What would a modern scouts be like?

[Ray Smears]

If I may.

Back in the mid 70’s. I was a Cub. Which is a junior scout,if you like.
My brother,who is older than me,was a young scout.
He came home crying one day,to our mother,to tell her that the local group was going to be disbanded,due to the meetings were held in a local village hall,which was to be closed down.
My mother immediately went around doing fund raising by organising camps in borrowed woodland,for other local groups,organising fund raising events,within all the local counties and raising enough money to buy a small piece of disused local land and having a scout hut,with eclectric,heating,a cafe area,etc built for our local cubs and scouts. Meetings were held around 4 times a week and the participants paid ‘subs’,to keep the place going. Adults helped out at various events,too,as they could see how happy it made the children.
The hut is still open,today,and events are still happening.
I believe that if the Scout movement was invented today,it would be because an adult could see the benifits of children not sitting on their phones all day. They would see the boredom in them and the hidden ability for them to grow.
Like Sir Baden Powell did.( but not with phones).
It would be down to the parents to make the movement great!

Regards
Ray.

 

[Fadcode]

A very interesting subject for debate.

We now live in a different time to when the Scouts and Guides were popular with kids, could the Organisations have started today, I doubt it very much, at least not in the same way as it originated, when it did originate I would imagine the rules and the creed of the Organisation was based on what you had to do, for eg, You must always show respect to your elders, you must dress smartly, etc, etc, in todays market, the creed would no doubt be based on things you cannot do and say. If we look at any modern organisation we see this today, take forums, there is usually a list of things we cannot do or say, now these forbidden things are common sense, but unfortunately people(and kids) need to be told what they cannot do, as if they are not told what they cannot do, they use this fact as a defense when they do something they shouldn't do.. And the one things kids and their parents do not like, is being told what they cannot do.

Safety is another thing nowadays, the liability, the little babes go home with a plaster on their leg, and all hell is let loose, their little babes have been damaged, parents don't understand kids have to learn by trial and error, and sometimes end up with bumps and scrapes, this happens even in schools, so Scout leaders are in the same position as teachers where they cannot win, and God forbid they should actually touch a child, even hugging them to give comfort is looked upon in disdain.
I take my hat off to Teachers and Scout leaders, their devotion to the task deserves true recognition, rather than suspicion, which is normally what they get.

One of my distant relations was one of the founders of the Scout movement in the US in 1910, but there were boys associations of various guises well before that or the Scout movement in the UK.
In those times, many associations were started to take kids off the streets and to give them some training in basic skills and confidence and ready them for life as an adult, and of course a life in the forces, again that today would probably not happen, although you do get some kids who are really enthusiastic about learning.

It would be nice to think that it was possible to get kids to join the Guides and the Scouts, as the Organisations and their activities are beneficial to kids, the interaction with others in these days of low contact, unless through a phone or the internet, would enhance their social skills, in my schooldays, we had the Air Cadets, Army Cadets all in the schools, but I am not sure that they exist in schools anymore, but that is what is needed nowadays, to get kids interested and away from mobile phones and the like.

 

[Oliver G]

I'll give the parents credit, we send out a rough plan of what we'll do each term the risk assessment before each activity (Fairly cut and paste as the risks are all quite similar) and the parent are more than happy with that, if a kid get hurt the parents are quite philosophical about it as we've taken reasonable measures to reduce the risk.

I think we're fortunate with our parents as we're a fairly rural unit so they understand that if an explorer trips over a tree root they should have been looking at where they were going rather than being glued to their phones.

 

[Ray Smears]

I'll give the parents credit, we send out a rough plan of what we'll do each term the risk assessment before each activity (Fairly cut and paste as the risks are all quite similar) and the parent are more than happy with that, if a kid get hurt the parents are quite philosophical about it as we've taken reasonable measures to reduce the risk.

I think we're fortunate with our parents as we're a fairly rural unit so they understand that if an explorer trips over a tree root they should have been looking at where they were going rather than being glued to their phones.

Are you in the UK?
Regards
Ray

 

[Oliver G]

Are you in the UK?
Regards
Ray

Yes, we're based in the East Midlands.

 

[Ray Smears]

Yes, we're based in the East Midlands.

Has your group ever partaken in Jamborees with the rest of the country?
we used to hold them down here at a place called Tetbury Campsite,just outside of the village Mells.
Its quite well known.
Regards
Ray

 

[Oliver G]

Has your group ever partaken in Jamborees with the rest of the country?
we used to hold them down here at a place called Tetbury Campsite,just outside of the village Mells.
Its quite well known.
Regards
Ray

Not that I've known but I only joined as a leader at the start of Covid so we've not been out much in the last couple of years.

 

[Ray Smears]

Not that I've known but I only joined as a leader at the start of Covid so we've not been out much in the last couple of years.

Ah,your a newbie then.
Regards.
Ray

 

[TeeDee]

In my youth I attended an International Jamboree in Bavaria with a myriad of scouts from across the globe.

Quite the eye opener..