Homemade Scouts?
August 19, 2015
Lots of friends have kids in our area and it seems like they all participate in the Scouts.
I love the idea of certain things about the Scouts (the learning to do things, whether it be wildernessy or civilization related) but I never participated in the actual activity myself so I don’t have any fond memories of that experience. From afar, it seems like a bit of fun but also a lot of work. That said, I also have specific objections to the idea of Scouts for LB.
Time, money, energy: let’s be honest, in the Bay Area, we’ll be doing well to live in a place where ze can get a good education and eat well every day. 🙂 We likely won’t struggle like I have in the past, but unless something major changes, we are by no means going to have a ton of discretionary income for extras. And personally, selfishly, I’m a bit antisocial most of the time, I don’t want to have to be part of an activity that I have no personal interest in.
Discrimination: I know there’s a difference between the stances of the Boy Scouts (who discriminate against homosexuality) and the Girl Scouts (who maintain an anti-discrimination policy) so that may inform my decision later but for the purposes of this conversation LB could be male and I’m not ok with supporting an organization that supports any kind of discrimination for any reason. We may not be LGBT but I see very little difference between the reasons for discriminating against those who are as the reasons given for being sexist, racist or age-ist; I’ve had a cropful of justifications for racism and sexism and ultimately, discrimination and the rationale for it isn’t something I want LB to learn is an acceptable practice. It’s one thing to decide that something isn’t for you personally but a whole other thing to impose that expectation on others.
Desire: If LB is anything like me, ze would HATE having to do Scouts. If LB is more like PiC, ze would enjoy it. The only thing I know about LB right now is ze eats like a fiend and gets into everything I want hir not into.
Getting back to the point, there are things I’d love LB to learn in a Scout-like fashion (concrete steps, earning merit badges to commemorate the skills or accomplishment, etc.) and I’ve been pondering doing our own little Family Scouts.
Focusing on things that ze is not likely to learn in school, and not arranged in age-appropriate categories, PiC and I could reasonably impart the following skills to LB in the first ten to fourteen years. Most categories would probably have to be broken down into 1-3 smaller subcategories in order for LB to earn any merit badges before the age of 10, though 🙂
Financial Skills (of course!)
Balancing checkbooks. Not because I expect LB to be using a checkbook but the idea of debits and deposits are really easy to understand in checkbook format
Setting up bill payment, automated and one-time only, and when to do which one
Understanding and explaining the composition of a paycheck. Explain who/what SSI is and how that works
Navigate online banking
Personal Finance Management
Saving. Saving first, then spending from the remaining amount
Investing and compound interest: When and how to invest, and why
Needs vs. wants
Budgeting disposable income
Identifying fixed expenses and learning how to reduce them, and why
Basic tax implications
Health
Staying active regularly and enjoying it
Maintain a balanced diet with all the good stuff and the good for you stuff
Compassion – thinking of others, within reason, is good for both of you
Don’t run with scissors, aka, basic health and safety
Cleaning and bandaging wounds
Automotive
Routine: Check your fluids
Change a spark plug
Clean your brake pads
Change a tire
Jumpstart a dead battery
Change a dead battery
Drive a car (manual and auto)
Drive a truck (manual and auto)
Parallel park
Parking on a hill
Household maintenance
Keeping appliances clean, safely, and in good working order
Keeping furniture clean and organized
Sew a straight seam
Doing the laundry for humans, canines, athletes (a whole other level of stinky)
Kitchen Patrol
Handwash dishes without wasting water.
How to load a dishwasher
Kitchen Tetris: putting things away efficiently
How to clean and prep most common fruits, vegetables, and meats
Cooking basic meals
Baking a decent dessert
Make a decent cup of coffee and tea
Keeping the refrigerator sanitary
Rotate and eating the pantry
Animal Husbandry (dogs or cats)
Clean dirty ears
Trim toenails
Groom a coat
Bathe a pet
Check and brush a dog’s teeth
Check skin and bandage minor cuts and abrasions
Feeding a regular diet and picking up after them
Differentiating between normal behavior and indications of ill health
Outdoors-kid
Safely build a fire
Efficiently pack a backpack
How to use and set up any of the disaster gear in case of evacuation: flashlight, thermal sheet bivouacs, prepping emergency meals safely (choosing when to use flame versus flameless heaters in case of gas leaks), etc.
Travel
Pack for a short trip.
Pack for a long trip.
Reading a map
Using public transit
STEM
Creative problem-solving!
Libraries are great resources
Now we just have to make some cool badges!
I did (Girl) Scouts and really enjoyed it…
Because of scouts, I:
know I do NOT want to be a salesperson in any form (cookie sales did that to me!)
have a good understanding of budgeting
can work as a team to accomplish things
can teach others a variety of skills using different age appropriate methods (as a camp counselor working with kids younger than me)
know that I can do anything I want to do regardless of gender (clear memories of going canoeing in middle school w/ a bunch of high school aged boy scouts…. the girl scouts were better canoists because we had better skillz, not just muscles; we also could pull canoes out of the river just as well as they could despite being much smaller)
can light a fire and cook out doors, can sleep outdoors,
know stuff about nature in my region
use a set of tools to make/build/fix things
know first aid (beyond simple wounds — chokeing, broken bones, shock, heat stroke, diabetic crash) & CPR
set super long term goals and acheive them myself (Gold/Silver awards)
do things even when they are things I don’t like (Sales) to obtain a pay off (money for camping).
FWIW — Scouting doesn’t have to be super expensive, particularly at the younger ages. I would think of it as one of the least expensive extracurriculars your child can do. (Much less than sports or music).
I don’t know if I’d send a boy child of mine to boy scouts ~ I object to their policies about women AND about homosexuals, though both seem to be changing. By the time we get to that point, we’ll see. I’ll definitely involve my girl child in girl scouts
On sewing: Hand sewing leads to learning how to replace buttons, stitch up a seam, or putting on a patch. Machine sewing; not everyone has access to a grandmother who made almost all your clothes like i did. Learning to machine sew also means learning to use an iron to steam press seams (and not burn yourself or your clothes), measure out fabric, learning to safely use pins to hold your fabrics together. Sewing for yourself is a lot of fun, and sewing for others is REALLY fun:)
I did Girl Scouts from ages 7-12 and my brothers did Boy Scouts. (Not sure how long they did them.)
This probably won’t be very useful for your thinking. Still: for me, I don’t think I learned any particularly valuable life skills from Girl Scouts, but participating in elementary school was a big deal because the social aspect of it was a big deal. I didn’t have a lot of friends, and just about every girl in my classes was in Brownies and then Girl Scouts. (I predate the Daisies.) Being in Girl Scouts didn’t change the friend situation, but it was something to participate in and be part of the group.
I will say that I was jealous of my brothers and Boy Scouts at times– mainly when it came time for the pinewood derby and a special elaborate obstacle course they set up annually in the elementary school gym. The rest of the time, though, I liked Girl Scouts well enough. My troop leader in elementary school was an especially nice lady, and I got a sense of accomplishment from the cookie sales and earning badges.
I was never a Scout but for a brief period of time I was in a girl-only after-school activities group where I learned a bunch of crafty things. I, rebellious to authority of any kind, haaated it. But I could see other people liking organized activities like that.
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Almost all Scouting organizations are a very mixed bag, depending almost entirely on the culture and leadership of your local troop. I had an awesome Girl Scout experience as a kid, while my sister’s troop wasn’t nearly as cool. I also recently learned about Navigators, which is co-ed and explicitly inclusive. Might be worth looking into.
I did a hybrid scouting program as a kid where there were boys and girls together in the club and I thought that was nice. I don’t know of any non religious programs like that though so I’m not sure what I’ll do for my own kids.
I’d add training to your Animal Husbandry list. Kids absorb the concept super-fast and it helps them not only relate to someone/thing that doesn’t share a common language, but it also shapes how they ask others to work with them. Easy Youtube video resources,etc are available.
Also, some sort of hobby that takes some time. So multiple badges within the same category that grow in complexity. I really appreciate that the final goal in Eagle Scouts is a community project. I was never a scout myself, but I’ve encountered a few that did some really awesome give-back type things that were well thought out and executed.
I don’t know how I forgot this before: PUBLIC SPEAKING! I was well into adulthood before I finally got to a place where I didn’t flush brilliant red, feel my heart about to explode and ringing in my ears any time I had to present in front of a group. Similarly, a brilliant friend of mine dropped what was probably the most interesting class I took in our shared major because she couldn’t conquer the required presentation component. It wasn’t until I had to give daily 15 minute presentations in front of groups of 2-30 people that came and went as they pleased that I learned how to conquer my nerves, tailor my message and become comfortable with all the quirks that arise. I wish I’d learned that decades before!
I can’t believe I almost missed this post! I was a Girl Scout for about 3 or 4 years. It was more of a social activity but some learning did occur. Years later, I am a mother of a Boy Scout and he loves it. It’s easy to volunteer and you can participate, or not, as needed. I can provide many things to my children, but I cannot be a peer. Boys Scouts has been a positive force in my son’s life. When leadership (in any setting, not just scouts) goes in a direction I do not agree with, it’s a time of instruction. You learn what you want to be and what you don’t want to be by the examples before you, adult or otherwise. Plus, the merit badge work is fun! I especially enjoyed bird study.
That is a great point: we are parents, not peers, and that category of relationship is as important as any skill. I tend to discount it as I personally struggled with friendship as a youngun but I hope LB won’t.