BSA Resources about Serving Today’s Families | Scouting.org/family

Serving Today’s Families

BSA’s mission is to prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them the values of the Scout Oath and Scout Law.

Our priority is to bring the benefits of Scouting to more youth while remaining true to our mission.

We are excited to announce beginning in 2018, our Cub Scouts program will be open to boys and girls. By welcoming both girls and boys into the program, even more youth will have access to the character development and values-based leadership that Scouting promises and be better prepared for future success.

Ref:  https://www.scouting.org/familyscouting

Advertisements

International Volunteers Day. Scouts Helping Communities In Need. Be Prepared for Emergencies

#ScoutVolunteers train #Scouts to #BePreparedForEmergencies #OutdoorsLearning for real emergencies. ==> #Repost @worldscouting

When natural disaster struck be it in Mexico, Sri Lanka, Haiti, Ecuador, or the Philippines and humanitarian response was needed, #Scouts were among the #VolunteersActFirst to help the community.

Scouts from Troop 182 in Jacksonville, Florida volunteered to collect donations for Puerto Rico Disaster Relief after Hurricane Maria.

Scouts always ready to support their communities in need.

This Webelos Scout’s campaign video for fifth-grade vice president is Oscar-worthy — Bryan on Scouting

Leave it to a Webelos Scout to devise a campaign video that’s positive, uplifting and downright awesome. Alexander Miles is a member of Pack 695 of the Sam Houston Area Council. In October, Alexander ran for vice president of his fifth-grade class at the Kinkaid School in Houston. It was an exercise in the democratic…

via This Webelos Scout’s campaign video for fifth-grade vice president is Oscar-worthy — Bryan on Scouting

Time. Teaching Scouts How To Make Better Use Of It

Why extreme time management is important?

We studied how to teach Scouts how to make better use of their time as part of a national focus group of four National Distinguished Scoutmasters. We found out that in order to improve the time management skills of young Scouts, they need go beyond and focus on better planning and goals setting skills. We committed to test these ideas in our troops and to expand these ideas to others. We produced this presentation and we shared with Boy Scouts of America. We did presentations to our councils, districts, and troops and share these concepts. Beyond Scouting time management is also an issue.

Extreme time management is just a product of combining these ideas with different personal leadership and management skills. It is the process of searching in our personal beliefs, values, and priorities to be the person we want to be. It is about using management resources to master our time, our days, our life. Life is a finite number of years, months, weeks, and days. Every day is a new page in our journal. Let’s make each hour, minute, and second a great experience to remember. Life is a continuous learning adventure if you master your time.

Time: Time: teaching scouts how to make better use of it from Dr. Jose G. Lepervanche. Aug 27, 2012

Outdoor Learning Areas for Autistic Students | Boy’s Life Eagle Project

Thomas and his helpers built three distinctive and unique outdoor learning environments for the students and staff of Celebrate the Children, located in Denville, N.J.

The first phase of the project included building benches made out of tree stumps with wood bench tops. The next phase of the project included building foldable and movable benches, which allows the students to learn in different locations and different arrangements. The final phase of the project included building a cedar teepee, used as a cool-down zone for the students.

— Thomas, Troop 118, Denville, N.J.

Source: https://eagleprojects.boyslife.org/outdoor-learning-for-the-autistic-students-of-denville 

Not just the Boy Scouts of America | Sarah Wyman | Medium

Lessons from a ‘former’ Sea Scout who still think and write as Sea Scout. Once a Sea Scout, always a Sea Scout. ==> “Thanks to Mariners, I went on to sail in college, and I had the opportunity to develop many of the qualities and interests which led me to become a journalist. The women I met in the program became politicians, offshore wind engineers and Coast Guard officers. Their experience serving in leadership positions and advancing in the ranks of the Sea Scouts helped them get there.”

via Not just the Boy Scouts of America – Sarah Wyman – Medium

The BSA Expands Programs to Welcome Girls from Cub Scouts to Highest Rank of Eagle Scout | Scouting Newsroom

Research reinforces interest expressed by families and girls nationwide as organization looks to offer programs that meet the needs of today’s families

Irving, Texas – October 11, 2017 – Today, the Boy Scouts of America Board of Directors unanimously approved to welcome girls into its iconic Cub Scout program and to deliver a Scouting program for older girls that will enable them to advance and earn the highest rank of Eagle Scout. The historic decision comes after years of receiving requests from families and girls, the organization evaluated the results of numerous research efforts, gaining input from current members and leaders, as well as parents and girls who’ve never been involved in Scouting – to understand how to offer families an important additional choice in meeting the character development needs of all their children.

“This decision is true to the BSA’s mission and core values outlined in the Scout Oath and Law. The values of Scouting – trustworthy, loyal, helpful, kind, brave and reverent, for example – are important for both young men and women,” said Michael Surbaugh, the BSA’s Chief Scout Executive. “We believe it is critical to evolve how our programs meet the needs of families interested in positive and lifelong experiences for their children. We strive to bring what our organization does best – developing character and leadership for young people – to as many families and youth as possible as we help shape the next generation of leaders.”

Families today are busier and more diverse than ever. Most are dual-earners and there are more single-parent households than ever before [1], making convenient programs that serve the whole family more appealing. Additionally, many groups currently underserved by Scouting, including the Hispanic and Asian communities, prefer to participate in activities as a family. Recent surveys [2] of parents not involved with Scouting showed high interest in getting their daughters signed up for programs like Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts, with 90 percent expressing interest in a program like Cub Scouts and 87 percent expressing interest in a program like Boy Scouts.  Education experts also evaluated the curriculum and content and confirmed relevancy of the program for young women.

“The BSA’s record of producing leaders with high character and integrity is amazing” said Randall Stephenson, BSA’s national board chairman. “I’ve seen nothing that develops leadership skills and discipline like this organization.  It is time to make these outstanding leadership development programs available to girls.”

Starting in the 2018 program year, families can choose to sign up their sons and daughters for Cub Scouts. Existing packs may choose to establish a new girl pack, establish a pack that consists of girl dens and boy dens or remain an all-boy pack.  Cub Scout dens will be single-gender — all boys or all girls. Using the same curriculum as the Boy Scouts program, the organization will also deliver a program for older girls, which will be announced in 2018 and projected to be available in 2019, that will enable them to earn the Eagle Scout rank. This unique approach allows the organization to maintain the integrity of the single gender model while also meeting the needs of today’s families.

This decision expands the programs that the Boy Scouts of America offers for both boys and girls. Although known for its iconic programs for boys, the BSA has offered co-ed programs since 1971 through Exploring and the Venturing program, which celebrates its 20^th anniversary in 2018. The STEM Scout pilot program is also available for both boys and girls.

For more information about the expanded opportunities for family Scouting, please visit the family Scouting page.

About the Boy Scouts of America

The Boy Scouts of America provides the nation’s foremost youth program of character development and values-based leadership training, which helps young people be “Prepared. For Life.®” The Scouting organization is composed of nearly 2.3 million youth members between the ages of 7 and 21 and approximately 960,000 volunteers in local councils throughout the United States and its territories. For more information on the Boy Scouts of America, please visit www.scouting.org.

 

[1] PEW Research Center survey conducted Sept. 15 – Oct. 13, 2015 among 1,807 U.S. parents with children younger than 18.

[2] BSA surveys included two external surveys and four internal surveys conducted from April to September 2017. Surveys were conducted online.
via The BSA Expands Programs to Welcome Girls from Cub Scouts to Highest Rank of Eagle Scout – Scouting Newsroom