Anonymous
Post 04/03/2025 18:43     Subject: Are there any minorities, cool, sporty boys in Boy Scouts or Scouts?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:This whole thread is gross. Here we are, all adults discussing the coolness or nerdyness of our children. What the hell is wrong with people?


I am on a first name basis with the owner and several regular patrons at a board game cafe, and I have paid over $50 for a set of metal dice. My child is a nerd, and I can recognize other nerds when I see them.


“Nerd” is a legitimate subculture that has commonly known characteristics and a history of oppression that leads to a sense of healthy solidarity.

“Cool” is inherently a bigoted ideology that doesn’t have a static meaning but rather shifts according to who can exploit economic or interpersonal power imbalances. It is less of a subculture and more of a pseudo religious ideology that can be used by manipulative people to satisfy their own ego.

Parents discussing their “cool” kids is…not very cool.
Anonymous
Post 04/03/2025 17:26     Subject: Are there any minorities, cool, sporty boys in Boy Scouts or Scouts?
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.



It’s somewhat troop-dependent. My sons are involved in a troop where a lot of the high school boys play sports (baseball, basketball, rugby….). There are also kids who skew towards dorky (one of my sons would describe himself this way). None of the boys talk about Scouts with their non-troop friends, but they all get along and have had some great adventures together. I think if you join a troop that only emphasizes merit badges and advancement, you will chase away a mix like this. The troop my kids belong to is somewhat diverse: Asian/Hispanic/White.
Anonymous
Post 04/03/2025 17:16     Subject: Are there any minorities, cool, sporty boys in Boy Scouts or Scouts?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Our troop is heavily Asian and Indian, used to be more Caucasian. Kids play sports. Some may be considered cool but most are pretty nerdy.

We also have lots of kids who are ADHD and disruptive. There are lots of Behavioral issues and parents are in denial. Scout Master is challenged. It’s like school.

My kid achieved Eagle. One more to go. They enjoy the outdoors and did all the high adventure. It is a good experience.


Poor behavior was a big problem in our Cub Scout pack. We spoke to a kid once who was behaving really badly and we were then reprimanded by the leader (who we think was actually the father of the boy, although we didn’t know that at the time) that “some kids have disabilities” and so we aren’t allowed to have any expectations around their behavior. (The kid was ripping up others’ stuff and scribbling over their work when they had just put a lot of effort into it. And the father/leader was not supervising his kid closely to ensure that he was respectful, despite apparently knowing that he’s not usually capable of appropriate behavior.)


Yeah, Parents of kids with special needs put their kids in scouts hoping the outdoors will interest them and tire them out so they are less annoying at home.

Parents drop them off and let the scout master deal with it. It’s awful. Many parents are in denial that their kids have issues and need medical help.
Anonymous
Post 04/03/2025 17:07     Subject: Are there any minorities, cool, sporty boys in Boy Scouts or Scouts?
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.


+100
OP sounds like an awful person. Hopefully OP's kids will be better people but somehow I doubt it.
Anonymous
Post 04/03/2025 16:59     Subject: Are there any minorities, cool, sporty boys in Boy Scouts or Scouts?
Anonymous wrote:This whole thread is gross. Here we are, all adults discussing the coolness or nerdyness of our children. What the hell is wrong with people?


It is gross. And so is the overuse of the word sporty. If you have an elementary school kid who plays soccer they are not sporty. They are running around on a field.
Anonymous
Post 04/03/2025 16:13     Subject: Are there any minorities, cool, sporty boys in Boy Scouts or Scouts?
Anonymous wrote:Cub scouts is usually reflective of the ethnic makeup at the elementary school. Our local school is majority asian and so is our troop. My son is the only white kid in his pack.

The kids are less sporty than the kids my son plays soccer with. The super involved ones are not active in sports, scouts is their primary activity. I like that they are kind and inclusive and its a more "kid like" environment than ive found in sports.


I know Basis McLean has a Girl Scouts troop that is also majority Asian. Troop leaders are Asian.
Anonymous
Post 04/03/2025 15:24     Subject: Are there any minorities, cool, sporty boys in Boy Scouts or Scouts?
Cub scouts is usually reflective of the ethnic makeup at the elementary school. Our local school is majority asian and so is our troop. My son is the only white kid in his pack.

The kids are less sporty than the kids my son plays soccer with. The super involved ones are not active in sports, scouts is their primary activity. I like that they are kind and inclusive and its a more "kid like" environment than ive found in sports.