I'm asked the question often by perspective parents. This is probably the best answer to that question I have ever heard - written by a parent and a scoutmaster. This was sent to me by a fellow Scouter, and was posted to a Yahoo group for Scouters in New Jersey. For those of you who may be curious to the answer, this is pretty much it. Enjoy.
What will Scouting do for my son? I have two answers to that question - one long, and one short. I'll give you the longer answer first.
In a post on an online Scouting forum, someone talked about the son of his who did very well for himself playing soccer, and defended those who encourage their sons to devote massive amounts of time to the sport. I have also seen posts from parents who talk of how their sons who play sports sit on the bench in the hope of getting 5 minutes of playing time, or have to skip a camping trip in the hope of getting into a game at all. More than once, I have heard of coaches who will make a boy run laps around the field if he is late to practice, will give him only minimal playing time if he skips practice to go to a Scouting event, and will bench him entirely for a game if he skips a previous game to go camping with his Boy Scout troop. I do not, for a single minute, wish to give the impression that I am painting all youth sports teams with this same brush, or denigrate those who play sports because they enjoy playing; but all too often I have heard of increasing pressures to have a boy (or girl) practice a sport six days a week, and then play a sport practically year-round in order to develop superior skills and "become known" -- perhaps winning a college scholarship - and then they either "burn out" or suffer an injury that ends their playing days. Even if this doesn't happen, the day almost always comes when there is no longer a team on which the boy or girl can play; and at best they can look forward to coaching, or to playing an occasional game (which gets tougher to do as they get older). I remember the boys across the street leaving their houses before sunrise, or late in the evening, to go to some rink where ice time was available for the boys' hockey teams. Of course, they laughed derisively when I suggested that they try Cub or Boy Scouts. Eventually, the level of competition exceeded the boys' abilities; and now, as young men, they don't play at all, and will probably never touch a hockey stick again unless they have sons of their own.
Things like this do not happen in Scouting. Scouts play every inning, every down, every period and every quarter. No one gets stuck in right field while the "best" on the team play shortstop or pitch. They play all positions, both offense and defense; and eventually, they do some coaching as well. The adults are there to support and advise them, not run the troop. No one rides the bench, or gets into Scouting activities only at "garbage time". No one "runs laps" because he is late for a meeting or camping trip, gets kicked out of the troop for choosing some other activity over a camping trip, or has his devotion to Scouting questioned because he has other interests. No one suffers a repetitive stress injury that prevents him from ever going camping again; and no one ever goes on so many camping trips, twelve months a year, that he "burns out" and can't bear to think of ever going camping again. The same teamwork, discipline and need for good leadership necessary for success in sports is found in Scouting -- just look at any properly functioning patrol. The "level of competition" in Scouting -- if one might call it that -- never pushes anyone "off of the team". And then, when the boy gets to be too old to be a "member of the Scouting team", he doesn't have to stop playing and switch to coaching, or try to find a "mens' league" where he can play, once in a while. He can still play the "game of Scouting", although now in an advisory role. Had I been involved in youth sports as a boy, I wouldn't be able to play in some "men's league", at my age (59), without risking serious injury to myself; but as a Scouter, I can do almost everything I did as a Boy Scout in the 1960s. Not only that, I don't have to wait for a Scouting event to do it; I can do it every day of my life.
Youth sports certainly has its place in our communities; but I can see no better program, for our boys than Scouting - the one program which seeks to improve the character of young people through an emphasis on the outdoors, youth-led units and the "patrol method". The boy who plays youth sports can earn distinctions aplenty, such as awards, certificates, and captaincies. He can travel to many different places - some very far away -- to play his sport. Well, Scouting can provide those same things as well, in many more areas than a sports team can; and Scouting can also provide something for which there is no real equivalent in youth sports. A Boy Scout who earns Eagle Scout rank, the highest one in Scouting, is a boy who doesn't have to say that he CAN lead others; he can show that he has DONE it. The Trail to Eagle is so arduous (but not impossible to travel) that only two out of every hundred Scouts ever earn that rank; but having earned it, he has a distinction which he can present to college or trade school admission committees, or prospective employers - and they WILL take note of his achievement. Whatever the course an Eagle Scout's life may take, he will go through like with an invaluable set of skills which he learned in Scouting. Apart from that, the skills he will learn in Scouting will serve him well, every day, for the rest of his life. Knowing how to throw or hit a baseball, shoot a puck, pass or catch a football, or shoot baskets is certainly useful when you are playing the sport in question; but rarely will those skills be called upon when your boy becomes a man.
That's the long answer; now, for the short answer. Think of what's in your pants pocket right now - or, if you're not wearing a pair of pants with pockets, think of a backpack or purse that you own. Think of what's in there - or isn't in there. Now, if I were to ask you all how those items got in there, your answers would be almost identical - "I put them in there." However, those items are of only potential to use to you as long as they are in there. You have to reach in and take them out to make use of them.
That, as Dad and Granddad said, is the essence of Scouting. A boy will get out of Scouting what he puts into it. As in the case of parents who allow their son to earn pocket money by performing various tasks around the house, the adult leaders of your son's troop will make it possible for your son to put items in his "Scouting pocket" - but they cannot put it there themselves. The Scout must do that himself. And, as with whatever is in the pocket of his pants, the contents of his Scouting pocket are of little use to him unless he reaches in, takes out one or more items, and puts them to use. It is our hope that, by the time your son has spent (we hope) several happy years in our ranks and is ready for manhood, his Scouting pocket will be crammed full of useful things. We hope that your son will make a lifetime's use out of what he learns as a Boy Scout, and we will encourage him to do so; but whether or not that happens is up to him. It's his pocket; and only he can reach into it.
