Leader's oldest DS only did 2 or 3 years. It's not his thing. But the younger brother really thrives with it and will likely go through at least 5th grade.

It's really worth trying out for a year. That's what we did.

MonsterMom6
10 year old ^b^ b twins @ 30w5d (1 survivor) and
8 year old gggg quads @ 32w0d

I would definitely suggest trying it. Our two boys are in 2nd grade and this is their 2nd year so they are Wolfs. Husband is the Den leader and I am the pack mother. Our Den belongs to a Pack which is all the Cub Scouts out of our school. The Pack plans lots of activities along with the council. AS a Den we work on the trail for completing the requirements for the rank. We meet about once every three weeks, depending on the number of Pack and Council activities. We are getting ready for first full family encampment in three weeks at the Boy Scout camp in Mississippi. Now I have to go and buy a tent for five….

How it goes will depend on the Den he is in, how well he gets along with the kids in his Den, how activity the pack is, how good the leaders are. Our Den does have a lot of parent participation which makes it even better. We have 10 boys in our Den all from the 3 second grade classes at school so they all now each other and where together last year as wolves.

It also gave me a chance to meet other parents. Working fulltime I really don’t meet many of the other parents from school so this also gives me so friendship with parents in the same area,

I also do girl scouts with my Daughter, guess who is the co-leader???.

Good Luck - definitely give it a try.

Joanne

Joanne
Mom to Joseph, Elizabeth and Phillip
Born 7/7/02 in New Orleans

I would definitely suggest trying it. Our two boys are in 2nd grade and this is their 2nd year so they are Wolfs. Husband is the Den leader and I am the pack mother. Our Den belongs to a Pack which is all the Cub Scouts out of our school. The Pack plans lots of activities along with the council. AS a Den we work on the trail for completing the requirements for the rank. We meet about once every three weeks, depending on the number of Pack and Council activities. We are getting ready for first full family encampment in three weeks at the Boy Scout camp in Mississippi. Now I have to go and buy a tent for five….

How it goes will depend on the Den he is in, how well he gets along with the kids in his Den, how activity the pack is, how good the leaders are. Our Den does have a lot of parent participation which makes it even better. We have 10 boys in our Den all from the 3 second grade classes at school so they all now each other and where together last year as wolves.

It also gave me a chance to meet other parents. Working fulltime I really don’t meet many of the other parents from school so this also gives me so friendship with parents in the same area,

I also do girl scouts with my Daughter, guess who is the co-leader???.

Good Luck - definitely give it a try.

Joanne

Joanne
Mom to Joseph, Elizabeth and Phillip
Born 7/7/02 in New Orleans

Thanks for posting this. We just got some info about Daisy Girl Scouts and I think we're going to sign up.

I'm sure these extra activities after school can't do anything but make the kids have fun and feel good about themselves.

Lisa

My girls LOVE Daisies. And it's very simple. They switched to a 2-year program last year. It's so laid back. Meet monthly and had 6 of their 10 petals earned last year, even after a slow start as the leadership formed and got organized. So an easy year coming up.

MonsterMom6
10 year old ^b^ b twins @ 30w5d (1 survivor) and
8 year old gggg quads @ 32w0d

Oh, thank you for sharing! You just made me even more excited to sign them up since your girls are loving it.

Lisa

FYI- our Daisy troop decided to forego the apron. Instead we bought silk-screened shirts with a white daisy, our troop number on the front and The Girls Scout Promise on written out on the back.

We got canvas tote bags from Joann and had the girls paint and decorate one side. The other is for their troop patch, American flag, and all the Daisy petals they earn. Also all the other patches they get for outings, etc.

The leaders (one also has a Brownie troop) suggested this. Said she heard about another troop that did the bags and now the girls have a fun tote, instead of a goofy apron. They wear the tshirt to school on Daisy day and on outings. The leaders and extra moms got shirts for outings too. They are a very pretty blue- unique enough for tracking.

I guess GSA is pretty flexible with Daisies and uniforms, etc. Our leaded even told us not to buy the handbook. That they could operate from her book just fine.

I really didn't want to have another activity, but my girls were begging me. AND, I found out that there were about 20 girls who expressed an interest. That is 20% of the Kindy girls. It's a big social thing and right now it's positive. There are a LOT of blue shirts running around on Daisy day. I think next year they'll have to split up into 2 troops as the Brownie requirements become more involved. Twenty giggly, excited girls at a meeting is a lot.

MonsterMom6
10 year old ^b^ b twins @ 30w5d (1 survivor) and
8 year old gggg quads @ 32w0d

I don't plan on letting my boys join scouts because they don't allow homosexuals to join and I'm not a fan of discrimination.

Girl scouts are ok with the gays though, so if my daughter wants to join, I'll let her.

Kelli

Morgan (11) & natural (by natural I mean concieved on top of a picnic table at a campground, so maybe it should say nature-al) BBG triplets Eric, Josh, and Hannah born @ 33w1d



http://b5.lilypie

I just wanted to jump in here and say we are avoiding cub scouts for the same reason. If you look at their website they are VERY upfront about their discrimination and I think it is frightening. We are teaching our kids that everyone is equal -- no matter race, sexual orientation or whatever. We talked about it and feel that joining an organization (no matter how fun it looks) that explicitly goes against this belief sends the wrong message to the kids.

We are researching 4H clubs locally to see how they fare. From their website it looks really cool.

Tara

Mom to BBG born at 33wks on 4/3/03

My girls are daisies this year. The only actual official uniform for the Girl Ccouts is that yellow tab with the with the membership pins on it. Otherwise, the girls can wear what they want. The tunic, vests and sashes are only for putting the badges on. I was a Brownie and Girl Scout when I was a little girl. I think I quit after the 5th grade, but I loved it. Plus, now I have great access to those cookies!

My boys are Cub Scouts, but we do it through our church since we are LDS and it is what we do on Wed. nights. My DH and all his brothers are Eagle Scouts.

Since we moved back to Texas, it is really big here. A couple of packs tried to recruit us early in the school year and was disappointed when they found out we were LDS. My boys are friends with several boys who are in school packs and it has given them something else in common, even not being in the same pack.

Cindy
Paul and Andrew
Kristen, Rachel and Michael