Anybody Else Seeing This Trend?

[Eagle94-A1]

The closest thing I ever did for a camporee to be a MB was a wilderness survival themed camporee. A lot of the events were based upon requirements for the merit badge. Personal favorite was shelter building. Build a shelter, and we placed newspaper inside of it, and dumped water on the roof to see how water proof it was.

[RememberSchiff]

Here a University Extension service, designed for vocational certification, was adapted for a whole day outdoor classroom merit badge experience.

"Each mentor brought the latest equipment they use in the field, and Scouts rotated between five stations where they learned mapping and drafting, surveying history and careers, leveling, creating boundaries, and 3-D laser scanning."

University of Florida School of Forest, Fisheries, and Geomatics Sciences ,  Surveying Merit Badge

Great story which captures the intent of merit badge program - spark an interest,  enthusiasm, hands-on, minds engaged, adult association ( professionals and previous scouts}, career possibilities...

https://alachuachronicle.com/scouts-earn-surveying-badges-thanks-to-uf-geomatics-extension-program/

https://www.scouting.org/merit-badges/surveying/

Scout Salute,

[BetterWithCheddar]

On 4/20/2025 at 10:59 PM, MattR said:

To be honest, I think there's another problem. I'm a grandparent with 3 grandkids aged 2 and under. Of all the people I knew that were parents while my kids were living at home, most don't have grandkids. Few of their children want children. Maybe they're too busy earning "MBs"? I admit that it's expensive and difficult to find the time, but, when it comes to a high adventure trip, having kids is really one of the best.

I think you hit on a few big factors that transcend Scouts:

Too often, we raise kids to go through life and check boxes. I, along with many in my generational cohort, am a perfect example. My parents earned a decent living but encouraged me to go to college as they viewed it as a "golden ticket." I graduated during the Global Financial Crisis and, all of a sudden, I was overeducated and underexperienced. I did everything that was asked of me - got good grades, joined clubs, played sports, worked summer jobs, etc. and was underemployed for over 3 years. Today, I'm doing fine with a steady corporate job and decent long-term prospects, but I'm not a risk taker. I'm just a very diligent employee who is satisfied with his current career trajectory.

I'm raising my son a little differently. My only expectation for him in school is to earn B's and behave appropriately. If he spends 2 hours after school tinkering with a computer instead of studying, that's fine as long as he's still getting his homework done. He and I also operate an eBay store that sells used Lego. For me, it amounts to a crappy part-time job, but at least he's excited and learning about markets, customer service, and e-commerce. Scouting can be a bit of a mixed bag. Some kids go through the program and check the boxes to earn their Eagle Scout Award. Others stand to benefit more from the outdoor program and patrol method. I'm hopeful the latter will push him out of his comfort zone and better prepare him for life.

Kids are expensive. Cut us some slack. I love being a dad. I always figured I'd have 2-3 kids but am turning 40 soon and just have the one son. My wife and I are the same age, and our prime reproductive years (25-35) were bookended by the Global Financial Crisis and COVID. We're doing fine now, but having an only child was our form of "economic triage" (despite living rather modestly).

Every generation has its challenges and I'm not seeking to minimize anyone else's struggles - we've just had a perfect storm of conditions over the past 15 years that have led to lower birth rates. Sure, there are probably a small number of young adults who value their freedom over parenthood, but most couples are limiting their family size out of economic necessity.

[jcousino]

16 hours ago, RememberSchiff said:

Here a University Extension service, designed for vocational certification, was adapted for a whole day outdoor classroom merit badge experience.

"Each mentor brought the latest equipment they use in the field, and Scouts rotated between five stations where they learned mapping and drafting, surveying history and careers, leveling, creating boundaries, and 3-D laser scanning."

University of Florida School of Forest, Fisheries, and Geomatics Sciences ,  Surveying Merit Badge

Great story which captures the intent of merit badge program - spark an interest,  enthusiasm, hands-on, minds engaged, adult association ( professionals and previous scouts}, career possibilities...

https://alachuachronicle.com/scouts-earn-surveying-badges-thanks-to-uf-geomatics-extension-program/

https://www.scouting.org/merit-badges/surveying/

Scout Salute,

love to see more like that a very focus session on a field that is rare plus requires great skills and equipment that the scouts would not normally see. i would love see more state parks work with scouting to make good use of the rangers skill plus highlighting that whole profession (would aid youth and adults skills)