Terasec Posted August 14, 2018 Share Posted August 14, 2018 Been a scout leader/dad for 2 years, very active, in and out of scouting, But now don't like the programming, and direction its taking, will still continue as my son enjoys the playtime, the meetings are too much like an afterschool program, just more crafts, and stem projects when asked his favorite part of scouting, its not the camping, or outdoor stuff, its the playtime before and after the meetings, my son loves to camp, just not at scout camps, too tied up with camp activities and not enough playtime, by the time scout season starts in September we will already have completed the bear requirements. can a leader step back and not be as active once you've already given it 100%? is it fair to put the additional burden on others? stepping away from scouting will actually increase time we spend outdoors playing with outdoor skills Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walk in the woods Posted August 14, 2018 Share Posted August 14, 2018 The short answer is of course yes, you can give as little or as much of your time as you want to scouting. It's not indentured servitude. Others will either step up or not, but, that's on them, not you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thunderbird Posted August 14, 2018 Share Posted August 14, 2018 Are you the Den Leader? Even though the requirements are the requirements, the Den Leader can have a big impact on how interesting they are so that the Scouts get more out of them. If you are not the Den Leader, maybe you could ask the Den Leader if he/she needs help coming up with ideas or organizing activities? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terasec Posted August 14, 2018 Author Share Posted August 14, 2018 8 minutes ago, Thunderbird said: Are you the Den Leader? Even though the requirements are the requirements, the Den Leader can have a big impact on how interesting they are so that the Scouts get more out of them. If you are not the Den Leader, maybe you could ask the Den Leader if he/she needs help coming up with ideas or organizing activities? i am not the den leader, den leader has been great, no qualms about him, makes it harder to step back leaving more of a burden on him there are only so many indoor activities one can do, that's not arts and crafts projects Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thunderbird Posted August 14, 2018 Share Posted August 14, 2018 Looking through the Bear adventures, many of them can be done outside. Are you limited to doing most things inside due to weather? There are games and building things that can be done inside, depending on how much space you have. There are lots of things that can be done in addition to the requirements. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thunderbird Posted August 14, 2018 Share Posted August 14, 2018 Longhaired_Mac posted an interesting idea for building bee houses for Mason Bees: https://www.scouter.com/topic/30335-cub-scout-outdoor-award/?tab=comments#comment-485309 An idea like this could be tied in with the Baloo the Builder adventure, the Cub Scout Outdoor Activity Award, or Messengers of Peace (environmental dimension). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qwazse Posted August 14, 2018 Share Posted August 14, 2018 @Terasec what's the Plan B? The boy looks forward to meeting with his buddies and playing on scout night. How will you make sure he gets that same time to run around? Does your church or some other ministry have a regular recreational time for kids his age? Does he like Y sports? Martial arts? Do you all have a bunch of cousins and neighbors and a nearby sand lot while you cook dinner? Or, does the boy actually think some structured time (let's hope it's not always a craft) is a fair trade for the amount of time he gets to play with his mates? By your tone, you're not gonna want to back out of your Plan A until you and your son can lean into Plan B. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terasec Posted August 14, 2018 Author Share Posted August 14, 2018 5 minutes ago, Thunderbird said: Looking through the Bear adventures, many of them can be done outside. Are you limited to doing most things inside due to weather? There are games and building things that can be done inside, depending on how much space you have. There are lots of things that can be done in addition to the requirements. we are a city pack, so scheduling outdoor events is limited, we do try to schedule about 5-6 weekend camp outs a year, plus summer camp we have a pretty good set up as far as space is concerned, full gym, individual classrooms for each den, we also meet late Fridays, meeting time most of the year its dark out, but such activities like sports, arts/crafts, stem projects is not what I wanted out of scouts, my son gets plenty of that in other afterschool activities following the program, bsa just touches on some of the outdoor skills doesn't really focus on developing them, as for scout camping, most of our scout camping trips is at the bsa scout camp during their activity weekends, the outdoors seems to be more of a setting/theme for the bsa activities, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NJCubScouter Posted August 14, 2018 Share Posted August 14, 2018 2 hours ago, walk in the woods said: The short answer is of course yes, you can give as little or as much of your time as you want to scouting. It's not indentured servitude. It's not? Now I know where I've gone wrong. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NJCubScouter Posted August 14, 2018 Share Posted August 14, 2018 15 minutes ago, Terasec said: we do try to schedule about 5-6 weekend camp outs a year, plus summer camp In the Cub Scouts? As a Bear? I know there have been numerous changes in the Cub Scout program since I left it when my son crossed over (2003) but is that what the Cub Scout program is now? We had 2 family camping trips a year plus the kids could go to the council-run summer day camp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eagle1993 Posted August 14, 2018 Share Posted August 14, 2018 7 minutes ago, NJCubScouter said: In the Cub Scouts? As a Bear? I know there have been numerous changes in the Cub Scout program since I left it when my son crossed over (2003) but is that what the Cub Scout program is now? We had 2 family camping trips a year plus the kids could go to the council-run summer day camp. It varies a lot. We have 5 family trips planned this year plus a council run day camp. Some are camping, others are overnights. In previous years we had 2 but have slowly built up to 5. In my area you’ll see anywhere from 1 to 6 based on discussions with other Packs. Den meeting frequency varies as well ... from weekly to 1 per month. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terasec Posted August 14, 2018 Author Share Posted August 14, 2018 12 minutes ago, NJCubScouter said: In the Cub Scouts? As a Bear? I know there have been numerous changes in the Cub Scout program since I left it when my son crossed over (2003) but is that what the Cub Scout program is now? We had 2 family camping trips a year plus the kids could go to the council-run summer day camp. we try to provide as many camping opportunities as possible, within reason, as to give the parents more options, we still tend to get very little turn out, out of 17 bears, 4-6 bears go on a regular basis, +10 have not gone on a single campout one of my gripes with bsa is that camping for cubs is not a requirement, cub can go through 5 yrs of cub scouts and earn aol without ever going camping, not even once, that just seems wrong to me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thunderbird Posted August 14, 2018 Share Posted August 14, 2018 5-6 weekend camp outs a year, plus summer camp? Wow! That's a lot! I think most packs only do 1-3 overnight camp outs a year. Technically, camping is not required of Cub Scouts, although it is encouraged. Outdoor activities is one of the methods of Cub Scouting, but it is not the only method. Focusing on outdoor skills happens more in Webelos and the older Scout programs. But if there are specific skills that you would like your son to learn, I would talk to the Den Leader about it. Most ideas can be worked in as additional activities. For example: I think this age group could learn some basic map and compass skills. There is at least one Charter Organizations that does not allow pack /den level overnight camping, although I do not know the reasoning behind it. That is why there are options to go camping, but not an absolute requirement to do so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malraux Posted August 14, 2018 Share Posted August 14, 2018 4 hours ago, Terasec said: But now don't like the programming, and direction its taking, This came up in another forum recently so I went back to my bear book from when I was a Cub Scout. The number of required camping events in the 1984 edition of the bear handbook was zero. There was an option for the outdoor adventure that could involve either camping or a hike or some other outdoor event, but even the outdoor adventure wasn't required. Looking through all the old roundtable, den leader, pow wow guides my mom collected back then, it was all arts and crafts stuff. The model of cub scouting back then was pretty heavily a thing that moms were expected to do in their homes to keep kids busy. The idea that cub scouts arts and crafts is a recent swing in the direction does not gel with my experience. I know this wasn't your main point, but it is worth pointing out that cub scouts has kinda always been this way. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terasec Posted August 14, 2018 Author Share Posted August 14, 2018 1 hour ago, malraux said: This came up in another forum recently so I went back to my bear book from when I was a Cub Scout. The number of required camping events in the 1984 edition of the bear handbook was zero. There was an option for the outdoor adventure that could involve either camping or a hike or some other outdoor event, but even the outdoor adventure wasn't required. Looking through all the old roundtable, den leader, pow wow guides my mom collected back then, it was all arts and crafts stuff. The model of cub scouting back then was pretty heavily a thing that moms were expected to do in their homes to keep kids busy. The idea that cub scouts arts and crafts is a recent swing in the direction does not gel with my experience. I know this wasn't your main point, but it is worth pointing out that cub scouts has kinda always been this way. Thanks for that i was never a scout so have only preconceived ideas of what cub scouting should be like scouting is not what i expected it to be at least not scouting via bsa way am now at a crossroads as to how much to contribute it is not in my nature to sit back and have others take up the slack Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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