Scouts Honor!

My oldest grandson who is nine became a cub scout when he was eight years old. He is a very smart boy and scouting is another avenue that he and his parents have to keep his mind busy and growing. Scouting offers new experiences, opportunities to serve others, it helps to build confidence, and it reinforces ethical standards. All very good things!

I have had a wonderful time sharing in the Pinewood derbies, pancake breakfasts, and pack meetings with my grandson. Seeing the love and support that he gets from his parents is a very good thing as well.

The skills and ethical standards he is gaining through scouting as a child is something that he will carry with him throughout his adult life. I have heard so many stories on how being an Eagle Scout helped to land a great job.

Boy Scouts of America has a wonderful website that outlines the benefits of scouting.

http://www.scouting.org/Parent/Benefits.aspx

In today's world I believe scouting for boys is more important than ever. Parents who support scouting and their sons in the scouting program are giving their boys a gift that will be with them forever.  The 12 points of the Scout Law will not only bless them now as young boys but also as they become young adults, husbands, fathers, businessmen, neighbors, and our community and our nation's leaders.

On the Boy Scouts of America website it gives an accounting of how scouting carries through to adult life: 

As youth, Scouts are taught to live by a code of conduct exemplified in the 12 points of the Scout Law, and they continue to live by these laws in adulthood.

• Trustworthy: The majority of Scouts agreed that Scouting has taught them always to be honest (75 percent) and to be a leader (76 percent).
• Loyal: Eighty-eight percent of Scouts are proud to live in the USA, and 83 percent say spending time with family is important to them.
• Helpful: Eight out of 10 Scouts surveyed believed that helping others should come before their own self-interest.
• Friendly: Eighty percent of Scouts say that Scouting has taught them to treat others with respect and (78 percent) to get along with others.
• Courteous: Almost nine of 10 Scouts (87 percent) believe older people should be treated with respect.
• Kind: Most Scouts agree (78 percent) Scouting has taught them to care or other people, while 43 percent say their skills in helping other people in need are “excellent.”
• Obedient: Boys in Scouting five years or more are more likely than boys who have never been in Scouts to reject peer pressure to hang out with youth they know commit delinquent acts (61 percent vs. 53 percent).
• Cheerful: Overall, Scouts are happy with their schools (78 percent) and their neighborhoods (79 percent). However, because Scouting builds such high ideals in youth, Scouts are less satisfied than non-Scouts with the state of the world today (47 percent vs. 52 percent).
• Thrifty: More than eight out of 10 Scouts (82 percent) say that saving money for the future is a priority.
• Brave: Eighty percent of Scouts say Scouting has taught them to have confidence in themselves, and 51 percent rate their self-confidence as “excellent.”
• Clean: Nearly the same number of Scouts (79 percent) agree that Scouting has taught them to take better care of the environment and that Scouting has increased their interest in physical fitness.
• Reverent: Scouting experience also influences religious service attendance. Eighty-three percent of men who were Scouts five or more years say attending religious services together as a family is “very important,” versus 77 percent of men who had never been Scouts.