family life

[moosetracker]

Sorry, if what I said is not fact.. I am long removed from Cub Scouting, my son being 21. but I did walk into a CS Specific talk and that was a direct quote I heard from one of the people in the Den Leader breakout sessions.

[Oak Tree]

Well, just to be different, our counselors for this are almost entirely men. We do have some women that counsel a variety of merit badges, but they have not clustered together on this one. Must just go to a lot of subtleties of the established culture.

[drmbear]

Lisabob,

 

I am very glad that during my time in Scouting, during the late '70's, that it was men who were the leaders in Boy Scout troops. I don't think a kid can have too many loving and caring adults to look out for him or her, so I am appreciative of all the men and women that decide to be leaders in Scouting. At the same time, I think there are great advantages during the Boy Scouting years for these boys to step into a community of men. Cross-culturally, all through history, there were rites of passage for boys to step away from "mother," away from some of the shelter of their family, and they typically did this by stepping into a community of men. These rites of passage have been virtually eliminated in our society, and in my opinion it is a large part of the reason we end up with far too many emotionally stunted men. Look around for men with emotional maturity beyond a 5 year old (and I'm not talking age or size or education and knowledge), and there just aren't that many. I'm sure there are plenty of fully capable women in any Scouting skills, but my call is that what a boy needs most at this age is the thing no woman can provide - and that's how to be a man. I guess when it got to the point where there aren't enough willing me, then women stepped in to pick up the slack. I've just seen that the dynamics of an activity change dramatically when there are women present. That may be okay, but it definitely isn't the same, and it may not be what's best for the boy.

 

Anyway, I've spent a lot of time studying and learning about being a man, what I'd call men's work, books like "Iron John" and "King, Warrior, Magician, Lover" by Gillette and Moore, and lot's more. I've related the aspects of Scouting and my Scouting experiences to the development of men. I appreciate programs like Boys-To-Men that connect to the value of the community of men concept. It appears there may be no putting the genie back in the bottle for Scouting, and I know many incredible women in Scouting, but I'll keep exploring the things involved in the development of men, particularly since I have a son soon entering the fray (he's finishing up Web I now), so we'll see.

[Lisabob]

Just to be clear here, I'm not advocating putting the "genie back in the bottle" with regard to women's roles in boy scouting. I recognize that others may see this differently than I do, though.

 

For the purposes of this thread, I'm talking about ONE merit badge, one that's required for Eagle, and one that (around here) is counseled almost entirely by women. It's interesting (to me) to hear what the norm is elsewhere, and people's thoughts on why these norms might exist.

 

 

[OldGreyEagle]

Actually, B-P had no problem with female scoutmasters, he even tried to recruit women to be scoutmasters while he was alive