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

[Anonymous]

My Dd is in Scouts. (Formerly Boy Scouts) at the ES level it's all fun outdoors stuff and pretty low key unless your pack is very intense. We camp, hike, learn knife skills, make cars for pinewood derby etc. we have a good diverse group representing how diverse our school and community is. A few East Asians but not too many. past 5th grade, it's a much bigger commitment with more activities and projects and monthly camping so definitely not for everyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh also my son has a great time at scouts and he is certainly not a “dork”. You sound insanely rude so I hope you keep yourself and your nasty attitude away from scouts.

East Asians and Indians are already very likely to be seen as dorky in this country so I don’t want to unknowingly saddle him with another dorky factor if that is what Boy Scouts is

Don’t bother with scouts. Your attitude wouldn’t fit in.

You're the one with a nasty attitude. Your kids must be bullies.

Nope, someone with OP’s attitude that she doesn’t want her son associated with kids she sees as uncool would not find like-minded people in scouting.

[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.

This would be great. Can you give a general idea of where you are in the DMV?

[Anonymous]

My boys have been involved with scouting since early elementary.
In elementary, it is cub scouts and is usually (but not always) co-ed packs. Scouts BSA is middle and high school and is usually (but not always) single gender troops.
My oldest earned Eagle in 9th grade. Youngest earned Eagle in 8th grade.
The pack and troop they belong is ~70% white. There were children of Indian descent, middle eastern decent, Latino, African American, etc.
As far as it being nerdy / unpopular / dorky kids – I disagree. It reflects life. Some popular kids, some nerdy kids, some that game, some into D&D, some on the spectrum, some with ADHD, etc. Many kids on sport teams, robotics teams, NHS, etc. And not just track & field. Several baseball players, rugby, football, lacrosse, etc.
My oldest was on his HS wrestling team and tennis team. My youngest is on the HS swimming and tennis team. Neither are “homecoming court” popular, but not unpopular by any measure.
My oldest outgrew scouts by 10th grade. My youngest is no longer interested and does not attend most things, but his troop is going to St Thomas next summer so he is sticking around for that adventure.

[Anonymous]

If you are teaching your kids to stay away from kids who aren't sufficiently "cool," please don't enroll in Scouts. It has an inclusive ethos and that attitude wouldn't be welcome.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I think this is accurate. A few lifeguards in my former HS DS troop. And, yes practically all engineers. There was one troop nearby that seemed very sporty. So, it depends. By HS you’ll be doing weekend-long bike trips, 20 mile hikes in pouring rain, etc. so you can’t be a total slouch.

[Anonymous]

Cool, sporty kids don't do scouts, they do sports.

[Anonymous]

Typically, the racial composition reflects the area the troop is in. Also, I'd never refer to a nonwhite child as a "minority." Its such an old skool term. In my county white people are the ethnic minority so it wouldn't even make sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you are teaching your kids to stay away from kids who aren't sufficiently "cool," please don't enroll in Scouts. It has an inclusive ethos and that attitude wouldn't be welcome.

THIS. This right here.

[Anonymous]

My son was in scouts and completed his eagle rank. His troop was primarily white, but I think that varies from troop to troop. I know there's one troop in South Arlington that's associated with a Filipino church and virtually everyone is Filipino.

As for sporty kids, it is harder to be involved in scouts and do a sport with a big time commitment. I would ask the scoutmaster what their policy is on kids missing meetings for sports. Some will be more accommodating than others. My son plays a HS sport and it was hard to fit in scouts, especially things like getting 20 camping nights to get the camping MB or doing the leadership positions that are required for rank advancement. My son took on leadership positions and tried to get in all his camping nights during his sport's offseason. In his troop I would say that only about 25% of the kids were high school athletes. It does tend to be more popular among kids who don't participate in sports.

[Anonymous]

Sports… the issue starts cropping up in middle school when scouts typically camp one weekend a month. Kids that are specializing in a sport have a difficult time — typically they cannot miss any of their sport, which means they are barely active in scouts and it becomes difficult to advance. However, if it is a traditional school team or rec sports (NOT TRAVEL) that only lasts for one season each year with a few pre-season workouts, it’s not an issue as missing a few campouts is not a big deal.
My boys had no issues - summer swim, rec soccer in MS; wrestling/swimming in HS and tennis in HS. They would prioritize what was most important. In season, sports usually came out on top. But the sports they choose did not have events every single weekend of the season, so they could still be fairly active.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son was in scouts and completed his eagle rank. His troop was primarily white, but I think that varies from troop to troop. I know there's one troop in South Arlington that's associated with a Filipino church and virtually everyone is Filipino.

As for sporty kids, it is harder to be involved in scouts and do a sport with a big time commitment. I would ask the scoutmaster what their policy is on kids missing meetings for sports. Some will be more accommodating than others. My son plays a HS sport and it was hard to fit in scouts, especially things like getting 20 camping nights to get the camping MB or doing the leadership positions that are required for rank advancement. My son took on leadership positions and tried to get in all his camping nights during his sport's offseason. In his troop I would say that only about 25% of the kids were high school athletes. It does tend to be more popular among kids who don't participate in sports.

Both my sons are Eagle Scouts and I agree. Most scoutmasters allow flexibility with sports. A few are rigid and don’t like making accommodations for sports and make scouts choose - which usually results in the child quitting scouts. My sons’ scoutmaster was happy to have them participate in scouting in whatever way they could - even if it meant showing up to meeting still on there sport attire covered in mud or showing up late to a campout.
That said… 20 nights camping is actually really easy to do. One summer camp (6 nights) and 7 weekend campouts. My youngest completed that within his first year of scouts. Spread out over middle school - that’s only 2-3 campouts a year. Or if they go all the way through high school, it’s just one weekend campout a year.
For those that want to earn Eagle, I recommend encouraging the scout to focus on it during middle school before other things compete for their time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Typically, the racial composition reflects the area the troop is in. Also, I'd never refer to a nonwhite child as a "minority." Its such an old skool term. In my county white people are the ethnic minority so it wouldn't even make sense.

My area is 25% East Asian/Indian and we don’t see any Asian or Indian Scouts.

[Anonymous]

DS plays on 2 Varsity teams in HS and is an Eagle Scout- thankfully he had most of his requirements finished before he hit high school. He also loves everything outdoorsy so it was a good fit for him.

[Anonymous]

The cool kids are secret scouts.