Those who were in boy scouts.

[SephYuyX]

on a side note order of the arrow always seemed weird as fuck to me, that was one thing I was majorly sketched out by. bunch of creepy old men doing god knows what waaay out in the woods with kids

Seriosuly, OA is some cultish shit.
Most troops i've had contact with over various regions all keep their boys away from it.
Equally, most people I know who are far in OA are very wierd.

[Ksandra]

wtf is Order of the Arrow?

[SephYuyX]

It's like KofC or Free Masons, but Native Americanish themed for older scouts. One of the benefits is networking, but whilist shirtless dancing around large fires and doing ritual sacrifices.

[pohibaba]

wtf is Order of the Arrow?

It's a "secret" organization within the Boy Scouts that focuses more on service than the regular Boy Scouts. To become a member you have to be elected by your troop as a leader and then you have to go through an "ordeal".

[BaneTheBrawler]

i remember getting cultish/creepy vibes about it, too. at like 9 years old. gotta be pretty creepy to set off 9 year old me's stranger danger alarms... but it's for older kids anyway.

it could be worth the effort if your kid is really into it but i'd be pretty vigilant about knowing who what where when why, etc.

[Rulke]

on a side note order of the arrow always seemed weird as fuck to me, that was one thing I was majorly sketched out by. bunch of creepy old men doing god knows what waaay out in the woods with kids

Omg. Fricking OotA. I don't know how everyone else's was, but mine totally felt like "free child labor" All we did was work and clean up our summer camp ranch >.>;

[Ksandra]

lol good to know.

[Xantavia]

When I went through it, we at least had a pretty cool tapping out ceremony for order of the arrow. Our official council version was a bunch of scouts and leaders sitting in a room while a guy with a microphone would be like "Name, you are now tapped out". We did our version at summer camp during parent's night, in a much more ceremonial type setting. It was the coolest thing ever in your pre-teens. And a nightmare for at least one kid in our troop when he pissed himself because it completely caught him off guard when they picked him. Guy in indian garb dancing around would suddenly stop, then jump and grab somebody near the person he stopped in front of.

But I didn't even think of the child labor part of it. Thinking back, we did spend the next day cleaning up the summer-camp. But group I was with the adults let us kids have what felt like more responsibility. Which for me and a friend was running the ceremony for induction into the second "rank" of OA.

[shidobu]

Yea Eagle scout reporting in

The Fuck @ OoA. East Texas troop we basically did the same thing as Xan , at a summer camp ceremony. Buncha shirtless teens wearing Indian head garbs running around snatching people out of a line up. Then we marched off into the woods to a campfire and pledged to the order. Then the freaky interlope finger hand shake. That shit always got me cuz my Scout master would only shake my hand that way after that.

My troop had a little shack next to a church, any major ceremony were held in the church. We rarely did anything religious like. Considering most of our leaders were Deans/Deacons of that church but i never felt pressured or bible thumped which is rare for East texas. I do remember we would gather up and hold hands at the end of each meeting but it was more like a 45 second rundown of what we did/going to do next week. Honestly i cant remember if that was a prayer circle or not lol. Been so long since i've thought about that part of my life.

If your kid is not doing anything or not showing any interests in sports/learning an instrument/arts what have you have him sit in on a few meetings even go on a camping trip. At worst he has to suffer being away from a computer/tv during the weekend and sleeping on the ground. Its a great way to gain decent friends and maybe learn some shit. One time we had a new kid join my troop this guy was pretty stand offish ended up bumping heads with him once during a camping trip. After that tussle we became great friends till he moved away 13 years ago. Low and behold i moved into my new place last December guess who's my next door neighbor!

[Kohan]

Those other groups are all well and good as long as youre ok with it basically just being a somewhat ragtag group of adults and kids without any real regulation or guidance - but again, depends on the group.

If you're talking about the Navigators and Camp Fire, no, they're not "ragtag." As mentioned, Camp Fire started at about the same time as the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, as they all came out of the scouting movement in the beginning of the 1900's.

While the Navigators USA organization is much newer, having started in the early 2000s, that doesn't mean it's haphazard. It's been growing steadily since its conception.

Implying that either of these groups lack regulation or guidance is condescending, as it implies that the Boy Scouts is somehow an extraordinary organization, or some kind of herculean undertaking—and it's scouting. Considering that it was born out of the scouting movement, and that plenty of people have come and gone from it over the years, it isn't as if no one has the competence necessary to create another like-organization (and again, Camp Fire has been around just as long as it has, regardless).

However, it is true that the Boy Scouts are looked at more positively than anything else when it comes to networking.

[BaneTheBrawler]

i thought he was going the other way with that comment- that those other orgs aren't as focused or regimented as Scouts. not necessarily a bad thing.

[Sho]

(the last guy is probably still play Everquest in his parents basement)

Sadness. I made First Class Scout, I don't regret it either at all outside of not going for Eagle. Point of it all was to teach boys how to become men, but more so how to adapt to situations and read your surroundings. Shit comes in handy when you apply basic scout principles to situations.

I'd definitely push my son to become a Cub Scout if he was interested, and would even go further and become an Adult Leader. Alas, I have no kids. >_>

[Abandon]

good

[Dimmauk]

LMAO@ the Order of the arrow handshake. I remember that shit too.

[archibaldcrane]

I'm cracking up at how many of us were in boy scouts.

By the time your boy is old enough to know his sexuality they will have dropped the gay ban bullshit. If he likes it, sign him up - you live in SoCal, getting that boy out into nature a bit will do him good.

[shidobu]

LMAO@ the Order of the arrow handshake. I remember that shit too.

glad i wasn't the only one.

[Krazy]

I was in boy scouts in a real small town. We had our meetings in a church and they'd have us pray before and after the meeting. Well, I'd just stand there with my eyes closed. I wouldn't force a kid into it, but if they wanted to, it was fun for the most part.

[Rollercoaster]

I was in Girl Scouts and my troop was definitely religious compared to others (Oregon). Almost everyone I've met said they LOVED their time involved with the GS... but I looking back I now feel really uncomfortable as I honestly think they were grooming us to be good housewives. Every other troop went on camping trips and did fun activities while I was stuck doing dishes in the kitchen, cleaning, or making prayer shawls. The most fun I got to do was a week long summer camp but that wasn't troop based and you had to sign up. We got to make crafts and go hiking which was awesome and made me wish I got to do that all the time. To add, our weekly meetings were always held in a church and we were involved in some of their churchy things.

I would not put my potential kids in the scouts but rather some other kind of outdoor program that is for both boys and girls. I volunteered to be a counselor at an outdoor program here when I was 16 and it was a lot more fun and informative than anything I ever learned in the scouts.

[mightyg]

Yeah I think the majority of scout troops aren't there to shove religion down your throat. But it is there in the oath etc. Mostly symbolic. Anyways the best and most important part about scouting is getting out and experiencing the great outdoors. That's what I found most valuable about it. Community service and the friendships are also great for kids, but nothing puts the appreciation of all the benefits we have living in a modern society like spending a week hiking with hardly any of it. Kids have very few opportunities to really get out of their bubble and scouts can definitely deliver on that for better and worse.

[Ksandra]

I was in Girl Scouts and my troop was definitely religious compared to others (Oregon). Almost everyone I've met said they LOVED their time involved with the GS... but I looking back I now feel really uncomfortable as I honestly think they were grooming us to be good housewives. Every other troop went on camping trips and did fun activities while I was stuck doing dishes in the kitchen, cleaning, or making prayer shawls. The most fun I got to do was a week long summer camp but that wasn't troop based and you had to sign up. We got to make crafts and go hiking which was awesome and made me wish I got to do that all the time. To add, our weekly meetings were always held in a church and we were involved in some of their churchy things.

I would not put my potential kids in the scouts but rather some other kind of outdoor program that is for both boys and girls. I volunteered to be a counselor at an outdoor program here when I was 16 and it was a lot more fun and informative than anything I ever learned in the scouts.

That is definitely not the norm for GS at all, and they are further along the secular path than BS.

I plan to volunteer when it comes to GS, and possible even be a troop leader someday. My girl is getting out in nature a lot in either situation. Luckily, since I live in such a highly populated area, I can have an easier time picking out which troop she should join. I want to find an active one for sure.

This obviously also goes for my son, except I think my volunteering would probably be more limited, and more my husband doing it.