CBS Evening News Tonight Sept 9 - female Eagle candidate

[yknot]

30 minutes ago, Eagle94-A1 said:

2. I do not know how long you have been out of Scouting, but a lot has changed in parents' attitudes over the years. Part of it is Cub Scouts, everything IS family oriented and parents doing stuff with the kids at Cub level is the norm. But instead of letting the Cubs do more and more on their own in the Webelos years, they keep treating them as Cub Scouts and doing everything with, and sometimes for, them. Then, instead of being prepared for Scouts BSA, both the new Scouts, and especially the parents, are ill equipped to handle the big differences in programs. Add to the fact at one time BSA was pushing "Family Scouting," there were some major issues in some troops that confused adding Girl troops with opening up everything to families, and it was a mess. My sons and I left a troop because it was "family friendly." Not only were parents attending troop functions, but also younger siblings who had no business being there. Add the "Cross Over Cub Leader Syndrome," i.e. new Scouters still acting like Cub Scout Den Leaders with their constant interference, to the point the Scouts are complaining, it is a big challenge. What made it worse was the parents would ignore and disregard the experienced Scouters.

 

A changed work world is why some parents have different attitudes. When I was a kid, my dad was the last home at night in the neighborhood. People thought he was a workaholic because he got home around 6 or so every night, except for end of quarters and tax time when he sometimes worked nights or part of a weekend. Never on a Sunday. My mother didn't work and I wasn't in daycare or aftercare. We spent a ton of time with our parents. 

Today, it's a struggle for many parents to get home by 6; most work a lot later, or have to work from home after dinner. Most work weekends. Many travel (pre covid) and are actually away for whole weeks or weekends Most families are two career. Most kids are in some form of daycare and are not with family for most of the day. There are a lot of parents -- especially those who are attracted to scouting because they want something great for their kid -- who do not want to spend the few hours they have available for family time regularly working with someone else's kids or sitting around a camp fire with other parents.  I think if scouts wants to be relevant going forward it's got to find a middle way -- find a way to teach scouting skills while recognizing that the generation of parents coming up wants to spend most of their limited free time with their kids. 

I'm not denying there aren't other societal things going on like helicopter parenting or snowflake syndrome, but this is one of the new realities of life that scouts is often so slow to identify and respond to. 

 

 

[BlueandSilverBear]

22 hours ago, Eagle94-A1 said:

I do not know how long you have been out of Scouting, but a lot has changed in parents' attitudes over the years. Part of it is Cub Scouts, everything IS family oriented and parents doing stuff with the kids at Cub level is the norm. But instead of letting the Cubs do more and more on their own in the Webelos years, they keep treating them as Cub Scouts and doing everything with, and sometimes for, them. Then, instead of being prepared for Scouts BSA, both the new Scouts, and especially the parents, are ill equipped to handle the big differences in programs. 

It's been about 18 years since I was active... I made Eagle in spring 2002 and probably was about done by that fall.  Girls, trucks, high school sports, and my friends moving away or dropping out... there were a lot of distractions for a 16 year old.  Fast forward a few years and I love that I get to do all of the activities with my Cub.  But I also consider Scouting to be the defining factor that built my independence and self-confidence to be able to basically be on my own in the military at 18.  That is a HUGE part of why I want my daughters to be Scouts, and not stepping back to let them do things in their patrols when they get to Scouts BSA would totally defeat the purpose.  So what if they eat some undercooked biscuits on their first campout?  You never make that mistake again, and you take more active role in patrol menu planning and cooking! 😝

 

21 hours ago, yknot said:

Today, it's a struggle for many parents to get home by 6; most work a lot later, or have to work from home after dinner. Most work weekends. Many travel (pre covid) and are actually away for whole weeks or weekends Most families are two career. Most kids are in some form of daycare and are not with family for most of the day. There are a lot of parents -- especially those who are attracted to scouting because they want something great for their kid -- who do not want to spend the few hours they have available for family time regularly working with someone else's kids or sitting around a camp fire with other parents.  I think if scouts wants to be relevant going forward it's got to find a middle way -- find a way to teach scouting skills while recognizing that the generation of parents coming up wants to spend most of their limited free time with their kids. 

I totally get this... I'm the last dad on the street to get home (pre-COVID work from home at least!), usually between 6:30 and 7:00 and am logged back in after the kids go to bed most nights for either my day job or military reserve duty.  Ironically, our kids are also the most involved in activities, school, and church on the street.  I think it ultimately comes down to wanting to better your community and be a part of something bigger than yourself.  Maybe I'm an outlier among my fellow Millennials, but those those things are still important to me.