Full Uniform

[sctmom]

My son hasn't hit the age where the other kids pick on him about what he wears. He just crossed over from Cubs this week. Since I can afford it, I bought the "missing" parts of his uniform.

 

This morning he decided to wear his uniform to school. He was about as official BSA as one can get. Pants, shirt (with proper insignia), bolo tie (troop option), hat, belt, and socks. He said he just wished they had official shoes! LOL

 

He did look sharp, I'm not just saying that because I'm his mom. He looks much younger than he is, but in uniform he looked older and more mature. As I drove away from the school, I saw one of his teachers smiling and talking to him as she looked him over from head to toe. I happen to also see he removed his hat before going in the doors.

 

PROUD, SMILING MOM HERE

 

(I know that any day now he will be embarrased to let other know he is in scouting, so I'm enjoying this while I can.)

 

[AdvanceOn]

sctmom:

 

Glad he's proud to wear his uniform. Wanted to relate a recent happening regarding the uniform. Our troop was meeting to head out for a weekend campout. They always travel in class As. One of the boys went into a fast food restuarant to get a drink. Some girls he knows from school (middle school-aged) saw him and commented that he looked nice in his uniform! He came out of that restuarant all smiles and much taller!

 

I have also heard of some high school-aged boys in another troop who decided to wear their uniforms on certain days. They seemed to get a positive response. Not sure how often they did this but it was more than once and not just because it was Scout anniversary.

 

Anyway, these were positive uniform experiences that we don't often hear about so I wanted to share them.

[Bob White]

My son has several scout t-shirts; summer camps, Philmont, the red white and blue BSA and the rappelling one from the scout catalog. He wears those to school quite often and says they have started some very interested conversations from teachers and students. He tells them of the places he's been hiking and camping. In a class excercise one day the students had to write positive statements about the others in their class. My son recieved several comments an having cool t-shirts. (He's in 8th Grade)

[Chippewa29]

When I was in Australia for the World Jamboree, we were of course required to wear our uniforms out in public. Of course, a lot of the guys moaned about it. After a day or so, the guys couldn't get their uniforms looking sharp enough. We had Australian girls (good looking ones our age) coming up to talk to us because we had our uniforms on. They thought we looked sharp and a lot of the guys ended up hanging out with the girls for quite a while during our free time (the adults gave the ok providing we were in groups and kept the doors of our rooms open while they were there).

 

Also, for some reason, the Australian girls who were at the Jamboree loved our green and red knee socks and asked us if they could have a pair everytime we did our wash. The adults thought it was hilarious, but made sure we each kept one pair for the trip home.

 

We also got some pretty good response in DC while visiting for the 89 National Jamboree.

[sctmom]

As Paul Harvey would say "Now for the rest of the story..."

 

In my son's class there are 3 other Scouts. They really don't like my son much and ignore him a lot. He is not as mature as they are and they try to act "cool". One of them asked him "Why are you wearing THAT?" He replied "Because I WANT to."

 

Then I found out that kid went home, told his parents that my son was in full uniform and that they MUST take him to Scout Shop the next day so he could have a full uniform before we left for the weekend campout!

 

I did tell my son this and he had the biggest grin on his face!

 

Oh, and my son's full uniform went on him Friday afternoon at 5:00 p.m for the campout. He did change into the troop t-shirt on Saturday, then back to the uniform shirt on Sunday moring. He is now fast asleep, still in the same uniform -- he hasn't removed it in 48 hours!!!! I must go wake him and get that thing peeled off!

 

Of course I snapped a couple of pictures before I wake him up. It is one of those "oh, how cute" moments.

 

[ScouterPaul]

Isn't life wonderful!

 

 

[dan]

sctmom

you wont be showing those pictures to girlfriends in another couple of years, will you? or just for blackmail?

Great story!

Your son is leading by example!

 

[Scouternurse]

As a female assistant scoutmaster, I am so used to having my uniform on in public, going to and from meetings, at least weekly, if not more often, for council meetings, etc...

It sparks alot of comments, to be seen "out in public in uniform" especially being a female in such a male dominated position. But that's tough!I wear my uniform with pride. I encourage my Scouts to do the same! I was a leader with our council for last year's Jamboree in Virginia; while at Arlington National Cemetary, on the pre-trip, I encountered some women who were upset to see that I was in the Boy Scouts! I was proud to be in uniform and able to stay calm and explain why I was proud to be a member. It floored the women who said nothing more, and left. Later I saw them with men in their tour group, who came over to some of my troop's scouts. The men spoke of how our group looked so neat and proper, especially their female leader. I think the pride we instill in our youth, for their appearance and their behavior, really pays off. Remember those days with pride as you see your son walk off so happy in his uniform!!

[sctmom]

Last year on the way to a den meeting, I took my son and his friend into a hamburger place. Every have that feeling that everyone is looking at you? Then I realized we all had on our Scout shirts! I looked like mother duck with the ducklings behind me. I forget I have my uniform shirt on and then wonder why people say "so you are in scouting?". LOL

 

Got the pictures back last night, the one of him heading to the campout turned out great! In fact I need to get copies made for the grandparents.

 

[evmori]

sctmom,

Those pictures would be great for your son's Eagle Court of Honor.

 

Ed

[Mommascout]

sctmom - I also take every opportunity to photograph my son when he is in uniform and hope that someday when he outgrows being embarrassed about being seen in it around his male school peers - that he will remember what that uniform represented for him while he was growing up. He is at an awkward age (14) with his peers and as they don't see Scouting as being "cool" he feels he must not let them know he is a Scout.

 

I am working on this with him and I see improvement. If his peers only knew what awesome things my son did in that uniform I'm sure they'd want to become scouts. When he gets dressed in his uniform for any scouting related activity he is very proud to wear it - especially to Courts of Honor when he gets to wear all the bells and whistles.

 

I'm hoping this phase will soon pass as I'm sure it will. He is becoming more mature and beginning to see that peer pressure is just that. Does anyone have any advice about how I can help him overcome feeling this way? How long does this phase last? I never thought about trying the "girls love a guy in uniform" angle but I will surely try that one!

 

[Mommascout]

sctmom - I also take every opportunity to photograph my son when he is in uniform and hope that someday when he outgrows being embarrassed about being seen in it around his male school peers - that he will remember what that uniform represented for him while he was growing up. He is at an awkward age (14) with his peers and as they don't see Scouting as being "cool" he feels he must not let them know he is a Scout.

 

I am working on this with him and I see improvement. If his peers only knew what awesome things my son did in that uniform I'm sure they'd want to become scouts. When he gets dressed in his uniform for any scouting related activity he is very proud to wear it - especially to Courts of Honor when he gets to wear all the bells and whistles.

 

I'm hoping this phase will soon pass as I'm sure it will. He is becoming more mature and beginning to see that peer pressure is just that. Does anyone have any advice about how I can help him overcome feeling this way? How long does this phase last? I never thought about trying the "girls love a guy in uniform" angle but I will surely try that one!

 

[KoreaScouter]

When we're on our way to troop meetings, it's a little ritual for my son and I to stop at Burger King for hamburgers. Our situation may be different since we're on a military base overseas, but when we're in line in full Scout uniforms, the other people in there appreciate what they see, partially because most of them are on a remote tour away from their own kids. But also, because they know what BSA stands for. I also get new Scouts and volunteers that way, too.

 

Our Scouts wore their uniforms to school one day during Scout week, and the principal made special mention of it during morning announcements. The same day, they gladly let our Scouts out of school an hour early so they could join a formation with the local VFW post and other military units to honor a Korean War Medal of Honor winner who came back to visit the site of the bayonet charge he led. Our 4-star commanding general came from Seoul, too, and after the ceremony, he made a beeline for our Scouts, shook all their hands, and told them how proud he was to see them there...our Scouts don't mind wearing their uniforms at all. They're looked up to and sometimes feel like celebrities. I just hope it stays that way.

[SagerScout]

My son is now happy to put on his full uniform for meetings and no longer minds being seen out "in public." But he doesn't go to public school anynore and the peer pressure is greatly reduced on him. When he was in public middle school he was a closet scout.

 

He's able to resist the few nay-sayers on the block because he knows them well enough to say "what did you do last weekend? Oh, played video games...again? Let me tell you what I did..."

[Bob White]

To replicate the official uniform of the Boy Scouts of America is a Trademark violation and is not only not in accordance with the BSA uniform regulations but is illegal and can be prosecuted in a civil court.

 

Is that really the example you want to set to the scouts you serve?

 

Bob White