Reply to Is Boy Scouts a thing now? DS wants to get into it, but I have some concerns.

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My good friend is a scout leader and has told me that if it's a scout troop in a smaller town, their ideals are smaller.  Most troops around here are no longer as 'backwards' thinking as they were years ago.  FWIW, he's an openly gay scout leader who wanted to be a leader because he greatly enjoy scouts when he was younger and went all the way through to Eagle Scout.  He's in in the NOVA area and doesn't have any parents or scouts who have issues with his sexuality.  His troop is also much less religious and more spiritual.

I think most troops meet at either a church or school.  And from my experience with troops in this area, you don't have to worry about your son thinking he's more "manly" than you.  They mostly stick to "camping" vs camping.  My neighbor's son has yet to actually go camping because each time they have a trip scheduled, it rains and they cancel.  They've mainly done backyard camp outs where a few parents crash on the host's couch and the other dads leave past a certain time.  Their last outing for a badge was bowling, soooo, yeah.    [/quote]

I will suggest that is a very unlikely scenario for a boy scout troop (versus say a cub scout troop).  To advance up the boy scout ranks there are certain requirements that must be met - a good many pertaining to outdoor and camping activities.  By way of example -- to become a "first class scout" (a rank that usually is reached within the first couple of years of scouting) a kid needs to (among other things):  Participate in 10 troop activities (not meetings) 6 of which must involve overnight camping.  Five of those overnights must be in a tent, lean-to or igloo.  The kid also needs to help plan a least 1 day's menu for a campout, and be responsible for cooking 2 of the meals (help from other scouts allowed).  Other requirements include completing an orienteering course using a compass and discussing when to use lashings and particular knots - and then demonstrating how to use/tie them.  Scout camp outs will include a lot of activities but will also be focused on helping kids complete requirements for rank advancement and to earn merit badges.

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BOth my boys are Eagle Rank, both did not like the camping camping aspect, but still went along with it  and that taught them compromise and a few survival skills.  They both did the minimum in terms of the camping aspect and it wasn't overly burdensome.  There are plenty of other badges to earn ad topics to learn [/quote]

I'm sure this is technically possible and maybe it varies by troop, but I recall that a lot of the opportunities to earn the badges took place during camping, camps and hikes. If you didn't go on the camp outs, you would have had to find other ways to earn those badges.

My boys loved the camping/hiking outdoorsy aspect of scouts.  [/quote]

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