Family Scouts - a New Guide to Creating Your Own Scouting Group for Boys and Girls

My wife an I decided to get our children involved in scouting because we believe in keeping our kids active and letting them participate in interesting and educational programs. We home school our children which we find is quickly becoming a new phenomenon in our country. Being home schoolers we spend a lot of time doing research and trying to find programs that are in alignment with our beliefs. We want our children to spend time together and to be part of something that includes both boys and girls.

I started by researching the long term programs such as Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. What I have found is a maze of classes, requirements, and fees aimed at making the parent qualified to spend time with their child doing an activity. There were two basic things that were concerning.

1. Most of the top-heavy bureaucracy involved in both groups involved more focus on giving the parent something to do than the child.

2. There were so many fees involved with every step of developing a local meeting that it seemed far too commercialized to be something I want my kids in.

I had to ask myself some important questions. Why do I want my children in involved in scouting?

Why do I want my children involved in scouting?

We want our children to be involved in a meaningful group of kids that focuses on values, beliefs, and our community. We want our kids to have fun, adventure, educational activities, outdoor appreciation, exercise. We want our kids to understand other cultures, back rounds, languages.

Who will be able to participate?

Everyone in the community that wants to participate in the group may participate. There shouldn't be any requirement for money to qualify. The group should include kids, parents, grandparents, local business leaders, etc. We don't want our kids to think that boys have a certain role and girls have a certain role.

What is the purpose of scouting?

To get closer to my kids, to have fun with my kids, to learn and grow with my kids, to meet other people, to have my kids meet other kids.

These are important aspects to consider. After reviewing numerous groups over several weeks of research my wife and I decided to start our own group. We call it Family Scouts. Our scouting group includes everyone with no cost or obligation. You don't have to qualify to participate.

If you are looking to start your own kind of scouting group we encourage you to think about these things:

Decide on a name for yourselves. Call yourself "The Sacramento Family Scouts" if you want.

1. Develop a mission statement. This is no different than any business or other kind of group. A one paragraph reason for existing. It will give everyone that hears about your group a quick understanding of what you do and why.

2. Develop your Values list. Come up with 3 to 10 values that you want your group to stand for. This gives all participants a detailed understanding of what you want to accomplish with the group.

3. Develop your activities list. Make a list of all the kinds of activities you would like to do over the next few months and try to come up with as many different categories as possible. Develop a way for your kids to earn prizes and/or patches for participating. We want our kids to learn the pledge of allegiance and to help teach the other kids in the group. If they can recite the pledge of allegiance and have helped one other child learn it they earn a flag patch for their vest. You can come up with thousands of different kinds of activities and patches or certificates. You can find thousands of patches on line, at Walmart, or numerous other places. You can find printable certificates at any local office supply store as well as most Publishing software comes with printable certificates as a standard.

4. Don't just think about physical activities. Use your local business and community leaders as resources for learning activities. Schedule a group visit to your local fire department or religious site. Get as creative as you can and make it exciting for the kids. Don't stay within just your own culture of religious back round. The world will become a better place when we learn to grow and understand people that are different from ourselves. We need our children to learn this. It's OK to talk about the differences in boys and girls but stay away from trying to make your kids believe they must fill a particular role. If you love your kids you will let them find their own likes and dislikes. Our job is to give them options and teach them their core beliefs. After all they are our kids. But they are not us. They are their own people and they will grow, form opinions, and in the end they will be different than what our vision is. We can be good parents, provide support, provide guidance, provide a loving environment, tell them our thoughts, discipline when necessary. More important than almost anything, we can give them a sense of purpose, stewardship, and responsibility to create a better world.

5. Start a group page on yahoo or google. Its free and will allow you to organize group pictures, posts, activities, events, membership, etc. It won't cost your group any money but will provide some legitimacy to what you are doing. The more you post to your group page the more people want to look and get involved.

I hope that your family finds a way to develop a scouting group that gives you as much satisfaction as ours.