New Scouting Health Initiative

[BS-87]

Maybe it'd be important for 12-14 yr-olds to learn their family health history... just saying...

[Eagle92]

Fscouter,

 

I was using a different set of charts. She would be considered overweight on this chart,

 

http://www.rush.edu/rumc/page-1108048103230.html

 

and max weight in the US Army for her would be 136 lbs. at the time I knew her.

 

http://usmilitary.about.com/od/army/l/blweightfemale.htm

 

Grant you for BSA purposes, she would be allowed to do HA activities, since she is under the 178 pounds max like you said.

[Eagle732]

Maybe we could rate a Scout's physical fitness with a three tiered system:

Bronze for the overweight couch potatoes that only want to play video games

Silver for the average kid in reasonable shape

Gold for the athletes in top shape

We could issue special patches in each color so everyone would know where they rank.

No need to help the bronze kids, they'll probably just quit. Then we'll have troops of all Silver and Gold kids and everyone will be happy.

(Adapted from another BSA program.)

 

[Mr. Boyce]

Overall, you know this is a good thing for scouting.

 

We don't want a situation in which scouting "is for the fat kids who can't play basketball."

[Gary_Miller]

Wither its a good thing or not will depend on how far BSA takes it. It should go as far as to encourage healthy physical activity but not go so far as to discourage participation by overweight youth.

 

The current weight standards on the physical form is bordering on discouraging non-participation by overweight youth and adults. It focuses to much on weight VS height and not enough on the fitness of the participant. There needs to be something in place that measures fitness for the activity more than weight. On one hand you can met the weight standard and not be fit for the activity. On the other hand you could be fit for the activity and not met the weight standards. We need to find the happy medium between both weight and fitness. Which even the military has not been able to figure out.

[Proud Eagle]

I think it is a good idea to encourage health and fitness, but again we need to encourage it, not dictate it.

 

Leading by example would be a great place to start. I will say that the higher ups I have heard have been well aware of their own limits and understood the need for improvement. I have even heard the CSE make comment along that line, but that was to an all Scouting audience where you knew it wasn't going to be on morning papers.

 

The height/weight chart is an issue, but it is reasonable as a starting point. There need to be clear alternative methods of qualifying available. There also needs to be clearer guidance about disqualifying those who meat height/weight but not physical ability. I will be honest and say I fit Philmont height/weight but probably could not complete a trek right now, and I may not ever be able to again even though only a decade ago I did one that included Baldy and I am at an age and appear to be in the sort of health to do it again. My docs sign off on the med forms with no restrictions, but I am well aware of having limitations they apparear not to recognize.

 

As to encouraging school sports... in our neck of the woods very few of those in school sports are also in Scouts. There are lots of reasons for this, but very little of it has to do with Scouing being a barrier to sports. Rather, the sports community actively tries to prevent its participants from involvement in other activities and tries to make them into a sort of ideal "jock" type. The high school bands have similar attitudes towards requiring total commitment and devotion the exclusion of all else, but the kids who take to band tend to be more likely to also take an interest in Scouting. (I have theories about this, but this isn't the place.) I was one of the few people in my troop to ever play for a school team while active in Scouts (7th grade basketball). It did require cutting back on Scouting and missing a lot of great Scouting opportunities for a sport I was not very good at. Yet, when I had something with Scouting that I thought was really important, I talked to the coach, he told me it was my choice and I knew the team rules, but he respected my decision. (If I had just skipped basketball it would have been a big issue complete with yelling and screeming, extra laps for me and the entire team... etc. as it was it just required making up what I missed more or less.) So I would encourage Scouts to play sports, but I don't have much love for the organized school and league sports programs.

[Pack212Scouter]

Rockford,

 

Maybe we should teach that instead of policing food. They should be taught these things, not that XYZ is bad for them.

[broken]

Seriously? You have a problem with someone saying "hey we are a national youth organization, youth obesity is a dangerous problem, maybe we should do something about it?" Really? encouraging kids to get healthy is a bad thing? Wow.

[Eagle732]

"Correcting bad habits cannot be done by forbidding or punishment."

 

"Success in training the boy depends largely on the Scoutmaster's own personal example."

 

Not my quotes, but you might recognize them.

[clemlaw]

>>>>We don't want a situation in which scouting "is for the fat kids who can't play basketball."

[RememberSchiff]

Yeah, I was clutzy too and I had to do weight training for months (bought a 110lb bar bell set) and still I struggled to get those pull-ups for Personal Fitness. Swimming and Lifesaving involved weeks of lap swimming at 8am. My scout handbook had a dozen page section on being Physically Strong. No weight chart, but do the math with the pull-ups.

Hmmm, the fitness decline seems like

1960 - be able to touch your toes, clean and cut toenails

1980 - be able to see your toes

2000 - be able to feel your toes (while sitting)

2010 - talk to an adult about toes

 

Some thought lowering expectations would help keep members. They were right and we produced many pudgy and obese Eagle scouts. It is common to see an Eagle photo of a fat SM awarding a fat Eagle. Ugh! Heh National, you want to preserve "The Brand" look at the current public image of an Eagle scout and then look at some 60's and 70's Eagle award photos of what it used to be. Compare membership levels in both time periods.

 

I think nearly all realize there is a problem and lowering or removing fitness standards (Personal Fitness mb) to preserve membership is short-changing scouts, the program, and America. Personally, I think the BSA should replace the Advancement Method with the Fitness Method to better deliver on the Aims of Scouting.

 

Take a look at the new Strategic Plan page 21, Specific Goals

 

Specific Goals:

1. We have launched a national multiyear health and wellness campaign, Scoutings Gift to America, to promote active lifestyles, healthy eating, and appropriate weight for our youth and adult members.[May 2012]

The campaign is to include structure and guidelines for coordinated national and council-level launches, program and activity support, participant recognition elements, and mechanisms and tools for communicating to the general public the impact of the program by April 30,2014.

2. We have established alliances with two or three leading organizations that have globally-respected competency in child development, healthcare, fitness, and nutrition. [December 2012]

3. We have revised current advancement requirements and unit performance recognitions to include an ongoing commitment to health and fitness within each Cub Scout and Boy Scout rank and in Venturing. [January 2013]

4. We have provided each council with a template for offering and operating (at the councils discretion) a five-day outdoor health and fitness camp for all youth living within its service area as a means of increasing health and fitness knowledge and participation among young people while showcasing the dynamic and engaging world of Scouting. [December 2012]

5. We have revised and augmented five to seven key printed and digital BSA materials (e.g., the Boy Scout Handbook, Cub Scout handbooks, and unit leader training manuals) as appropriate to include contemporary content on exercise, drug and alcohol abuse, tobacco, mental health, nutrition, youth protection, and safety. [December 2013] (that used to be in handbooks -RS!!!)

 

Maybe change is coming. Imagine arriving at scout camp and having to put on a pack and hike to your campsite. Like the old days. Yes we had whining too, but thankfully we had leadership back then.

 

My $0.02

[Jeffrey H]

Since "fitness" is one of the Aims of Scouting, talking about what we eat and drink is important. However, banning sodas and other suspect "junk foods" is not the answer. The answer is promoting a nutrtious diet that teaches moderation in what we consume. Moderation is the key in what we eat and how much we eat.

 

My Troop informs our Scouts to avoid sodas at camps throughout the year and to drink lots of water. Water bottles are required. We usually don't have a problem in this area.

 

 

[Mr. Boyce]

Proud Eagle: I really think you hit the nail on the head, really spotted something important, with the observation that sports coaches actively, consciously try to exclude other activities.

 

I had not thought of that as a conscious action on their part. But it likely it, the more I realize I've heard about coaches rules.

 

Perhaps one thing a troop can do is exclude scouts from a major activity unless they met an attendance quota.

 

We can endlessly quibble about this or that fat-standard until the cows come home. But we know one is needed, in the end, and like all rules, may not be exactly perfect. Even something rough is better than nothing, and a good start.

 

I agree about BSA top management getting on the ball with this, and dieting. Mr. Mazzuca's statement would carry FAR more meaning had he stated he would lose ten pounds in the next six months. Leadership by example is an obligation of the CEO. More than this, in his shoes, I'd have rounded up my senior managers, discussed this, and asked for a comparable pledge from them.