None of my kids have been part of Scouting. It would not have been a good fit for Chet or Rob and frankly the Boy Scout position on gays troubles me too much to find a way to re-closet myself for the sake of my children. The Pinewood Derby always intrigued me and I had a dear friend who was a life long Scout. As an adult he became an awesome leader, taking boys on winter overnights and such. But I could not reconcile what the organization said about gays, and thankfully as I said, it was just not a good fit anyway for the older two boys.
I am hoping that the Scouts are going to change their views--I have read some potentially positive things about this recently--because it would be a good fit for KC. He is at 9, just really starting to spread his wings and to want to do things with friends when family are not present. Camping is something dear to all our hearts, it would be great.
I myself was a Girl Scout up through Cadette level and worked at Scout camps in the summer. I have always hoped that my daughter would experience Girl Scouting. They haven't the language and the out there ban on my lifestyle. But Girl Scouts sure have changed since I was involved. There are quotas on the amounts of cookies that must be sold and my friends kids spent literally hours with their troops week after week standing in the cold hawking cookies. I bought an untold number of cookies that I don't eat because I felt so badly for the kids. (thankfully Chet also loves thin mints but I think even he got sick of them after a while, I bought so many!)
Badges have changed too. One of my friends has a daughter who is going for her cupcake badge. Yup, you read that correctly. She posted pics of some very beautifully decorated cupcakes that her daughter did for the badge. But I still can't wrap my mind around a cupcake badge!
Maybe we will look at 4H!
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Due to the Boy Scouts stance on gays and atheists, we have never done the scouting thing. I too was a girl scout forever and a day, worked at camps, etc and loved it. It was always such a bummer that my kids didn't participate in scouts bc there is so much that is so great about scouting. After much searching, we did find a great 4H group, the Foresters. Our son has gone rafting, repelling, camping, and has had so many other fantastic experiences. We are waiting for our 9 year old to be old enough to be able to join. This particular group is much more accepting, eclectic and diverse than any scout group around us is. It has been a perfect match.
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