Tell me about Boy Scouts, please.

[SproutMamaK]

I'm thinking of putting my kids in Boy Scouts. However, I know NOTHING about them. Growing up, I knew NO kids that did this; our churches offered their own programs for boys. However, our current church has no such program (and even if it did, I think I'd ilke my boys to have a larger group of friends anyways).

 

My oldest is about to turn six, and my middle son turns five in June. I see the youngest group starts at age 5. Can my oldest join right now, or will he need to wait until a new school/scout year starts? (Does scouting run all through the year, or just when school runs?) How much does it cost? How often do they meet? What sort of activites would they do in the youngest groups? It seems to be Christian organization (which is awesome for us), so how does that affect what they teach, ie. how much does the fact that it's religiously based really come up?

 

My kids, at least the two that would start in the foreseeable future, also have autism. How will that affect this? Are leaders trained to deal with children with disabilities? Do any of you have children with autism in your troops, and if so, has it changed how things operate for the group?

 

Like I said, I know NOTHING about ANY of this, so if there's something pertinent that I ought to know, just throw it out there!

[lionfamily1999]

Tigers start in first grade. They have to be in the first grade to start. Here, you can join at any time, I think we re-up in January and it is year round. You need to get the Tiger Cub handbook and check with your local pack to find out what they require for the uniform (ours only requires the shirt w/badges and neckerchief w/slide, but some require everything down to the right socks). Tiger Cubs is very different than the rest of Cub Scouts. You have three main objectives for each thing covered. One is to read about it, one part has you doing something with it and the final one (and ime hardest one to get done) is the "Go See It."

 

Boy Scouts of America

 

Go to the link, along the top (under the banner) you'll see "find a council near you," click on it and you can find your local group.

 

Oh, the leaders are, again ime, parents. The training is....... ime....... minimal. Here, anyway, it's very difficult to find anyone willing to take a leadership position and our training is done online. Most of it is common sense rules (leadership should be two deep, always observe safety precautions, etc). I've never had training for special needs, but it is very clear that the kids are expected to do the best to their abilities. Exceptions are made for kids who can't do certain things and really, the prime focus in Cub Scouts is making sure the kids are having fun.

 

Lol, I can't remember all of your questions (should've quoted you), if I missed anything, I'm sorry.

[charlotteb]

For the first thru fifth grade boys, the program is Cub Scouts. Boy Scouts don't start until middle school. I didn't know that until my son started either :)

Typically, the boys would start in first grade as a "tiger cub". It is a good year of introduction to scouts. My son also did a monthly field trip at that age. Every year during Cub Scouts, my son go to do the Pinewood Derby. In that, they build a car with a wood kit and race them! It is definately most boys' favorite memory in cub scouts. There are day camps in the summer, easy badges where they learn about fun things like sports, camping, mechanics, etc. My son's group met three times a month.

As for the religious teaching in class, my son went to a group that really stressed Christianity. They worked on spiritual development, prayed during each meeting, performed several service projects, and found ways to fold God into their class work. But from what I've heard, different groups vary on this.

[chiguirre]

My 9yo is a Wolf Scout. I think you can join at any time, but our pack has a big kickoff for new Tigers in August. The Tigers are first graders, Wolves are second, etc. We put our HFA son in a den one year behind his chronological age. That's eliminated the necessity of modifying requirements for him, plus it's easier for him to fit in with slighty younger kids maturity wise. In the front of the Wolf manual it says it's for boys who have finished 1st grade or who are 8. Extrapolating, I'd say a 7 yo can join a Tiger den and I'd recommend doing that if your ds is socially immature or has any academic special needs (mine has fine motor delays and dysgraphia).

 

Our pack is chartered by a Catholic school so all the scouts are Catholic, but it's not a requirement to join. Other packs may be affiliated with other religions or none at all. As a cub, you can earn faith badges for anything from Buddhism to LDS, so it's not necessarily a Christian organization, it depends on your pack. Really, the only group that's excluded is Atheists. In our pack, there are opening and closing prayers, grace before meals and we're working on the Light of Christ award (mainly because it closely follows what we all have to do to prepare the boys for First Communion anyway).

 

I don't think my ds's autism has affected the den. I suspect another boy has ADHD, so my ds is not always the boy with the most behavioral challenges at our events. However, I wouldn't count on a den leader to have any idea how to deal with any sort of special needs. Most of the parents stay for our den meetings and I always stay, so this hasn't mattered at all for us. You can modify the requirements for earning the rank badges and belt loops if you need to. For example, I count ds's Special Olympics events as community tournaments even though the rules are not always the standard rules for non-disabled events. If he needs to write something, I scribe and have him copy it. Most of the requirements are pretty flexible anyway so it's not hard for ds to fulfill them. That wouldn't have been the case if he'd joined a Bear den this year though, but that depends on each child.

 

Try to check out the different packs in your area before you decide which one to try. Ds was rejected by our homeschool association's pack because we wouldn't be a good fit. That might have been because I'm an atheist, because ds is a Catholic or because he's autistic, or it might have been all three. In any case, it turned out to be a real stroke of luck, because the pack we joined has been an excellent fit for both ds and I. No once cares what my beliefs are because ds attends catechism and is making his First Communion, so he obviously fits right in with all the other kids. There are plenty of non-Catholic moms or dads so it's no big deal to have one more. There are lots of kids who have one or more immigrant parent, so that's no big deal. Hispanics are a large minority, so we fit right in and no one mangles ds's given name or surname when making announcements. Really, what more could one ask for?!?

 

I hope you can find a pack that welcomes you and your dss and makes you fit right in.

[Alessandra]

I would suggest that you contact your local Council to find out about Cub Scout packs in your area -- some packs meet throughout the year, others meet just during the school year, some packs are active, some are moribund.

 

Here are a few links

 

Official site:

http://www.scouting.org

 

Find packs by zip code -- site can be s l o w

http://www.joincubscouting.org/

 

Lists of requirements/activities for each year

http://usscouts.org/advancementTOC.asp#misc

 

Some packs allow K age boy siblings to attend Tiger Cub meetings, although the boys are too young to actually be Cubs; others may not, because only enrolled Scouts are covered by insurance. Tigers is designed for boys in first grade. Most packs will welcome boys at any time of year.

 

Costs can vary -- uniforms, camping, etc. But BSA has a policy that no scout should be hindered because of lack of funds. For example packs are supposed to have extra tents or borrow them from a pack that does. BSA also has a policy of welcoming scouts with disabilities -- you can see this in the wording of many requirements. But I would talk with Council first, because packs' experience with scholarships and disabilities will vary -- and you need to find a good fit for your dc. It is OK to have a child be a year behind in scouts, if that seems appropriate developmentally. But you shouldn't go a year ahead, because Boy Scouts has minimum age requirements.

 

BTW, Tiger Scout requirement are not necessary for getting a Tiger badge -- participation is all that is required.

 

The "curriculum" is exceptionally well designed, IMO. Topics are built upon, year by year, and great attention has been paid to having developmentally appropriate activities. Look through the last website to see some of these. There is also an Academic/Sports program - boys can get belt loop (things that go on the Cub belt) and pins for things they might do anyway, like Pet Care, Good Manners, Reading and Writing. Most kids love getting awards.

 

And if you decide to do scouting, remember that not all leaders and other volunteers have to be men! There are lots of training courses, some of them available online.

Edited February 18, 2010 by Alessandra

[KristenS]

Every pack will be different. Leaders aren't specially trained to deal with disabilities ... we're all average parents with minimal leadership training ... but that doesn't mean you won't get good leaders. You may have to shop around, though. In our pack, at the beginning of the year, we were a very tiny pack where at least half the boys were officially on the autism spectrum. So we had plenty of parental experience to help us along. :) (My son wasn't one of them, but he has plenty of the same quirks and loves having buddies with the same interests!) We've lost a few of those boys due to other commitments, but gained a lot of others. So even over a year a pack will change.

 

I only stepped up to be den leader this year because we weren't going to have a pack if I didn't. (We're so small, we do Tigers through Bears as one den, and Webelos as the other.) Our main leader for the younger boys has a new baby and though she's good with the paperwork and phone calls and all, expecting her to arrange the activities every week just couldn't continue. So I stepped up for the youngers, and another dad took over the Webelos. It's working well for us. We try to attend the monthly leadership training sessions for ideas and help ... we probably won't next year, as it really seems geared to new leaders, but it's been very helpful this year. Other areas may run the roundtable discussions differently. Oh, and some of the official training is available online, if you're interested in checking it out.

 

We always allow siblings to do pack things ... derby cars and field trips and stuff. For the meetings ... if the siblings are there, then sure, but it's really for the boys. It's hard enough trying to get activities to fit everyone's rank requirements. :)

 

The big thing about Cub Scouts is immediate recognitions... they earn stuff promptly. Big things are awarded at monthly pack meetings, but smaller things (like the beads) should be given promptly, at whatever den meeting the leader finds they earn them. This helps keep the boys motivated to keep on trucking. My son loves this. He also loves collecting the patches for different events.

 

Boy Scouts / Cub Scouts aren't specifically Christian, but they are strong about belief in God. How much it comes up depends on your leadership and your chartering organization. Our church charters the pack my son is in, but we don't do a whole lot of religious discussion with the boys ... I believe all the families are Christian, but of varying denominations, so we touch on discussions lightly and I encourage them to talk with their parents (and I encourage the parents too). There's a nice program if you're Protestant called God & Me which can be done in 1st-3rd grade, for both boys and girls, and both Cub Scouts and Girl Scouts can wear the award on their uniforms. There are other faith programs with recognition for other faiths. (Tip ... if they earn the recognition earlier on, they get to keep the emblem through Boy Scouts, and the requirements are easier! Or so I'm told.)

 

Rambling ... but so far we are very much enjoying our Cub Scout experiences.

[Samiam]

As other's said, Tiger Cubs are in 1st/age 6. Here you can start at anytime, but starting mid-year you might feel the need to "catch up". At this point, our pack tends to wind down activities by the end of May, with just a few things throughout the summer, to "if it were me", I would just wait until the fall when things start up again to start fresh. Boys join at all ages, not just at age 6, and they just start working on the badges etc for that group. So it's not a big deal if a child starts Cub Scout for the first time in 2nd grade or any time after that.

 

As far as training for special needs, no. With Tigers, the parents are supposed to stay at all activities. The whole point of Tigers is that it's a "family activity". I am a Den Leader for my son's Tiger den...and I would have no experience dealing with any sort of special needs or behaviour issues. That's not to say that we don't accomodate special needs. One of the boys in our den has something, where he often uses a walker, and has some speech issues. Everyone in our den does what we can to make sure he is fully involved in our activities, as he enjoys it as much as the rest of the boys. But his parent stays close at hand, and takes care of any special assistance the boy needs. But as far as behaviour (I'm sorry, but I am not sure what Asperger's really brings to the equation as far as issues, so I'm just addressing generalities here), I expect each parent to deal with their own child. I am not there to discipline or correct the children in that way. If a child is out of hand, it's expected the parent will deal with it. Now, that's not to say, the parent does everytime.:glare: But it is a group of six year old boys, most of whom have been in school all day, getting together at 6:30 p.m., and our meetings do tend to get a little hectic with boys having trouble paying attention, etc.

 

 

There's no religion in our pack at all. Well, I won't say AT All. We meet at a school for Pack meetings, so I am sure there's some sort of rule that we can't pray or anything as part of the agreement to use the facilities (not sure, just guessing).....so there's no religion at the monthly Pack meeting (where all the Scouts in our pack get together). Within our Den, we also do not have any sort of religioun mentioned at our gatherings. The only time I have seen/heard religion is at one of the Campouts, there was a Church service offered for those that wanted to attend. Then there is a National Scout Day at churchs, so many churchs will celebrate Scouts on this one particular Sunday every year, and our Pack just sent out a list of churches in our area who were doing this, so people coule attend IF they wanted.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

 

BTW, Tiger Scout requirement are not necessary for getting a Tiger badge -- participation is all that is required.

 

 

 

I'm not sure what was meant by this. There are some requirements for the Tiger Scout rank emblem. But all cub scouts of a certain age are considered to be that age's scout. So all 1st graders would be Tiger Cubs and 2nd graders would be Wolf Cubs, regardless of if they were new to scouting or if they had or had not completed the requirements for the rank emblem.

 

But having said that, the rank requirements for Tiger are not a huge burden and fall very much into the realm of Do Your Best, not graded work. The focus of Tigers is to get out and explore your world with your adult partner and with your den.

 

There is a lot of training available for scout leaders, but not all have the time to take advantage of it. And I would say that where we've been, how to deal with scouts with disabilities of any type has been thin. My Boy Scout Troop has had two scouts with Aspergers. We've pretty much learned to deal with them very much as individuals, not as labels because they were totally different, both by personality, maturity and family attitudes. The more you communicate with your den and pack leaders, the better they will know what works and doesn't work with your son. And most packs I've been around have welcomed parents as part of the den, even above Tiger Cub, where it is required.

[Alessandra]

Sorry if I wasn't clear. I was thinking of this:

 

"Remember, there are NO performance requirements for a boy in the Tiger Cub trail.

Simply participating and doing one's best in an activity constitutes completion."

 

I copied that from the usscouts site, but I think I've seen it elsewhere

[SproutMamaK]

Thanks, guys! I'm from, Canada (sorry, I should have qualified that in my first post) and I think things like ages, etc, might be a bit different up here. However, I think the general purpose of the groups, activities, etc are the same. I think we'll give it a try! :D

[linders]

DS9 has been in Cub Scouts for 3 years. Of that, I've been a den leader 2-1/2 years and now I'm Committee Chairperson (the organizer for our pack).

 

First, I believe scouts can be wonderful. So much learning and growing together in a cooperative (versus competitive) environment. Outdoor and life skill focused. Scouts can start at 6 (or any time after) and they can join mid-year - I just had a new boy join my den. Cub Scouts runs for 4-1/2 years then in the fifth year transitions to Boy Scouts. Cub Scouts is very family oriented (parents and sibs encouraged to participate), Boy Scouts is more boy/man oriented.

 

Cub Scouts are grouped by packs and they must be sponsored by an organization, typically a school or church. Do a search for your town or county for "Boy Scouts" and it should give you a number for the district office. They can give you a list of the packs in your area and a number to contact for each. I encourage you to check out more than one pack, even attend a meeting at more than one. Packs are all different - some are more outdoor focused than others, some are more organized than others. I personally would look for a pack that has stable leadership - folks who've been involved multiple years. Good sign. Talk to a couple of parents in the pack, particulary parents who've been part of it for multiple years.

 

Scouts is inexpensive compared to other extracurriculars. At our pack, $16 annual dues, buy the book ($8). Some packs (most?) insist on a class A uniform. The shirt and associated paraphenalia are about $40, but are used mutiple years (you buy big at the outset). Our pack happens to have many low income kids so we encourage but don't require the formal uniform. Incidental costs vary from pack to pack. Some (like ours) try to keep them real low (so all can afford), others might do jazzier things because most of the pack can afford it. Not one of the field trips I scheduled for my den this year cost money other than gas money. Summer day camp will be $30 for the week.

 

Hope that helps you decide! Do check out the Boy Scouts of America web site, it has lots of info.

[mom31257]

I can't speak to what differences there might be in Canada, but my ds is a Tiger scout this year. We have LOVED the program. I am so glad that we put him in. At this point, I hope he will go all the way with it. You should definitely give it a try. If you don't like it, you would not have to continue.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

Sorry if I wasn't clear. I was thinking of this:

 

"Remember, there are NO performance requirements for a boy in the Tiger Cub trail.

Simply participating and doing one's best in an activity constitutes completion."

 

I copied that from the usscouts site, but I think I've seen it elsewhere

 

Ah, now I understand what you were saying. That is totally true.

For example if the requirement is to jump as high as you can or as far as you can, the only measurement is to do your best and/or to improve over last time. The scouts aren't asked to jump a certain distance in a pass fail test.