I wouldn’t say that I’m a “friend”
of scouting
I think Hannah is the one who made
the announcement that “you are not an acquaintance of scouting, but a “friend”
of scouting”
“No I’m not,” I thought. I have truly never been a friend. I’ve actually had regrets about it.
I think the scouting program is a
great program for those who truly want to be involved. I guess the thing that has always bothered me
the most about scouting is all the hoopla and fuss that seems to go with it. It would be fine if there was an equal amount
of hoopla given to those not even associated with scouts – if that is what’s
desired. (Some of us don’t like hoopla and fuss; my brother Patrick and his
oldest son truly loved scouting and were heavily involved. My brother Corey and nephew Brian appear to
have reached a point where they almost loathed it)
The boy scout program was adaptedby the LDS church in 1913 and cub scouts were adopted as a part of the primary
in 1952. None of the other Church organizations require a uniform or guidelines
from outside of the Church.
My mom had been a den mother to the
boys when Patrick was in scouts. I was
involved in many of their activities. It
didn’t seem to be a big deal for non-scout members to participate when their
parents were the leaders. I enjoyed
hanging around with them and meeting with them once a week and I especially
enjoyed activities such as climbing the trail to the Timpenogous Cave or
visiting Pioneer Village (located in Sugarhouse at the time) and stopping off
at Snelgroves for an afterward treat. As
a recall, the majority of the boys got double scoop cones with blue bubblegum
and black licorice flavored ice creams.
I don’t remember ever feeling
envious that the focus on the boys seemed to outshine the focus on the
girls. I usually always had a better
time with boys than girls anyhow. I
suppose I did feel left out at times when cub scouts would earn rewards and
there was always a ceremony for their achievements – not that I felt the need
for a badge or material satisfaction. I
just remember sometimes wondering why so many thought the boys were so great
and allowed the girls to sit on the back burner or barely be mentioned.
We didn’t have activity days –
which may have been created to run parallel to the scouting program. I don’t know.
With the girls – be it Activity Days or Young Women – the leaders focus
needs to be on the girls. Leaders should
be without children when serving the girls.
So why can the scouts include non-scouts in their activities but the
girls cannot? So perhaps it’s okay that they hold scouts every week while the
girls hold Activity Days only twice a week.
When we moved into our current
ward, I would have Jenna with me while attending Relief Society. The scout leader invited her to participate
in the activities that were planned the same night as Relief Society. And so Jenna happily believed she was a
scout.
I tried enrolling Jenna into the
girl scouts program as she was not of age to participate in Activity Days – but
was not successful in finding a good fit.
Oh, she enjoyed the few activities we had gone to, but we have always
done things as a Juliette. I still
haven’t been able to find a good troop for her. I don't believe it is ever something I had wanted for myself, but Jenna and I have our differences.
Jenna has since had the opportunity
to attend activity days and would love to attend every week. In her mind it isn’t fair that boys get to
meet every week.
We had gone to the Church Museum
the day before school started. There
were two exhibits featuring the boy scouts – both of which she refused to
attend out of rebellion. She’s nine
years old. She doesn’t understand that boys
(in general) seem to need more structure and may be in scouting their entire lives and still not “get
it” whereas there’s a compassion or
understanding or structure that seem to come more naturally to most girls. But still . . .
Fund Raisers with the boys scouts
happen with or without the church. The
boys go from door to door trying to raise money for their organization. And certainly the girls will have fund
raisers when they get into Young Women, but it’s not going door to door
collecting money with only a receipt that may or may not be a tax
write-off.
The girls work hard and may involve
others to donate baked goods or other items.
They sell product.
Recently I read a post in which
permission was given to share a post from a closed blog. The following was brought up:
• meeting frequency- scouts are advised to meet weekly,
while activity day girls are directed to meet NO MORE than twice a month
• activity types- scouting is a structured program with a clear directive to have activities of many differing types, activity days has no directive whatsoever other than "work on Faith in God for girls." The boys also have this program, but just happen to have scouting as well.
• recognition and awards- cub scouting is famous for its intricate advancement and award system, AD has no such system
• budgeting- do these programs have equal budgets?
• leaders- would a couple ever be called to lead AD groups? Why do boys have access to leaders of both genders, while girls do not? Also, cub scouts have a much higher ratio of leaders to boys than AD girls do
• formal, parent-attended pack meetings- there is no similar equivalent in the AD program.
• the Church's website- there was tab after tab on the church's primary page devoted to explaining and promoting Cub Scouting, but barely a mention of the AD program. You have to click on 'leader resources' and if you scroll down to the bottom, there's a SINGLE LINK that takes you to the SINGLE PARAGRAPH from Handbook 2 that gives direction on AD programs for leaders, and there's not much in that paragraph either.
I know that boys and girls are
different – and my interpretation was not that the opinions are to treat both
genders as equals but allow equal time, equal budgeting, equality in
organization – not in person. We’re all
individuals who hopefully support and lift one another. “Scouting” does not “lift” me however – or at
least the political aspect and blown out manner that might send the message to
some girls that they are lower class and not as important.
It is said that no one can make you
feel inferior without your consent, and yet there are some members of this
church who feel discrimination because there seems to be a lack of
equality. And not just with our attitude towards scouting. (I've actually mentioned the feelings of discrimination in several posts.)
These are just some of my
thoughts. I have more. Lots more.
But I had to borrow somebody else’s words to get this post. The ideas I
have (or had) are so disjointed still. I
apologize that this entry may not sound polished at all.
