In the wake of this article regarding lasting mental health for those who were involved in scouts/guides as kids (apparently the research is adjusted for societal factors, but who ever really knows with these kind of stats), anyone interested in talking about the scouting/guiding organisation in general?
Scouting has always sort of had a bit of a reputation for being slightly twee/rubbish in my mind, but nonetheless plenty of kids are involved at some point in their growing up. I was a cub when I was at primary school and although it involved occasional church stuff which I wasnât a fan of, the opportunity to do stuff like archery, football, go-karting, air rifles and the like punctuated what otherwise was a bit of a boring semi-rural childhood. Plus earning badges and stuff. Joined the scouts when I was old enough but only lasted a couple of months as it felt like too much of a demotion going from top dog (well, ok, a sixer) to being a total junior member again.
Does scouting/guiding still have a place in the 21st century for kids? My step brother is a scout leader and seems to enjoy it very much - heâs great with kids and has got to travel the world doing scout stuff which is not to be sniffed at. Plus I think they scaled back on the god/queen angle a bit these days. When my kids are old enough I think I would definitely float the idea past them to see if they were interested, as if nothing else itâs a good way to get them away from the virtual reality/legal highs/whatever it is that kids are into these days.
You can also use this thread to talk about how awesome your Duke Of Edinburgh was if you really want to be that personâŚ
My mum got thrown out of the Girlâs Brigade for being bad. Iâm especially not sure why she joined it seeing as my grandparents were (unenthusiastic) Catholics.
I was a beaver, cub and scout growing up, being one of those spoddy types who had an armful of badges, bronze silver and gold arrows, Chief Scoutâs Award and Chief Scoutâs Challenge. I got the mick taken out of me a little at school because of it, but it allowed me to do things that Iâd never would have had the opportunity to do otherwise (like you say, archery, rock climbing, going on âholidayâ, canoeing etc), and also I learnt lots of practical skills too.
I think the appeal of scouts and guides might be limited in urban areas where there is lots for kids to see and do, but in a little rural town with nothing for kids, it did a lot to relieve the boredom.
My brother is still involved as a leader and gets to go to some amazing places (Andaman Islands, St Petersburg, Croatia in recent years) through it.
Got Scouts was sooo boring. Our Scout leader was a bus driver, so we spent many hours looking at bus timetables and planning imaginary journeys around Shropshire.
Was also sick on most of the Scout Camps due to under-cooking on those camping stoves. Once, half-asleep, vomited over five other scouts in the middle of the night, went back to sleep and we all woke up covered in my vomit. Beyond grim.
I was in the Cubs from 7 to 10, and I loved it. I went to a very small rural primary school (maybe a sixty kids in the whole school, perhaps a dozen in my year), so the pack took in a bunch of local schools, so even just widening the amount of people I got to know was really cool. It was a blend of idyllic, Famous Five type shit - cooking on camp fires, shooting air rifles and bow and arrows, building our own shelter in the woods and sleeping in it - and also pre-pubescent boys bonding, taking swigs from a leaderâs unattended beer, trying to âsmokeâ newspapers rolled up to look like cigarettes, wildly wrong chats about what sex was. Think it was a really good experience for me, as someone who was naturally shy, and I really appreciate doing it.
I was in the Beavers but refused to move over to Scouts as seemed a bit too âhippyâ for my liking, seem to remember everything was Jungle Book themed and the one day I went before packing I got a nose bleed and several situations at that age that meant DANGER so never went back. I was also banned from Sunday School after the 3rd time as my mum was told I was too hyperactiveâŚtechnically their fault as they held it in the same hall as I would bomb about for Beavers/Boys Brigade so no way am I going to sit down quietly and colour in pictures of âGodâ after I had just sat for an hour in silence finding out about âJesusâ
cub from say 7-9, but left after one of the most embarrassing moments of my life.
we were in that circle thing doing that weird code thing and I was feeling really sick. I basically puked in the middle of the circle, everyone laughed and I legged it home, crying my eyes out
my sect of rainbows/brownies was massively religious. probably only went for about a year or two. everything revolved around the local CofE church, which was tiresome and it was generally not enjoyable that everything we crafted was for mass the following sunday, or we had to spend time setting chairs up for sunday schools.
my dad always said beavers/cubs/scouts was ran by paedos, but sea scouts was the most rife with paedos. dunno what anecdotal evidence he had to back this up cause he was never a scout.
Was a cub for a full term - got promoted through being seconder and then took the big job of being a sixer. Got all my Arrows (Bronze, Silver & Gold) and a sleeve full of other badges. Went on a couple of camps and had hi jinx and a jolly good time. Went on to scouts - left after 3 weeks.