Why Scouts Are a Good Activity for Kids

By Rosemary Daniels
Thinking about back to school activities for your child? If you have never been involved in Scouting, you may wonder why 11,169 girls and 6,181 in Monmouth and Ocean counties participate each year. Here are some of the areas that the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts of America set as the cornerstones of their programs:

Scouts Provide Service to the Community – All levels of scouting embrace this charge. Even as they are having fun, these boys and girls are making a positive impact on their local and worldwide community. Girl Scout troop 856 give a percentage of their cookie profits each year to “Nothing but Net,” an organization which provides sleeping nets to children in malaria-wracked African countries. Locally, they have picked produce to benefit a food bank, and each year have donated pajamas and books to the NJ chapter of Pajama Program, run out of Poricy Park in Middletown.

At the highest level of Scouting – Eagle for boys, Gold Award for girls – a scout proposes and gains approval for a plan which will have a long-lasting benefit to their community. Then they must raise money and/or gather a team in order to execute the plan. Finally, they share the results of the project in order to achieve this highest designation. Many Boy Scouts in Middletown have chosen to restore local, historic cemeteries, notes Mayor Gerard Scharfenberger. “As chairman of the Landmarks Commission, this is especially important to me. These guys do a full-scale job, fixing steps, restoring gravestones. It’s amazing what they’ve done over there.”
Scouting Builds Character – Two recent studies confirm the positive effect Scouting can have on kids and teens.
In a three-year study done by Tufts University (2012-2015), 1,800 Cub Scouts and 400 non-scouts were studied to see what impact Scouts might have on character. In a summary of results taken from the Boy Scouts website, Dr. Richard M. Lerner, who led the study, said, “After three years, Scouts reported significant increases in cheerfulness, helpfulness, kindness, obedience, trustworthiness, and hopeful future expectation. In our control group of non-Scouts, there were no significant increases, and in some cases (e.g., religious reverence) there was an observed decrease, which was quite striking.”
The Girls Scouts conducted a survey of their alumnae in 2012, and found that

• 95 percent feel they have had success in life, compared with 82 percent of non-alumnae
• 70 percent strongly feel they lead a purposeful and meaningful life, compared with 42 percent of non-alumnae
• 70 percent are very active in volunteer work/community service, compared with 41 percent of non-alumnae.

Scouts Have Fun – Scouts find plenty of time to have fun, too. Over this past school year, Troop 290 in Colts Neck has gone to a shooting range, shot the white water rapids, visited the White House and Spy Museum in Washington, D.C., gone skiing, camped at a mine in Pennsylvania, and spent a week at the national Scout camp in West Virginia. Girl Scout Troop 856 zip-lined their way from Brownies to Juniors at a crossover ceremony at Camp Sacajawea in Farmingdale.
What would the scouts tell you? Check in with this family in Colts Neck who has four scouts in their brood. Caleb says he likes, “Learning useful skills that can help you become a better person and a better camper. His brother Josh agrees adding, “Going camping and being able to be outside and see things I normally don’t see.”
Representing the Girl Scouts, Jayna Sass said, “I like Girl Scouts because I get to have fun and do new things. For example, making bath bombs and pumpkin pancakes.”
Not to be outdone, Kiki offers the final word, “I like Girl Scouts because it teaches you skills that can be helpful in a problem or help you in the future.”
Mom Caroline volunteers her time to the Scouts, and says, “Scouting enables them to find new and exciting opportunities in possible careers as well as cultivating lifelong friendships. It helps them tap into new and exciting ventures as well as participating in a variety of volunteer experiences. It’s just all good!”
Although children can join scouting at any point, there are different groups, separated by grade. For Boy Scouts, the youngest level of Cub Scouting is Tiger Scout (1^st grade), followed by Wolf Scout (2^nd), Bear Scout (3^rd grade), and Weblos (4^th-5^th). Boy Scouting starts at age 11, and proceeds from Tenderfoot to Eagle, depending the achievement of specific goals and activities. Girl Scouts have six levels: Daisy (Kindergarten-1^st), Brownie (2^nd-3^rd), Junior (4^th-5^th), Cadette (6^th-8^th), Senior (9^th-10^th), and Ambassador (11^th-12^th).
For more information about Scouts visit: beascout.scouting.org for Boy Scouts, and jerseyshoregirlscouts.org for Girl Scouts.

This article originally appeared in the August 4 issue of The Two River Times newspaper.