This weekend we are at one of the last family camp outs for my son before he crosses over to Boy Scouts. Tried a few new things like Mtn House for dinner on Friday night (10 pack on sale at Costco) and fewer blankets for the kids but sleeping in a ridge-rest pad. We have still got to find a way to slim down what we pack but overall this has been pretty successful. Especially since my wife has a tendency to get cold and be unable to warm back up, things have gone swimmingly.
I remember cub scouts well . My mom was a den leader. I am sure you are going to have a great time watching him learn and advance. Did not get the chance to get my girlfriend's son involved but he loves primitive camping
Getting our son involved in Scouting was the best thing we ever did for him. As a Tiger Cub he was actually afraid of swimming no matter what we tried and by the time he was done with his second year of summer camp we couldn't keep him out of the water. Even did the mile swim a couple years ago. He's a Life Scout now and starting his Eagle project in a few weeks. @DarkLight If he's packing too much gear the Scoutmaster will help pare down his load. Every time he earns a merit badge tell him you're proud of him ! Keep that boy interested in Scouts and he'll be all set for life !
I would counter that. Some lessons are best self taught. When finds out what he didn't use, he'll leave it home next time.
Scouting is probably why I am where I am today. It gave me a goal, once you have the goal you never look back.
When I lived in Texas, I was a Scoutmaster. We worked on the tough things, the Hiking merit badge, the emergency preparedness badge. I had two friends, husband and wife that were NRA approved instructors, they helped the scouts get the rifle shooting badge. We did the 50 mile canoe trip, went to winter camp in tents (26 degree weather), hiking in the desert in July (6am-"everybody up, we are hiking now!") It was a very rewarding part of my life.
We went camping every single month, except when the cops shut down the roads due to snow Emergancy. There were a few trips, where about all we did was hunt firewood, and weatherproof our shelters.
I still have my winter "Freeze" sweet shirt, you know the one that was for camping in below freezing and in our case it rained/sleeted and snowed as well. No screw arounds the Badges were earned.