To Snack, or Not To Snack: That Is The Question

[briantshore]

My son and I are going to be starting Webeles I this June. Since he started Tigers we have usually had snacks for our meetings. A few days ago I told him that we would be able to visit some of the Boy Scout Meetings. His first question to me is "What kind of snacks do they have."

Yes, I have created a little eating monster. Yes, I was like that also, as my wastline proves. My point is, whether snacks are a good habit to start, or bad. Please share your thoughts.

[msnowman]

In general our dens don't snack the boys, unless it is for a special occassion (birthday, cooking as the achievement of the day, etc). Occassionally a family will bring in a snack to share and that is fine, we just don't go out of our way to include a snack in our meetings. We actually tend to snack them more often at Pack meetings. The boys snack and visit while the leaders visit with the parents, answer questions that would bog down the boys' Pack meeting, etc. Sort of like the coffee hour our church has after each Sunday service.

 

YIS

Michelle

[scoutldr]

In my experience, Scout Troops do not have "snack time". We do, however have a pot luck for Courts of Honor (usually quarterly). Of course, since troops are "boy-led", if the PLC elected to have snacks, we would let them, as long as the other meeting elements did not suffer.

[MaScout]

Our Pack always had snacks at Pack Meetings. Many of the dens, my sons' dens especially, had snacks regularly. However, they met right after school and most of them needed a snack of some sort to tide them over. I just explained to them that Boy Scouts is different in many ways...some in the program itself, but also in how it is delivered -- like meets in the evening and has no snacks, as they just got done with their evening meal.

[ScoutNut]

When my son was going thru Cubs we never had snacks because we met in the evening.

 

Now, my Tigers meet on Saturday mornings, so we seldom have snacks for them either as they have just had breakfast.

 

Unless you meet right after school, or are doing a meeting on food, I don't think that snacks are needed.

[Shawno]

We usually have a snack every couple of months or so. It depends on the theme of the month, and what my wife wants to make. Since we meet at 5:30, its nothing too filling and usually healthy. It helps tide the boys over until dinner, as our parents are just getting off of work.

[Lynda J]

Snacking can depend on when you are meeting.

If a den is meeting right after school many times the boys are hungry. THey need a good snack. I would do fruit, but never cookies, cupcakes and the such. If they are meeting after 6:00 NO SNACK

since they will probably be going home to eat dinner.

Our troop does not snack except for COH.

There is enough to get done in the limited time we have for troop meeting without having to deal with food.

 

[ManassasEagle]

Our Den Meetings were from 7:00 to 8:00 in the evening and every meeting always finished with a snack. We rotated through all the parents as to who brought snack each week. As someone mentioned earlier, we did make it clear to them that one of the differences between Cubs and Boy Scouts was that the Boy Scouts don't do snack all the time. Even with that caveat, we still crossed over 7 out of 7 Cubs to Boys Scouts this past March.

 

ps. The snacks that were brought were often anything but "healthy" and that was half the fun - sending the kids home totally "wired" on sugar!

 

[funscout]

My dens have always included a snack at the end, partly due to hunger, and partly for an incentive. Sometimes if they were goofing off too much, all I had to say was, "boy, I don't know if we're going to have enough time for snack tonight" and they settled down right away!

 

We used to rotate snack/drink responsibilities through all the den members, but we had too many instances of forgetting, or the "snack boy" not making the meeting. So, now my assistant den leader is in charge of snacks for every meeting, and the parents were agreeable to using den dues money to help cover the cost.

 

briantshore - I have a boy in my den who LIVES for the snack. One time when my asst. wasn't going to be at the meeting, we forgot to discuss the snack issue. When the boys realized there was no snack, one boy (I'll call him Joe) complained BIG time. He said, "it's not fair that WE should have to suffer from the adults' mistake! (and Joe is a kid who has had a few too many snacks at home, himself) I told him that it wasn't a matter of fairness or not, it was just a matter of forgetting. He then asked if I had any "emergency" snacks on hand! He couldn't believe it that I had nothing but water (from the drinking fountain) to offer them. I assured Joe that he would survive without a snack this one time. All the other boys got over it quickly, but I can see that this kid needs to be warned right now, that he won't be getting regular snacks when he crosses over to Boy Scouts next March.

[clydesdale115]

Our den meets in the evening from 7 -8 pm. We do not bring snacks unless a parent wants to bring cupcakes for a birthday or something. Or maybe around Halloween or Easter, I'll bring the boys each a little candy goody bag.

 

We have never had snacks at our Pack meetings. Most parents are ready to fly outta there by the time it's over (also meets 7 - 8 pm).

 

clyde

 

 

 

[resqman]

My son and I started as Wolfs 3 yrs ago. Never had a snack at a den meeting or Pack meeting except...

 

My wife wanted to try a new recipie one evening. The den meeting was at my home. The boys and parents got to try out the new recipie. The Pack holds an ice cream social once a year as a Pack meeting. The point of the meeting is eating ice cream.

 

Both the den and pack meetings are held from 6:30-8pm

[gwd-scouter]

When I was in a Pack, most dens had snacks at meetings. The boys in my den made a Cub Grub bucket - aluminum pail they painted and then each week a different Scout would take it home and bring it back for the next meeting with juice and snack bars.

 

In our Troop we do not have snacks. The Scouts did, however, decide they wanted to have drinks during the summer months since they spend much of their meetings outdoors playing some sport (ultimate, soccer, volleball). We put in a small fridge in our Scout hut and stock it with gatorade/sodas, etc. Scouts pay 50 cents for a drink. Then we use the money collected to restock.

[Newbie Den Leader]

Parents take turns and usually we give the boys something every den meeting. No food at Pack meetings, unless we are having Blue & Gold or end-of-year Crossover.

 

Snacks a bad habit? That depends on what we're eating. I have cut down dramatically on my refined sugar intake. Personally, I feel much better, have longer lasting energy, and have lost weight. I can't help but think that our Cubs would benefit if they cut down on sugar. The entire American culture is becoming obese because we have forgotten to eat the right foods. Sugary sodas and the "juice drinks" are okay on occassion, but are bad news when they become a staple of our diet. I used to drink two Cokes a day and then I finally realized why I was feeling tired and lousy. It was the SUGAR overload - 10 teaspoons per Coke. I began replacing the Cokes with water or unsweetened Iced Tea and began feeling better right away. I'm not a health nut. I just made a simple adjustment in my diet and it made a dramatic difference.

 

[funscout]

We just had an outdoor den meeting on a warm day, so I provided a cooler of water in case the boys got thirsty during our activities. A few of the boys complained that it was only water, and not Kool-Aid or juice! I've learned that my family is in the minority for drinking lots of good old water.