Joining New Units

We relocated to beautiful Colorado. The kids are settled into school. We were fortunate enough to have a great scouting experience in Arizona and Minnesota. In both locations, we built strong relationships with Scouters and we consider them to be great friends. Now that we have moved, we needed to find new units for our boys.

When we moved to Minnesota, I did most of the looking and deciding for the boys. This time around, the boys did their own picking. Our youngest boy seems to be very happy with his new Pack. His Cubmaster showed up to the Pack meeting in a costume. During the Pack meeting, the boys made popcorn balls… what else to kick-off the popcorn selling season.

With our oldest, he checked out two units. Both units had great reputations within the community. The first one he visited was having their Court of Honor. A bit of a lusterless ceremony for the hard work, the boys did over the summer. My son did not know any of the boys in that troop. I suggested he ask some of his classmates if they were in Scouts and what unit they were in. All of them were in the same unit. My son and I went to check out the second unit. They were planning a campout. The Scoutmaster did very little during the meeting (definitely boy lead). There were several parents at the meeting, all of them with their heads down working on Scout matters (advancement chair, popcorn chair, and an outdoor coordinator). By the end of the meeting, my son said he wanted to go camping and join this troop.

I knew my son had picked a good troop, when the scoutmaster had a quick meeting with the boys. Buddy system at all times, no smell-ables in the tents, and get your tents up and meet back in 20 minutes. When I saw some of the younger boys struggling with the tent, I attempted to help them out. The Scoutmaster politely told me they would figure it out. Very cool! After the tents were up, the Scoutmaster gave the boys a half hour to explore the area with their buddy.

It has only been a week of meetings and events, but I think the boys will have some good experiences a head of them.

We have been involved with scouting for several years and have been involved in several packs and a few troops. We have seen some great units and some checkbox units. When it comes down to it, the boys are the ones that determine if scouting is going to be fun. If they get involved, they will have fun. Do your best and be prepared!

Lead by Example,

Scouter Steve