First After School Activity

[Ginafish]

If you have any experience with Boy Scouts or Martial Arts classes, any pros and cons you could write about would be appreciated.

Things to consider:
how much time does this activity take up?
How much does this activity cost?
Does it involve parental involvement?
If your vote is for martial arts, do you recommend a specific discipline?
If your vote is for "no after school activities", is there an appropriate age for after school activities?

[PK]

Boy Scouts. I did it and everything seemed to have turned out ok.

Then again; I'm unemployed, unmarried, hiding from the IRS overseas, and in massive creditcard debt. Too bad the Boy Scouts don't have patches for those things. lol

Just kidding. I think either Boy Scouts or Martial Arts. Each have their benefits.

[The King]

Martial arts, it teaches kids respect, perseverance, and it's healthy.

It also teaches them to defend themselves, some martial arts even go as far as teaching them how to bring their opponent to a point of pain where they give up without causing enough damage to leave any serious injury. I used to do Tae Kwon Do, it's good for young children, but for those of us who want something more intricate and aerobic it's a bit simplistic.

[wendygirl]

My brother was in BoyScouts and achieved Eagle.  I was in Campfire.  I think these activities are good because they involve social interaction, learning, and fun.  I don't think a child that age should be involved in more than one (maybe two) activities because then they have no time for family and parents become little more than chauffeurs.

I do recommend Martial Arts as well.  I have been taking TaeKwonDo for about four years and love it.  I have watched the kids who started the same time I did and have noticed very positive changes in discipline, attention span and self-confidence.  At my school you can attend between one class or seven classes a week; just depends on your schedule and interest.  But you will learn faster and get more health benefits if you go more often. 

The key is to find something the child finds interesting and fun.  Don't be afraid to try different things.

[KitKat]

Hi Ginafish, have you made a decision about which after school activity your son will be doing?

[Ginafish]

Last night as a matter of fact. We decided to go with Cub Scouts this year. The first year, at all meetings, a parent must attend (Go Josh!) so our son is really excited to have a father/son activity.

[KitKat]

  Sounds like a good father and son activity. 

[Hunter]

I always wanted to do martial arts as a kid. One thing to consider is that all martial arts are not the same. Each type has it's own "goal." Most can be broken down into either a sports art or a defensive art. Do your homework on the art before you join one so that you can get what you really want out of it.

As for me, I was Army JROTC.  Loved it. Wish I'd stayed military.

Good luck!

[ZeroG]

Just saw this thread. James started scouts as a Tiger. He made it all the way through Cub Scouts, but did not find Boy Scouts as enjoyable.

I was a Den Leader for his Den, all the way through his Cub Scouting. I am highly trained in all things Cub Scout. I'm sure you guys have all of the info, but I'll tell you what I found to be beneficial:

1) Working with his parent - It is important that the parent be there for lots of the projects. Not every parent can be leader of the Den, but Josh should ask to lead as many activities as possible. If the Den Leader is doing everything himself, then you might want to talk to the Committee Chairman or Cub Master.

2) Exposure to lots of things not covered at school - the go-and-see its were the best part of Tigers. But the activities all through Cub Scouts are very good.

3) Improved Communication Skills - This is the best part of Scouting in my book. In my Den, I had them do a mock news program, and videotaped it. It was cool to see when they graduated 5th grade!  They were all so shy at first. As time went by and we made them do more and more skits, they became hams and were creating skits for the pack meetings and campfires on their own. None of those kids will ever have a problem with public speaking.

Have fun with Scouting. I can't wait for Graham's first day!

[Ginafish]

My hubby, Josh, is the den leader. I'm designing the meetings, and then we review Sunday night, and he does them Monday nights. Their first 'Go and See' is at the local college for Farm month. The college has a HUGE agriculture program and the director is going to take the den on a tour of the farm, cows, horses, and big John Deere tractors. I might go along that night to take pictures of all the boys on the tractor. It'll be one of those with tires as tall as my van.

Josh is excited to do it this year. We understand it becomes more time consuming as your child gets higher up in the program.

Sounds like you have a great scouting brain to pick, might be emailing you later.

[ZeroG]

What's funny is that I met a very nice couple in my Sunday School class. They actually told a story where the wife told the man before he took his son to Cub Scout rally night "don't volunteer for anything". He came home the Den leader and they both have both been heavily involved in scouting for 30 years. 20 years after their kids were done with it!

We will be learning more from them as they are part of a new Dinner Club we just joined.

[Ginafish]

LOL! GREAT!

Here's what REALLY happened.

At the first night, the 'introduction to scouting' maybe you'd like to sign up your kid, the scout master told the parents that they didn't have enough leaders for all the new Tiger Cubs coming in. My husband's first thought was to volunteer, but first he had to ask a lot of questions. So he asked, and thought he should really think about it before volunteering. So together we decided that he had enough on his plate and shouldn't volunteer.

The first night of meetings, all the parents and cubs are split into dens. His den and two others didn't have leaders. A cub master comes over to his group and says "I'm sorry, we don't have a leader for your den, you guys will need to work it out. Decide if you want to rotate, or if one of you wants to be leader, great. Otherwise, we'll have to dissolve your den and hopefully, another den somewhere will take your child."

My husband, natural leader that he is, looks at the person and says "okay, thanks for the options, can you give us 10 minutes to talk about it and we'll get back with you". 30 seconds later, he was the leader.

I told him it was his fault, he elected himself as soon as he took charge.

I'll be sure to point out your story to Josh later.

[ZeroG]

LOL...WTG Josh!

In my case I was the only Dad that showed up for the first meeting. All the Mom's decided I was the best person to be the Leader. It is very rewarding. I suggest making a list of all the meetings and giving it to the parents to signup. Tell them that you will volunteer people for the ones not filled in. 

[PK]

Wow! The Ginafish household is kicking butt and taking names! Ginafish is a moderator, her husband is a den leader, and her son has a blog at the age of 7. Is your youngest planning on running for Senate?

[Ginafish]

HA! No, the youngest one thinks she's Queen of the house. Her ambition right now is to be a rock star.

<img src="http://img516.imageshack....871/heavyanimao3la2po.gif" alt="Rocker 5" />