Results 21 to 30 of 50
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01-29-2013, 06:57 PM #21
lol... that's a greatly simplified way of describing it. Sure we set up tents and learned different types of knots, but there are tons of other things we learned and did. I agree it's not for everyone as it's based for kids who like to do that sort of outside stuff. For some kids that's not an interest and that's perfectly ok. I'm not sure why it's getting so over simplified here but I guess that's the case for people who haven't actually participated in something... I myself do the same thing on different subject matter.
As far as the gay ban, I'm glad to hear they are thinking about dropping the ban but what's the hold up? I don't remember many times when I was ever alone with just one adult. Sure it can happen but you'd have to worry about that situation no matter what the sexual preference of the adult is. My troop almost always had multiple adults around at meetings. There were always 3-4 adults around when we were camping. Although were had a decent amount of kids in our troop so there was a need to have that amount of supervision.
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01-29-2013, 07:01 PM #22
See, I was one of those kids who enjoyed that stuff. My dad and friends' dads taught me a lot, but I also learned a lot through guess and check. I was pretty blessed to grow up in a rural area where a 3 minute walk in any direction would find you nature, which is why I get it in larger cities. Also, I question the idea, not the people who do it.
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01-29-2013, 07:08 PM #23
I bet you'd be surprise about all of the things that boy scouts can learn in scouting that actually are life skills or real world stuff.
http://www.scouting.org/meritbadges.aspx
Here's a link to the current BSA merit badges. Some are nothing more than fun or hobby type things but the scouts isn't school and is mostly done because kids find that type of stuff fun. There are a lot of ones that have real world application and quite a few newer ones since I was in scouts that could help direct a kid into what he may want to do as a profession.
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01-29-2013, 07:10 PM #24
Any group activity teaches life lessons for sure. I just see it as glorifying what was once everyday life is all.
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01-29-2013, 07:50 PM #25
I was in Cubs and Scouts in the 60's. In those days all the Masters were married with kids of their own, many in the various Troupes. The 80's came along and there were just not any Dad's around anymore with a 45% increase in divorce from the 60's, the Father volunteers were just not helping out.
In walk single, fat, bespectacled 35 year old men, still living with their Mothers and fully wrapped in some sort of weird androgynous capsule volunteering in droves and being accepted just as quickly.
Big Trouble there.Last edited by centrehice; 01-29-2013 at 07:53 PM.
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01-29-2013, 10:54 PM #26
Personal experience. Every experience (some of our past foster kids - friends where members) I've had with the boy scouts have led me to believe what I posted. I've spent my life (17 years) shoveling snow off my elderly neighbor's walks, digging ditches, etc. I really think it cheapens doing these things when there is a prize or whatever. In real life people don't stand up and clap, and you don't get badges for doing good things, you just do them because it's the right thing to do. I can see why some kids would need something like boy scouts, (I was-am still being raised on a farm) but I think it would be better for the parents to just tell their boys to do good things and do things outdoors then send them to boy scouts.
Just my opinion.
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01-30-2013, 10:11 AM #27
that's cool. we can disagree. I don't classify my experience in scouts as glorifying anything. It was a group that provided skills to kids by earning badges. No different than school except you get a badge when you complete a lesson. Besides, there is a lot more than just earning badges and they weren't all easy to earn.
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01-30-2013, 10:17 AM #28
lol. that's a very specific stereotype of people who volunteer in scouts without having kids in the troop. We did have a leader who didn't have a kid in the troop but that was because he had already gone through the troop and was older. I suppose the dad liked it and stayed with it. It's really no different than single people without kids volunteering at the YMCA or coaching a sport that they once enjoyed playing. Sure there are going to be people with ulterior motives but it's not that's the only distinguishing characteristic of a pedophile looking for prey. I guess it would cause one to put their guard up, but being gay and being a pedophile does not go hand in hand by any means.
by the way... what is an androgynous capsule?
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01-30-2013, 10:28 AM #29
When you say that you think boy scouts get "prizes" for every good deed they do you aren't speaking from the same experiences that I had with my troop. There are badges for different things but it's not like every time we volunteer or help out someone we all stand in line and get some sort of prize. We never got badges for going good things. We got badges for things like learning first aid or any of the many different topics. Scouts isn't only about earning badges there are so many other facets to it that I think you are completely missing. Now, this was 20-25 years ago so I'm not sure how it is these days. And to say that boy scouts don't get told to do good things by their parents it's absurd. Just because you are in scouts doesn't mean it's the primary influence one gets in a boys upbringing. It's a hobby just like if a boy plays football. In football they learn a lot more than just the sport, winning and earning what you call "prizes" (trophies). There are so many hidden layers to what a person is being taught by playing sports and the same is true in scouts. I think you are missing the point completely.
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01-30-2013, 01:23 PM #30
I never said that.
And isn't every deed - trade you learn working up to a badge? That's my only point.
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