Imagine

[AKdenldr]

Well, our pack is doing our parent to parent recruiting for fall tigers -- already the den is full with 3 leaders.

 

There seems to be a demand for a program at the early elem years. Seems like if the BSA doesn't provide a program like this, someone will.

 

Who? campfire, GSA?, Awanas, calvan corps, Heritage Girls?

 

-- AK

 

 

[Engineer61]

momof2cubs wrote "Plus there's the whole "geek" factor. If they have already have 4 years of cub scouting, they are more entrenched and less easily persuaded that scouting isn't "cool" "

 

Yes, that is true, but every long-term organization or activity that the kids get into has the same label. Some times it is interchanged with "Nerd"...of course the athletes get the term "Jocks"

 

There are Band Geeks, Science Geeks, Math Geeks and of course the Jocks of the various sports...however they tend to merge into a single collective.

 

Yes, all of these activities require time commitments (just as Scouting) and no they generally are not flexible (just like Scouting, miss to many events/hours/etc you don't advance).

 

Many think Scouting is different from the participation side in that you can't be a part-time Scout. Someone can't walk in for 3 or 6 months, take a trip or two and go away for a year. Now, maybe someone *can* to that, but the perception is you can't.

 

 

[momof2cubs]

Engineer: is that right? Don't get me wrong, I dislike kids that are only half way into it, if you know what I mean. But is it really true that they cannot just do it part time? I can't imagine a Scoutmaster telling a scout: "since you have missed 6 out of the last 10 meetings, you cannot come to the next camping trip where we will do all the cool canoeing/kayaking/mountain climbing"

 

It could VERY well be like you said, but somehow I can't see it?

 

That's always been my issue, that people THINK they can scout part time and it's ok cuz scouting will always be there, while the football/baseball/basketball/hokey season is limited and they can't miss practices or games cuz the team is counting on them. And I hate that.

[qwazse]

m2c - The answer is "it depends".

 

If a troop is planning a series of consecutively more challenging trips, then no, the scout will not be welcome on the 30 mile backpacking weekend without having conditioned himself and his gear in the previous 3 trips and made himself mentally awake in the 9 training sessions held during meetings. Doing "all the cool canoeing/kayaking/mountain climbing" comes with a price.

 

On the other hand, if we haven't seen a boy for a while and he shows up the month before summer camp asking to go, we can probably find room for one more.

 

Sports are like that too. If you want to be on an A team, you can't slack. The recreational leagues on the other hand won't mind if you miss a few games.

 

The difference is most troops have both "A team" and "recreational league" scouts. With the right mix, that works pretty well. The "gung ho" boys get the opportunities they want while providing "easy camping" trips for the less trained/mature boys. So, absentee Johnny might only be going for the "recreational league" stuff. Unfortunately, some parents see it as "if Johnny's never gonna make Eagle/ go to Jambo / hike at Philmont/ shoot some rapids, what's the point?"

 

There are some leaders like that too. IMHO, it's not a very healthy attitude.