What should I do......

[netscouter]

I have many scouts who are embarrassed to be seen in uniform. Do you all have any tips to improve this?

[james_clegg]

1st be in uniform your self.

Have other adults in uniform. I have found that my scouts were one less part of the uniform than the least dressed adult.

 

Give candy for each part of a uniform that a scout is wearing.

Everyone wears the shirt of thier favorite teem. you unit needs to be worthy of admoration before pride can motivate uniform wearing.

 

Dont give up

 

James

[ASM7]

I think that boys of a certain age are afraid to be seen by their friends in the uniform. Somewhere along the way, letting someone know that you are in scouting is just not cool. Reading the latest "Scouting" magazine, there's and article about the changing Boy Scout uniform, the uniform used to be a draw for boys. And then in a section of the magazine about the Hargrave Military Academy, these scouts show pride in the uniform and are expected to wear it to class the day of a campout. Of course they wear a uniform everyday. Great article! I would like to see a national survey of the scouts to see what they think the uniform should be. Not that I don't like the present uniform but it has been the same since 1980. You are dealing with a problem that is common for most troops.

[SagerScout]

We have only one boy in our troop who is embarrassed by the uniform. Not incidentally, he is the only boy in public school - the rest are homeschoolers.

 

The other day as we were making plans to go to the scout canoe challenge to be held in downtown San Antonio, his biggest concern was that someone from school might SEE HIM IN UNIFORM (turned out to not be a problem as troop T's were the UOTD, but we didn't know that at the time of our discussion).

 

I pointed out that if it occurred, his friends would see him in a canoe, racing on the San Antonio riverwalk, an area normally closed to recreational boating. So they would see him doing something that a) looks like tons of fun and b) they will NEVER be able to do themselves without joining scouting.

 

He's a highly intelligent young man, and when he looked at it that way he quickly saw that the normal human response would be envy and longing to be him, not scorn, even if scorn were what was expressed.

 

End of discussion.

[netscouter]

ASM7, is there a link you can give to that artical. I went to the magazines site but was unable to find any thing. I would really like to read that artical!!

[Bob White]

I think being comfortable in the uniform is about being comfortable with who you are. I have actually seen teenagers run and hide in the middle of a scout meeting when some kids from their class came through a meeting area.

 

I was so proud of my son this last September 11. The President had declared it Patriot's Day and the national office of the BSA asked scouts to wear their uniform to school to display the American Flag. We explained to the troop how unique it was that the Boy Scouts, through an act of congress, get to wear the flag on their uniform and we invited the boys to wear the uniform to school. We only mentioned it once and I did not push it at home at all.

 

My son and a couple of his friends at high school (they are all Freshmen) decided to wear their full uniforms. He had no qualms about doing it. When the class said the plaedge he saluted and the teacher told him he must put his hand over his heart. My son told her an act of congress gave him the responsibility to salute.

 

He goes to a school of over 1400, there are a couple hundred Boy Scouts there, several wore Scout T-shirts that day but only my son and his two friends wore their uniforms. Only 2 kids teased him by asking if they could buy cookies from him, however several teachers stopped him to tell him they had been scouts and a few young ladies asked if they could buy popcorn from him. He was unphased by the whole thing and acted like it was a perfectly normal thing to do.

 

I think the difference between the kids that hide and the ones that don't is a matter of self esteem. If you are ashamed of what you are, then don't be that. If you are ashamed of what you do, then don't do that. It is our responsibility to give kids that sense of value by giving them a scouting program that they are proud to be a part of.

 

Could someone help me down from this soapbox please?

 

Bob White

[ASM7]

Netscouter

Go to Scoutingmagazine.org. This seems to be a very good issue. There's also a great story about letting go. As a scouter, you should be getting the magazine. If not, you can order it.

 

Bob,

I wish it was that way for the kids, but its not. Its not that they don't have self esteem as much as they are at a critical time in their development of who they are and where they fit in to risk any damage to the self esteem they do have. Having three teenagers, I know that things matter greatly to them that we wouldn't think twice about. The public school arena is a place that can give a student a great experience or just the opposite. And it all revolves around what others think of you. If for one day all BSA and GSA scouts and scouters would wear their uniform. It would change a lot of the misconceptions they have. They all seem to be pretty proud at COH. All we can do wear ours proudly.

Doug

[kruggiano]

I am 21 and remeber the days of being embarrased like they were just yesterday. It was not until my senior year of high school that I could even admit that I was a scout, or that I brought it up when talking with people. Something just changed inside of me that said who cares what they think. I have done more in 12 years of scouting than most people will do in 30 years of life without scouting.

My best advise is be firm with the uniform. If they don't want to wear it on the way to the meeting fine. Get them to put it in a bag and they can change in the car or in the bathroom. But when they are at the meeting or the function they need to wear it or don't show up. Because when a scout wears the uniform incorrectly it hurts us all. And that goes for the leaders as well.

[yaworski]

My son wears his uniform with pride. Shirt, shorts, socks, neckerchief, cap pose no problems. Where we go 'round and 'round is on the belt.

 

When I was a young man, my tailor said to me, "ifa you gotta belt loops, you weara da belt." Unfortunately, my son sees no reason to wear the belt because he doesn't need it to hold his britches up. My explanation of "it's part of the uniform" doesn't impress him and there is usually a bit of pouting on his part. Strange, very strange.

 

We do have a Life Scout in our troop who is just plain embarassed to be a Scout. He refuses to wear the uniform in public and only puts it on after he arrives at meetings.

 

 

 

 

[eagle90]

Ah - the belt!

 

This was our biggest point of contention at Summer Camp. Of course the lastest "style" is to wear the pants low and have the boxers showing over the top. The adults were constantly telliung scouts to "Pull up your shorts" "Get a belt". etc.

 

I guess we older "dudes" just aren't up on the latest fads!

 

[sctmom]

That belt issue is a big one! My son does the same thing -- "but I don't need it". When he does need a belt, he prefers the web scout belt over a belt with holes because he can adjust it to just the right size.

 

About those pants that are falling down -- you can always offer to staple them up.

 

[fboisseau]

A lot of the discussion in this topic has been on how Scouts and Scouters are embarrassed to wear their uniforms in public. This weekend something happened that made me think about that. My wife and I went to a Renaissance Faire. We had to get directions to the park that they were holding the fair, so we stopped at a local supermarket and there in line were two attendees of the fair in full costume. Talk about standing out in a crowd.

[Rooster7]

I think leaders with too much of "an understanding eye" are part of the problem. We are in affect saying, "You're right. There's reason to be embarrassed". Very often, taking a stand means others will ridicule you. I wonder how the founders of Scouting would deal with this issue. Would they understand? Or would they ask the boys to think about what they (as well as Scouting and it's uniform) stand for - and ask the boys to make a stand? I don't know for sure. I do know this - If the uniform embarrasses many of the older boys, and the troop sympathizes too much, you're going to have a lot more of the same down the road. Perhaps this is unrealistic, but I would love to see some older boys with backbone (as kruggiano displayed). We need to encourage that kind of bravery and pride. This seems like an opportunity for a SM to teach something of value to the boys.

[Mike Long]

I guess I'm a freak.

As a kid I quit everything else to be a scout. I wore my uniform without embarrassment. Frankly as a kid I saw those who were embarrassed to be seen in the uniform as spineless and I told them so. Unscoutlike? Maybe, but be proud of who you are.

 

Amen Rooster.

[eisely]

It is a matter of peer pressure. Here, where the public schools teach that homosexuality is a great idea whose time has come, the pressures are even stronger. The first step, suggested earlier, is that the adults have to set the example and wear a full uniform on the appropriate occasions.

 

Offering tangible rewards to individuals or patrols who weart the uniform properly is also a good idea. Beyond that, emphasizing the positive reasons to be in scouts at all is probably the best answer.