My son was also in scouts . . .
Posted By: scouts on 2008-07-03
In Reply to: In your opinion, is there a benefit to forcing children to - stay in Boy Scouts if they hate it? sm
and we were completely exhausted trying to keep up with all of the meetings, the den meetings, the outings, etc., etc. He actually did not even learn that much from it. My daughter learned a lot more from the laid back atmosphere of girl scouts than my son did. It was too rigorous and too structured. I think boys join scouting because they think it will be fun, when in all actuality, it is a lot of work . . . don't make him do it I think you will regret it.
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My brothers were in Cub Scouts
and did pinewood derbys. My Dad helped and so did I actually. I think it is supposed to be a family event, but I'm not sure if it is for church that the same rule would apply. It does give some cars the upper hand when family members help, but it was actually encouraged in Cub Scouts.
My sons have been in Scouts for some time now...sm
My youngest (11 years old) was in Cub Scouts for about 3 years and crossed over into a newly chartered troop. My oldest son (17 years old) joined the troop also, mostly out of necessity (we needed his warm body in order to have enough boys to charter). My youngest loves it and my oldest is kind of lukewarm about it. I have also been a leader at the pack, troop, district and council level for over 4 years now. We are basically a scouting family and love it.
With that said, however, I will say that scouting is not for everyone, and everyone does not get out of scouting what is there for them to learn simply because everyone is not interested in learning those things or because of poor leadership within the scouting unit. In your case, it sounds to me as if the latter may be true.
You didn't say how old your son is or how long he has been in scouting, but it sounds to me like he has a very poor leader if he makes them camp this way. Some overly self-glorified scout leaders try to turn scouting into junior Army training which is not what it is meant to be. If there is another pack or troop in the area, you might consider changing and see if that improves his scouting experience by a new leader and better camping conditions. When we camp, each boy has his own tent (can be bought at Walmart for about $15) and we always have a campfire in a designated fire ring that burns pretty much all night. Each boy is safely enclosed in his own tent that zips up which greatly reduces the chances of spiders, snakes, bugs, etc. Of course the boys have to be trained to keep their tent flaps zipped closed at all times so that nothing gets in.
My advice from a scouter's viewpoint is to talk to your son and then you and your son and husband talk to the scout leader and see what can be done to improve the scouting experience for your son as well as the other boys in the unit. If the leader does not want to chanage his ways to more closely follow the scouting ideals, then find another troop or pack to join. Sounds like there is a LOT of room for improvement here.
Here is a link that may help, too. http://netcommish.com/askandy.asp
and yes, they are first year Boy Scouts/campers (sm)
There is no Webelo-First Year Scout transition program or person that I am aware of.
I've been in scouts for 11 years and am a cubmaster now.
The Pinewood Derby is supposed to be a help-your-son event, but you are right to rant about some adults being overly involved. I've seen very, very sad little boys whose fathers don't let them help in building at all.
Some of the things that we've done in our pack to help prevent this are:
1. Hold a Pinewood Derby building clinic(s). We get some veteran derby builders (usually dads) to come out with tools to help the boys design and build cars on a Saturday a couple of weeks before the race. Most of the work is done then, and we have stations where the boys and their adults learn about design, then how to make the axles and wheels perform better, etc. etc. By the time the clinic is over, the boys usually only have to finish painting and install their wheels.
2. We hold an adult race where there are no rules. This sometimes ends up to be quite a hilarious race.
3. Awards should be given in lots of different categories that have nothing to do with how well a car performs on the track.
If you think that these ideas would be helpful to your pack, why not join the Pinewood Derby Committee for next year to help plan and have more of a say. Usually packs are dying for volunteers to help out.
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