What Benefits does Scouting Offer Your Child?

Scouting America is an organization that strives to give young men and women the knowledge, skills, and life lessons that will help them mature and succeed as they become adults. The organization offers boys and girls various benefits, including friendship, education, leadership opportunities, and the chance to grow and thrive in a healthy, rewarding environment. Scouting developed during the early 1900s, when men such as Robert Baden-Powell in England and William Boyce and Ernest Thompson Seton in the United States started organizing groups of boys and girls and teaching them outdoors skills, environmentalism, and civic responsibility. Since then, scouting organizations have helped millions of boys and girls around the world. Although the term "boy scouts" often refers to the Boy Scouts of America now called Scouts BSA, it also might be used to refer to scouting organizations in other countries, all of which typically offer the same types of benefits.

Leadership and Cooperation

A child who participates in Scouting can expect to have a lot of fun, work hard, learn, and grow physically and mentally. Cub Scouts and Scouts BSA emphasizes both leadership and cooperation. Each local group of Scouts is further broken down into smaller groups called Packs and Dens. Each den works as a team, sometimes competing against other dens and sometimes working together with them. These essential leadership and cooperation lessons can prove helpful later in life and translate directly to working with neighbors and dealing with business associates.

Values Taught

Scouts also emphasize good living and a positive attitude. This emphasis can be seen in the Scout Oath, Scout Law, and Scout Slogan, which Scouts often recite. The Scout Oath, or Scout Promise, states: "On my honor, I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law; To help other people at all times; To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight." There are 12 values stated in the Scout Law: "A scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent." The Scout Slogan is, "Do a good turn daily."

These moral values are taught to Scouts and are practiced in community service projects. Scouts are often involved in churches and various community organizations to help the homeless, clean up parks and public areas, visit shut-ins, encourage public safety, and step in wherever needed to benefit the community. Each Scout must perform a community service project to achieve the highest rank, which is that of Eagle Scout (Scouts BSA).

Knowledge and Skills

Scouting also offers its members a wealth of useful knowledge and skills in areas such as wilderness survival, camping, fishing, photography, and science. As Scouts learn about these topics and gain new skills, they can earn merit badges and belt loops to show the topics about which they have learned. Merit badges and belt loops are available in dozens of subjects in various fields, such as citizenship in the nation, astronomy, soil and water conservation, hiking, and genealogy. By earning belt loops and adventure pins, Scouts can learn information that might be useful and develop skills and the confidence that goes with them, all of which can serve them throughout their lives.

Lessons for Life

The time spent in Scouting benefits a child in many ways. The friends they make, the work ethic and morality they develop, the community service they practice, and the knowledge and skills they gain can help them throughout their life. Even long after the days in Scouting are over, an adult still can remember that they should be courteous and kind and do a good turn daily.

If you have further questions or would like to visit us at one of our pack activities feel free to reach out on our contact page and we will get back to you right away.

Yours in Scouting, Pack 248