UncleP

This sounds like my nephew. I am curious, and still trying to understand how things work, are their "social" requirements for rank advancement? I have been researching things, so I can give my nephew useful advise and encouragement. All the literature I have read showed specific task, or skills, that have to be mastered in order to advance. I have also read that requirements for rank can neither be added nor taken away. I did see the requirement for "Position of Responsibility" (POR). Is this the same thing as you were discussing? Can a boy who is primarily solitary succeed in scouts? Scouting is more complicated then I initially thought it would be.

Congratulations to your son. I am certain that he is an outstanding young man. Also, that, despite whatever disabilities he has, he is fortunate to have supportive parents who care about him and dedicate time and effort to him.

Great minds think alike. When I saw this story I thought that they should track and see if they have recruiting spurt, or at least an increase in participation by the fathers.

A lot of the comics show things that would not be acceptable today. I thought about providing a warning, but I decided that everyone on the forum had enough mileage, that they would not need a "safe space" with teddy bears to deal with it.

Those were much more innocent times.

Your son should count his blessings.

As a calorically-challenged American, I have been telling people that you can be "fat but fit" for years, and no one believes me. In some of the old comic books, you can actually see ads for programs to help you gain weight.

If you want you can find some of the comics in comic book form at the link below. The "Roy Powers" comic is part of an anthology comic with several different comics. This is the first issue that the comic appears in: http://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=39924

I came across this by accident while doing some research, and I thought someone might enjoy this information. Between 1937 and 1943, a newspaper comic was written with the authorized consent of the Boy Scouts. The comic strip was independently done, but reviewed and approved by the Boy Scouts. Below are a letter from James E. West regarding the beginning of the comic strip, and the first panel introducing the characters.

My thanks to everyone for their encouragement and good advise. My nephew is going to Summer Camp, and I will speak to the Scoutmaster regarding his needs. He will being taking the "First Year Camper Program" and "Swimming" Merit Badge. That should leave him plenty of time for fun. Maybe the problem is that I should have more confidence in him, and not worry so much.

Thank everyone for their responses. To reply to your questions: a. Homesickness: This is not a problem. He wants to get away from his family, and do something besides be quiet while his parents nap and pass gas. His only concern is leaving is dog and the family cat (he is afraid his sister will do something while he is gone). b. Does he want to go: Yes, in fact I a afraid it may be hard for him to comeback. c. Merit Badges (MB): Initially, he wanted to go for a number of MBs, but I talked to him and we agreed that to start he should take the first year program and swimming. He already knows how to swim , so I thought it would be a good one for him. He wants to avoid badges like basket weaving, because his father will mock him endlessly. I cannot understand how a man can enjoy publicly humiliating his own son so much. My concerns were as follows: 1. Advancement: I want to keep him from getting obsessed about advancing. I just want him to have some good memories. Also, I do not want him to get burned out and quit. The advancement process with patrol method and leadership requirements would tear him apart. He needs to just be a happy First Class Scout who does a lot of hiking and camping. 2. Introvert: My nephew is an extreme introvert. Introvert does not mean shy as most people think. Introvert is someone who recharges their energy by being alone. Conversely, they lose energy by being around people. I am afraid that being around people constantly will turn him into a zombie. 3. Temper: My nephew has a temper, and I do not blame him. Most of the time he keeps it under control, but if he gets really tired he could lose it. A couple of weeks ago an old man who lives in his neighborhood threw a rock at his dog, because he thought it would "funny" to hear him yelp. My nephew was on him like a wolverine with rabies. He backed him into a corner and cussed them out royally. If something like that happens at camp he will get thrown out, and his parents will use it as an excuse to never let him out of his room again. If he goes to camp he will not make any friends, he does not have it in him. Instead he probably make some enemies. He has to learn to be around people, but I am afraid camp might be "jumping in the deep end" for him. Alone he can do anything he sets his mind to, in a group situation he falls apart. I think the reason he initially got interested in camping was the idea of being alone outside where he was free.

My nephew has joined boy scouts. He is "Scout" rank, and working for "Tenderfoot". They will have Summer Camp in July,, and I was wondering: 1. Should he attend or is it too soon (experience might overwhelm him)? 2. If he does go to Summer Camp, any advise on how to get the most out of the experience. I took some of the advise from this forum, and got my nephew a scout handbook and fieldbook. I also suggested that he start an Excel Spreadsheet to log in all of his activities (hikes, night camping...). I and my nephew discussed things, and we made an agreement with each other that - a) he would try scouts for at least a year, and b) not worry about advancement but instead take things one day at the time. I really want this to work for my nephew, so any suggestions are welcome. Thank you

I think I FINALLY get it. The outdoors part of the program is to attract boys, and to use as a tool to teach citizenship, character and physical fitness. They learn many of these things through osmosis (troop elections, carry out duties of various positions, exposure to nature...). That way they do not realize that they are being taught. It also keeps things fun, so they can be retained. I did some more research and apparently in the 1970's camping and the outdoors was greatly reduced by the "improved scouting program", and Boy Scouts underwent significant membership loses. This was later corrected with outdoors added back into the program. I work with organizations and systems for my job, so I am curious If my brief summarization above is correct, and if anyone has any additional information on this? I work with a great many organizations who forget what their core mission is, and get into trouble because of it. Were any studies ever performed on the "improved scouting program" for lessons learned? Thanks

I am glad to hear it is so popular. I researched the Boy Scouts when my nephew told me he was interested, and I read that membership was in decline (6-7%?). Boys need something like scouting, so that they do not end up a cubicle monkey like me. The National Outdoors Award is very interesting, but I do not want my nephew obsessing about it like Eagle. Right now I think one day of honest fun would do him more good than all the awards in the world.

That surprises me. I thought I was the last lone wolf left. Everybody I know seems to love the "herd" way of doing everything.

I know what you mean, I was on Ritalin for most of my elementary school years. Being a boy these days is a "square peg in a round hole" situation.

That is an excellent suggestion for a long term goal for my nephew. Right now I just want him to get started and to "get his hands dirty".

I just got an email from Duluth Trading Co., that they are having a one day sale on "Buck Naked Underwear" if you are still interested.

I have both the "buck naked' and the "armachillo", and they are the best underwear I have had. I suffer from hyperhidrosis and am very large, so comfortable underwear has been my "Holy Grail".

I think, conceptually at least, I understand what you are saying. It is out of my sphere of experience, and I have not seen anything like it. I am not a "joiner" and with the exception of work, have never belonged to any organization. That is one of the reasons I want my nephew to develop the skills I never did. The world is a much nastier place today, then when I was a boy, and he will need to do things that I never could to get by in life. Maybe it is just me, but the world just seems to have turned against boys. Local governments spend fortunes on senior facilities, but not a cent on anything for boys. Last night some movie star was on TV talking about how superior girls were to boys. The world seems to have become very feminized. It is a shame that scouting is not more popular, it might help out a great deal. Though in all honesty, I think you are doing yourself a disservice with all the school merit badges and other requirements.

Thank you for your input. I have told my nephew to do just as you say - to concentrate on the outdoors and fun. He is worried about all the merit badges, but I told him they will come. To tell the truth I do not see how camping and hiking will help him get all those citizenship badges, but you could fill libraries with all the material I do not understand. In the long run all that matters is that he have fun.

Thank you for the advise. I was thinking about getting my nephew the book "Eagle on Ice" about Eagle Scout Paul Siple going with Admiral Byrd to the Antarctic. I decided not to, because reading about an over achiever, like Siple, might feed the wrong fires. I have ordered the handbook from "Amazon", so he can start to look at it.

Thank you I will be there for him.

Thank you for the suggestion. I can meet his expenses for him, and I would not want to take funds away from someone else. He has enough obstacles already, he does not need any more. You did give me a good idea though. To thank everyone for their help, I went to the San Francisco Bay Area Council webpage and made a donation. In the comments, I requested that if possible the funds be used to pay the expenses of a boy who wants to be a scout, but cannot afford it. PS - Speaking as a computer geek, they have a terrible website.

Hedgehog was correct, I meant encouraging him when he thinks about quiting. It will b his decision, but I can always ask him to give it another month or two for his uncle.