Are there any minorities, cool, sporty boys in Boy Scouts or Scouts?

[Anonymous]

I am not white and I have no BS, GS, Scout experience nor do I know any. Growing up, I only saw white boys join Boy Scouts, and their dads had been Boy Scouts. Girl Scouts were more diverse racially, but it was clear than the culture was still white so nobody in my family would think of joining.

Now I am confused by Boy Scout, Girl Scouts, and Scouts. Who joins Boy Scouts vs just Scouts? Is it understood that only quirky, nerdy boys are in Scouts/BS past a certain age? Maybe partly due to scheduling (sports games and practices on weekends). And why are there no East Asians or Indians in these groups? I see Hispanic kids and black girls in these troops. Are we not welcome?

I am asking as a minority mom with a mixed race boy. Is there some unspoken racial or personality elements to this that I just don’t know about because it’s not my culture? I also don’t want to put my boy in one of these troops if it will automatically label him as a dork who can only be friends with certain boys.

[Anonymous]

I’m not a big scout mom, but I have a son who is pretty involved in Scouts. There are no cool boys there. Frankly, it’s a lot of work, a huge time commitment, and is heavily supervised by adults. None of these things are cool.
It is very neurodiverse, and I would guess that the troops I have seen have probably 20% of the boys who are somewhere on the spectrum and or have ADD. I say that to say that they tend to be a pretty accepting group of boys, and I can’t really see them enforcing a lot of socialized racial stereotypes.

Basically, it’s a bunch of gamer, D&D kids who like the outdoors.

[Anonymous]

Stereotype much, OP? With your limited understanding of things, I would definitely say you're not welcome. Bethesda/Potomac Scouts have plenty of Asian boys because, gasp, many Asian families live there.

[Anonymous]

Hi OP,

What was Boy Scouts is now Scouts and has boys and girls, and diversity will vary from troop to troop. You can visit multiple troops to get a feel for the demographics.

Girl Scouts was always separate and is still all girls. I was less impressed with the organization of girls scouts where I live when my daughters were young compared to Boy Scouts--activities seemed to be much more at the whims of the local leaders.

[Anonymous]

Asian American here. Both my boys did cub scouts and my daughter did Girl Scouts. Most of the boys were athletic. We have had African American, mixed race, Indian, Iranian, Chinese and Koreans in our troops.

[Anonymous]

My son’s Scout troop is mainly (but not exclusively) white. He just moved over from cub scouts (which many of the kids in his grade did) to Scouts, where participation drops as they age. His troop is very outdoorsy, so it’s the boys who are really into camping etc. I’d say the kids in his group run the gamut from popular/athletic to quieter, dorkier kids. The older boys in his troop are definitely on the nerdier side-but they’re also smart, confident, and nice. I’m thrilled to have my kid around older kids with those traits.

No one is getting bullied about being a Boy Scout in my kid’s experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Asian American here. Both my boys did cub scouts and my daughter did Girl Scouts. Most of the boys were athletic. We have had African American, mixed race, Indian, Iranian, Chinese and Koreans in our troops.

Not in ours. They are all gamers

[Anonymous]

I'm a GS leader and DH is a Scouts leader. His pack is probably 1/3 girls, 2/3 boys. And probably at least 1/3 minority. My GS troop is 1/2 minority at least, with more AA representation.

We're in a local county where the majority of the school is white/Asian/Hispanic. Weirdly enough, Hispanics are the ones who do not join scouts. Every other minority is well represented.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Asian American here. Both my boys did cub scouts and my daughter did Girl Scouts. Most of the boys were athletic. We have had African American, mixed race, Indian, Iranian, Chinese and Koreans in our troops.

I posted that there weren’t a lot of athletic boys in Boy Scouts. I agree that cub scouts is different.
How old is your son, OP?

Answers are different if he’s 7 vs 14.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Asian American here. Both my boys did cub scouts and my daughter did Girl Scouts. Most of the boys were athletic. We have had African American, mixed race, Indian, Iranian, Chinese and Koreans in our troops.

Not in ours. They are all gamers

NP. Not gamers in mine. They are more outdoorsy, but place a lot of emphasis on physical activity and robotics/STEM. I think every one of the troop leaders is an engineer.

My kids are pretty overscheduled and there's no time for gaming.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am not white and I have no BS, GS, Scout experience nor do I know any. Growing up, I only saw white boys join Boy Scouts, and their dads had been Boy Scouts. Girl Scouts were more diverse racially, but it was clear than the culture was still white so nobody in my family would think of joining.

Now I am confused by Boy Scout, Girl Scouts, and Scouts. Who joins Boy Scouts vs just Scouts? Is it understood that only quirky, nerdy boys are in Scouts/BS past a certain age? Maybe partly due to scheduling (sports games and practices on weekends). And why are there no East Asians or Indians in these groups? I see Hispanic kids and black girls in these troops. Are we not welcome?

I am asking as a minority mom with a mixed race boy. Is there some unspoken racial or personality elements to this that I just don’t know about because it’s not my culture? I also don’t want to put my boy in one of these troops if it will automatically label him as a dork who can only be friends with certain boys.

Most people do not think like this, so you don't need to worry about scout membership labeling your kid. Lots of different kids do scouts, for different reasons and amounts of time. The makeup of the troop depends on the community where it's located.

BSA rebranded as Scouts and accepts girls in some contexts. Girl Scouts is an unrelated, all-girls group (not the girl version of BSA). Both go to 12th grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m not a big scout mom, but I have a son who is pretty involved in Scouts. There are no cool boys there. Frankly, it’s a lot of work, a huge time commitment, and is heavily supervised by adults. None of these things are cool.
It is very neurodiverse, and I would guess that the troops I have seen have probably 20% of the boys who are somewhere on the spectrum and or have ADD. I say that to say that they tend to be a pretty accepting group of boys, and I can’t really see them enforcing a lot of socialized racial stereotypes.

Basically, it’s a bunch of gamer, D&D kids who like the outdoors.

I want to throw in the caveat that by “not athletic” I mean that they aren’t involved in big team sports at school. There are plenty of boys who participate in triathlons and who are active in cross-country and are extremely athletic. And you have to be somewhat athletic to do Scouts. My son is planning a 20-mile hike in May to get an Eagle required badge.
Regular workouts are also part of ranking up starting from the beginning.

[Anonymous]

We have a lot of East Asians and some Latinos in our troop. My kids are half Brazilian. It’s about the same demographic as our school. But I would say it skews slightly nerdier/less sporty kids. My kids just heard they could learn to shoot arrows and wanted to do it. I think there are a lot of great male role models and some nice character development esp civic and community responsibilities. Half our den leaders are moms, one is East Asian. We are about 25% girls now, with much higher numbers for high schoolers where boys seem to drop out more. they are usually sisters of Boy Scouts or daughters of den leaders.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Asian American here. Both my boys did cub scouts and my daughter did Girl Scouts. Most of the boys were athletic. We have had African American, mixed race, Indian, Iranian, Chinese and Koreans in our troops.

Not in ours. They are all gamers

NP. Not gamers in mine. They are more outdoorsy, but place a lot of emphasis on physical activity and robotics/STEM. I think every one of the troop leaders is an engineer.

My kids are pretty overscheduled and there's no time for gaming.

Meh. Potato potahto. Being a gamer, being in robotics club, being in model UN. These are all the same kind of kid.
They are kids who like homework.

[Anonymous]

Minorities, yes
Cool kids, no