Cub Scouts

my oldest has been in it since kindy and is now in 5th grade. (we don't know if he'll do boy scouts yet next year.) he's made great friends, grown socially, learned survival skills that are important...i could go on and on! i like the fact that you can be as involved as you want or as little involved as you want. you don't have to go to every event or be a den leader if you don't want to. and the kids still get a great experience. i had a psychiatrist once tell me it was hands down one of the best thing for a boy to do for social skills.

edited to add: you can technically start the summer between kindy and 1st grade, so that's why i call it kindy.

I agree, Scouts is the best thing for boys. Both of my boys have been in since 1st grade. The oldest is in 6th grade and has moved to Boy Scouts. They learn how to lead and be lead. They will both be working on their Eagles before I know it. It is very good for them socially and helps with school also.

Hope this helps.

k

My son is working on his Eagle in scouts....it is the best program for your son. Girl Scouts is not as well-organized as Boy Scouts (yet. they're trying) and it is a huge accomplishment to go all the way through the program and earn an Eagle.

When we moved here 11 years ago with all the select sports and private lessons that all my friends were doing with their kids, I chose to put my kids in scouts and have that be "their thing". My kids, though active, are not athletes, and it was a given that they were not musical geniuses either...so we started scouts and they all three have almost completed their scout programs. It'll look good on a resume, college application etc too.

And it was cheaper than select soccer or baseball. And my son started traveling at age 11 without us all over the states... he's been on week long trips to New Mexico, Colorado, Tennessee, Okalahoma etc. Many in our troop have gone farther.

They usually raise most of the funds for these trips by selling popcorn and doing carwashes... so you pay relatively little for these great adventures.

Good luck!

Can I add to this and ask how they got in when they were in Kinder? We picked up a paper at school, but it said they couldnt join at 5, then I just went to the site and it says "Cub Scouting is for boys in the first through fifth grades, or 7 to 10 years of age". Just wondering :)

IF you have a good leader you will have a great time. My son has been in since Kindergarten and he is now in third grade. Camp outs, service projects lots of learning about he environment. It is really fun!
CH