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I agree with you, but I don't see the word "nerd" as necessary. My son is an honor student and a STAR scout at 12 years old (7th grade). He is a straight A student and does a lot of community service work through scouts. He is very popular at school and is far from an awkward "nerd."
Since they were using the word "nerd," I'm only using the word "nerd" to make a point. These are adults here who are acting like the children they refer to as "nerds" are inferior. Nothing could be further from the truth.
My son is an Eagle Scout at 15. He's an honors and AP student. He plays football and lacrosse. He's talented with the violin, drums and guitar. He has many friends from scouts, sports and school. My house is constantly filled with kids---some seemed to spend the entire summer at my house.
I'm truly enjoying this three week break while my husband and son are at Philmont right now. Some of my son's friends went with us to see him off at the boy scout bus last week. They had slept over the night before. When we loaded into the car for me to drop them off at their houses, they started talking about how they wished they had been involved in the scouts since they were jealous my son was going away on yet another cool trip.
The children who make fun of other children (for whatever reason) are insecure within themselves.
Hopes...sounds like you did an excellent job raising your son. He sounds exceptional in everything he does. I don't doubt that he will go on to great things. I've noticed that most Eagle Scouts seem to have that quality about them...and more often than not...it is the boy [young man] who decides at some point to take it to that level and not quit. Congratulations to both parents AND your son.
ARC, Hopes, I was also carrying the 'nerd' tag as part of the post. All my boys are now grown, and I asked them this weekend (all 4 were over for a bbq with gf's) about the scouting thing, since only one really took an interest, but left it at 12 years. He said he wishes he stayed, but the pressure from other kids chased him away from it. Since you have younger kids, I'd really be curious if that negative pressure is still there. My buddy (the cub master) says he didn't see it...but then again he was with the ones who wanted to be there. If you get a chance, ask your kid(s) about how the other kids feel. I'd be curious to know.
You are right. My issue with the word "nerd" wasn't in that YOU were using it, just that anything connected with accomplishment of any kind is always associated with that word.
I agree that children that make fun of other children are insecure themselves.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hopes
Since they were using the word "nerd," I'm only using the word "nerd" to make a point. These are adults here who are acting like the children they refer to as "nerds" are inferior. Nothing could be further from the truth.
My son is an Eagle Scout at 15. He's an honors and AP student. He plays football and lacrosse. He's talented with the violin, drums and guitar. He has many friends from scouts, sports and school. My house is constantly filled with kids---some seemed to spend the entire summer at my house.
I'm truly enjoying this three week break while my husband and son are at Philmont right now. Some of my son's friends went with us to see him off at the boy scout bus last week. They had slept over the night before. When we loaded into the car for me to drop them off at their houses, they started talking about how they wished they had been involved in the scouts since they were jealous my son was going away on yet another cool trip.
The children who make fun of other children (for whatever reason) are insecure within themselves.
With my son and the friends he chooses to associate with, scouts is not seen as "nerdy." My son has always made it known that he is involved in scouts, and to my knowledge, he hasn't suffered socially because of it. Now I'm sure there are children in my son's school who might see it as "nerdy." But those are the children I would not want my son to be involved with in the first place. I'm glad my son is independent enough to make choices for himself, to be involved in what he wants to be involved in without worrying what someone else might think.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jfkIII
Hopes...sounds like you did an excellent job raising your son. He sounds exceptional in everything he does. I don't doubt that he will go on to great things. I've noticed that most Eagle Scouts seem to have that quality about them...and more often than not...it is the boy [young man] who decides at some point to take it to that level and not quit. Congratulations to both parents AND your son.
ARC, Hopes, I was also carrying the 'nerd' tag as part of the post. All my boys are now grown, and I asked them this weekend (all 4 were over for a bbq with gf's) about the scouting thing, since only one really took an interest, but left it at 12 years. He said he wishes he stayed, but the pressure from other kids chased him away from it. Since you have younger kids, I'd really be curious if that negative pressure is still there. My buddy (the cub master) says he didn't see it...but then again he was with the ones who wanted to be there. If you get a chance, ask your kid(s) about how the other kids feel. I'd be curious to know.
And I am a very informed opinion about the Scouting program (I am an Eagle Scout in addition to other scouting achievements), so I will try my best to answer some of the questions that people have been asking...
1) Do the Boy Scouts ban gays?
Yes, but it is not quite that simple. All Boy Scout troops (your local group of about 20-30 boys) have a "sponsor"...they provide the building to meet in, and sometimes also a small amount of funding. About half of troops are sponsored by a secular organization such as a public school, a VFW post, etc while the other half are sponsored by churches, with Catholic, Evangelical, Baptist, and Mormon being the biggies. The "gay" issue is basically a proxy battle fought in the press by those churches who are against gays in general... It was never even brought up when I was in the program (throughout the 1990's)
2) Is scouting for "nerds"?
Somewhat, but I think that most of it stems from scouting providing boys with self esteem, and not filling them with the need to conform like lemmings like most kids in middle and high school (not conforming to what is "cool" like a slave generally makes you a nerd to many). I remember volunteering at the local parade with my dad (a scout leader) when I was 13 and having a kid try to make fun of me at school the next day... it didn't bother me in the least. If having a kid be happy to do community service with his father makes them a "nerd" instead of cool in the minds of a few dumb kids, who cares? BTW, several people I was in scouts with were (among other things) Valedictorian, homecoming king, captain of the wrestling team, newspaper editor, 2 different boys were state champion in 2 different sports (swimming and wrestling)... I myself was one of only 5 people in my class of about 500 to be a varsity sports Letterman in their freshman year (and I received plenty of attention from the girls, too).... Hardly "nerd" material.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by emjbulls
As long as the discriminate against gay people, I don't want my kids involved. I don't think teaching intolerance is good for a youth group to teach.
The Boy Scouts are great. They do not teach intolerance, they teach moral values although I understand there is no tolerance for moral values now days.
I think I would prefer they be in 4-H or something like that. My brother was in cub scouts and I was in brownies, and it was a good experience, but for me it wasn't that great.
Brownies/Girl Scouts aren't really associated with Boy Scouts. My daughter was a Brownie for two years and didn't care for it. As with anything I think it depends on the individual troop. My daughter's troop did a lot of crafts and my daughter got bored. I think the Brownie troop leader was great and did a good job. My daughter just wanted to do more, like go camping, etc., like her brother did in Cub Scouts.
Quote:
Originally Posted by floridadreamer
I think I would prefer they be in 4-H or something like that. My brother was in cub scouts and I was in brownies, and it was a good experience, but for me it wasn't that great.
Brownies/Girl Scouts aren't really associated with Boy Scouts. My daughter was a Brownie for two years and didn't care for it. As with anything I think it depends on the individual troop. My daughter's troop did a lot of crafts and my daughter got bored. I think the Brownie troop leader was great and did a good job. My daughter just wanted to do more, like go camping, etc., like her brother did in Cub Scouts.
Girl scouts do camp, but I didn't as a brownie. The boys definitely got a better deal than we did. When I was a brownie, my friend got kicked out for eating glue. I think the survival skills learned by boy scouts are very useful to kids, but there are better things that can teach them.
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Some of my son's friends went with us to see him off at the boy scout bus last week. They had slept over the night before. When we loaded into the car for me to drop them off at their houses, they started talking about how they wished they had been involved in the scouts since they were jealous my son was going away on yet another cool trip. 
I went about as far as you could in Scouts
I think the survival skills learned by boy scouts are very useful to kids, but there are better things that can teach them.
