It took me a while to understand he was NOT MY boys leader! He was calling from the sister ward to our old ward to tell me of a 'combined ward' boy scout activity.

I asked him... what is your troop number??? 60??? No, my boys troop is #100.

Then we had quite a discussion. He has been brought back into scouts from the adjoining ward to be over 4, yes, four cubs in his ward!!! That isn't even a pack, patrol, den or whatever.
I asked him why the MORMON troops weren't at the big scoutorama we'd attended last month.

He said "mormons tend to not participate in those things and I have never understood that." could it be because their troops are so small? Yeah, and half of the enrolled boys don't show up.
I'm thinking how ironic it is:
My cub scout attended a school that was 7 miles west of our home. When he got off the bus his church cub scout meeting had already been going for 1/2 an hour at a private home 5 miles to the east of our house. The boys in our ward attended the school one mile east of our house and the kids would get on the bus to go up to the private home. when they had the scout meeting in the chapel, it was the same thing, right after school, but the chapel is only 2 miles east of my home.

Now it is unfair to ask anyone to give my kid a ride to and from scouts. Even more so when he lives on the far edge of the ward boundaries away from everyone else in the ward.

so now he goes to school at the one that the ward member kids used to catch the bus from to go to the private residence for scouts. And I enrolled him in the scouts AT THE SCHOOL. he has lots of boys in his pack, lots of leaders that love scouts and he has one evening meeting a month and one pack meeting! I can take him and he has a great time.
Then there are the other activities: the scoutorama, with a 2liter pop bottle launcher, a rope bridge, hatchet throwing into a log target, a two story lashed pole tower, bird house making, bridge making out of toothpicks and marshmallows (his held 22 pennies!), pine box derby cars, and emergency gureney rides for first aid demonstrations..... lots of fun.
Then he got to shoot his first rifle at the rifle range. (he's a good shot too!)
Now this week he is going to a rocket launch meet, he has the fuel for four launches!!!

I really really enjoyed telling that mormon scout master that my boy was already in scouts and it wasn't the mormon troop!
(and as an aside, it cost 100 for the 'dues' next year, that's okay, it's a whole lot cheaper than tithing.... and better returns too!)
Any other positive outside the church scouts????

And why didn't the church participate in the scoutaramas??? Such a PR opportunity could they afford to miss it??? but with their record of rudeness(the mormons) I'm sure they're not missed.

My son spent a little over a year in a Mormon troop. He wanted to join that troop even as a non-mormon because that's where his friends were.

It was a terrible experience. The leaders were always telling the boys about the fun things they were going to do, but never did. I was SAHM at the time and offered numerous times to help with activities but they never took me up on the offer. They would change plans at the last minute and announce the change in church, but since we weren't there we never heard about it and no one bothered to call to let us know. The emphasis was always on getting your Eagle which neither of us cared about.

He later joined a non-Mormon troop and had a great time. The leaders were fun and there because they wanted to be. My son never got his Eagle, no one gave him a bad time about it.

I was on the committee and EVERYONE had a background check once a year.

Our ward has the lousiest scouting program. When we first started our oldest boy in the Cubscouts it was a disaster. They had nothing happening, they didn't have a steady activity planned, they often sat around doing nothing, or it was cancelled at the last minute.

So we took him out and enrolled him in the scout troop down the road from us. It was run by some other church, but it was so much better for him.

By the time he was into Boy Scouts, the Scoutmaster was tired of doing it and so again, it was a bomb. The new scoutmaster was very incompetent and the scouts all left to join other troops and the ward scouting program was shut down.

All of our scouts got their Eagles, and while the church tried to thump their chests over it, the Scouts and their parents made it clear that their success had absolutely nothing to do with the church program.

The last I knew, the Cub Scouts and the Boy Scouts were still attending other units and boycotting all efforts that the ward has tried to come up with. The reason is simple- they want to succeed, their parents and their older brothers have made it ONLY because they did it outside the ward.

Here's my observation as to why mormon scouting fails-

First and formost, the Scouting program is too tighly interwoven with the Young Mens program. Because of this, when a scout leader doesn't know something, he will revert into YM mode and the scouting aspect loses out. And indeed, preparing the young men for missions and Priesthood responsibility takes precedence every time.

Secondly, the scouting leadership is usually called from within the ranks. Unless that person is still into scouting and at least well trained and decorated from his years in scouting, he will be less effective. Scouting leadership requires much more than a temple recommend.

Third, people are already stressed out. Our Stake is relatively small, and has a lot of transient students. Because of this, the good scout leaders are not around very long. For those that are there for long periods, there is already a lot on their plates with other callings.

But altogether I blame the lack of adequate training and the coupling of YM with the scouting program.

I was a Scoutmaster for 8 years and was railed upon by ward members because I wouldn't run half-assed "merit badge clinics" and other shenanigans to crank out Eagles. It took me two years just to get the parents off my back and to punt the little shitheads out of the Troop when they didn't want to be there and acted as such.

Before I came in, our ward had no less than 4 Eagle Scouts that were 13 years old. Go figure. Cheaters!

My oldest son finished his Eagle when he was 17 years and 297 days old. Although I had to hand carry him through his last two merit badges and Eagle Project, we did it the right/honest way.

It's a goddam shame that the scouting program is just an appendage to the YM/AP program. It's further a shame that the BSA at the national level doesn't lower the boom on the Morg for cheating. They can't, however, because the scouting program nationwide would be devastated if the Morg didn't make their kids participate.

If I'd have had half a brain back then, I'd have worked in a non-Morg troop and had my kids go there. But, alas.....

Just sayin'...

Rone

Scouting in the Mormon church is a joke. I started my son in Tigers (which I was the den leader) in a non-LDS pack (because the Mormons don't allow Tigers, or popcorn sales for that matter). We were there through Arrow of Light and crossed over into the Scouting Program where he EARNED his Eagle. The LDS troop in our ward was such an embarrassment. We had my son's Eagle Court Ceremony in the ward building and both troops were preset. My brother who was not in scouting commented on the difference. "Those Young men with 51 on their shoulders had their act together. Those with 615 looked and acted like a bunch of losers who you would not want to be lost in the woods with". Perfect description of the slackers you find in the Mormon scouting program.That's for sure! From attending summer camps, you could always tell which troop was Mormon. No uniforms, no troop flag, disorderly, camp site looked like junk heaps. But that's the Mormons who "rubber stamp" boys to Eagle with those "Super Saturdays" with scout masters who never get training. A calling does not mean you are scout material. It takes years of training/experience to get scouting down right. When will the Mormon church learn to take pride in the scouting program! The community scouting programs are a success because fathers/mothers invest in their sons, not a lousy "calling" ! Don't get me started on the sexual abuse issue...

My now 10 year old son really wanted to be in scouts when he was 7. The church didn't offer Tiger Cubs so he joined a local group. Sharp group and everything done the way it was supposed. And a ton of kids. Then he turned 8 and I felt guilty so I put him in the church group. The den MOTHERS were nice and sweet and had such cute snacks...but they cancelled for dental appts.and whatever else came up. Very sporadic. And a new den mother every 6 months,because they would get "called" to something. Which I thought was a lousy thing to keep doing to the boys. My son was earning his belt loops and other awards,but mysteriously was not getting them at pack meetings. This was after I had stopped attending church. So one pack mtg. I decided to go and make sure he got his awards. I had told him before hand I just knew this was going to be the month they would present him with all his over due awards. My son is the sweeeeeeetest child you will ever meet and totally nonconfrontational. All the boys were sitting in a semicircle in the front with all the parents behind them. They are calling up the boys and presenting them with their awards. So it's my sons turn. He goes up and they give him TWO DAMN AWARDS AND THEN TAKE ONE BACK BECAUSE THEY SAID HE HADN'T EARNED IT!.The look my son gave me broke my heart. I asked the den leader and she said he got all the awards he earned. And the pack leader,of course was brand new and new nothing. That was it. He is now in a local group with friends from school-the same group I pulled him out of 3 years ago. And they have MEN as the leaders. Not that I mind womes...it just seems to work better with men. They don't have so many damn excuses not to show up. And it is run so professionally and the leadershave been there forever because they want to be. Damn church Damn mormons