If your kids are involved in one or both, what do you think of the organization and their activities? How much time is involved for your child and you? I'm considering it and looking for first-hand opinions. Thanks!
Martha S
Favorite Answer
All three of mine are............my oldest is now in 8th grade and started in kindergarten and loves it. As they get older there is a lot more that they actually learn about as far as life's lessons and she loves the summer camps. the other is in third grade and feels the same way and it has helped her to grow and make friends. As far as time it isn't to bad unless they have an event going on. I am the leader for both of their troops so it is more time for me than them, the cookie sales teaches them some responsibility and fund raising skills................my son just started cub scouts this year and again I am the leader. I really think cub scouts is move time involved than the girls, but there is a lot they learn. With both organizations when they get older and work on service projects they learn some valuable life leasons and if they stay in all through school there are great scholorships available to girls that earn the gold award and boys that become eagle scouts.
Anonymous
My hubby was in Scouts, he earned the rank of Eagle Scout. He would strongly recommend the Scouting experience for any child. We hope our daughter will join Girl Scouts. The amount of time an adult commits depends upon how involved you want to be and what experiences you want your child to have.
In Cub Scouts his Den met once a week after school for an hour and the Pack (all the Dens) met once a month for about 2-3 hours.
In Boy Scouts his Troop generally met once a week at the local church for about 2-3 hours after dinner. Typically, the Troop went on a camping trip one weekend a month (leaving Friday night and returning Sunday afternoon). In the summer the Troop would go to summer camp for one to two weeks. Camping trips are voluntary. Work on badges may take more time during the week or weekends.
My hubby believes that Scouting helped him to become the person that he is. Scouting promotes moral values, knowledge and skills that have helped him throughout life.
lie4me
I'm a girl scout, and I think it's a great organization until you get to the new, 'Studio 2B' thing. As a kid, I got to interact with people my own age and make new friends while doing crafts, and now I can do the same thing at a much greater level; community service, projects for younger kids, etc. My troop meets twice a week, and you can choose to be a troop leader. I'm in Studio 2B right now, and we meet for about 4 hours every month, 2 hours per meeting. But we're older. When I was a daisy, we were there for maybe 45 minutes, and we did lots of hands-on activities, and went to special celebrations. I would reccomend it to anyone. I'm going for my Gold Award right now, and it'll be a good feeling to know that I did something for my town!
Imani
My kids aren't in it yet, but I was in Girl Scouts and my husband was in Boy Scouts when we were both kids.
Basically, there was a meeting once a week, it lasted about 2 hours tops. Sometimes we did things on a Saturday.. to get badges and things, and once and a while there was a weekend outting.. like camping or something like that.
It basically doesn't really require alot of time for parents. Some volunteer to go on outings and sit in on meetings to help keep them calm and quiet.. So you'd get out of it every other week.. and every other outting or Saturday.
I'm putting my boys in it when they get a little older.. they're only 4 and 1 right now.. but it's not that time consuming. And it's a great experience for kids.
MadScientist
I was in Boy Scouts (got my Eagle Scout award), and I think it is one of the best things I could have done as a younger man. I also enjoyed Cub Scouts (5-11 years old), but preferred Boy Scouts (11-18) because we went camping about once a month.