Author Topic: Alternative to Boy Scouts? (Read 3006 times)

Nadir · « **Reply #10 on:** November 01, 2012, 04:01:20 PM »

Quote from: Anthem

Quote from: Capt McQuigg
Staying home is a perfectly acceptable alternative to the Boy Scouts.

Thanks Cap'n, that was very helpful. I can certainly teach my children anything they would learn in a club. We could start a monastery too, and never leave the property.

Capt's suggestion is quite valid. Are you "tongue in cheek" or having a go here? Just wondering.

From rereading the OP it seems you are looking for a "boys only" thing.
Is your son the only boy in your family?
You are not averse to putting him in a N.O. group?
Don't you know other fathers with whom you could get together to do manly activities?
Do you really need an organised group? Why not improvise and keep it simple?

Deo Vindice · « **Reply #11 on:** November 05, 2012, 04:18:44 PM »

For what it's worth, why would a person have to associate or form an organization to learn how to start a fire, tie knots, stay warm, take care of one's feet, read a map, stay clean, handle firearms, etc.
And especially in today's society, why associate with persons that you may not actually be compatible with, or young people who, unfortunately, are being dropped off by the ubiquitous "single mom".
And then there's the legal liability end of it.
Our dad taught us, and his contemporaries taught their sons, and the boys associated together and camped together and taught each other, and all of this occurred informally in the small towns and rural area where I grew up. Boys Scouts came from the big city.

Tiffany · « **Reply #12 on:** November 08, 2012, 10:33:08 AM »

Quote from: Deo Vindice

For what it's worth, why would a person have to associate or form an organization to learn how to start a fire, tie knots, stay warm, take care of one's feet, read a map, stay clean, handle firearms, etc.
And especially in today's society, why associate with persons that you may not actually be compatible with, or young people who, unfortunately, are being dropped off by the ubiquitous "single mom".
And then there's the legal liability end of it.
Our dad taught us, and his contemporaries taught their sons, and the boys associated together and camped together and taught each other, and all of this occurred informally in the small towns and rural area where I grew up. Boys Scouts came from the big city.

Because we can't associate with children who are being raised by single moms.

This is unreal.

Tiffany · « **Reply #13 on:** November 08, 2012, 10:36:02 AM »

Lone Scouts is an option too.
Another option is just buy the books and pick and choose the activities. I did that with Wolf Scouts ? or one of those forest animal years.

I fleshed it out, bought some rope for knots, did a fingerprint kit, it was good for ideas.

Anthem · « **Reply #14 on:** November 20, 2012, 06:23:35 PM »

Thanks for all the comments. I am unsure what I will do in my situation. There are some complicating circuмstances, and I will eventually describe that in another thread. The basic explanation is that my marriage has ended in divorce. So, choices that were made previously with my "wife" are now in question. That is a long story. But anyway, my current mindset is to lean away from organized programs as a whole, and the reasons why are exactly what several of you indicated above.

As I said, I did not grow up in scouting myself, and always had at least a slight disdain for the scouting movement, since it seemed artificial compared to my own upbringing (as someone described fathers naturally teaching their sons, along with other fathers whom they knew well).

Through a lack of attention to "official scouting", I will probably let my son see that it can die on the vine, without having to jerk him out of the situation. He will simply lose interest when we can do more fun things ourselves than are included in scouting. For example, they (at least 'round here) do not let the scouts do much with firearms until they are much older. My son already has his own .22 and .243 rifles and a 20 ga shotgun, which he likes to shoot. That would never be allowed in the current scouting program here (he's 8 years old).