What are Scouts/Guides like these days?

[FTMHS]

Hi all!

I have always known I’ve wanted to put my children in scouts or guides after having such a positive experience as a child/teenager

I am thinking much too early about this as I am pregnant with my first, but I was just wondering if things have changed to how they were in the 2000s/2010s? We’re particularly worried about overuse of technology, I don’t want my kids to be reliant on technology and we plan to keep them away from iPads and phones for as long as possible

I’m hoping that guides/scouts (we’re keeping baby’s sex a surprise 😁) will give my children friends who share the same values as us, I want them to learn to be good people, love the outdoors, loves adventure but my partner is worried incase it’s now technology centric rather than how it used to be when technology wasn’t such a big thing. Just a general idea of what kind of stuff kids do now in scouts/guides would be great ❤️

thank you!!

Guides let boys in too. The ones who think they are girls though, not the ones who know they are boys. So both are mixed sex, just Scouts is open about this.

I'm as Scout leader. The Scout's put their phone in a box at the start of the meeting and pick them up at the end. Sometimes we have meetings where they use them - making stop motion videos for example. But they know the rules and are good at dropping them in. No phones on camp - we don't want to be responsible for them, don't want them taking unwanted photos or videos, and don't usually have places they can charge them.

My boys loved their time in Scouting. They've been on so many fantastic camps, and have loads of wonderful memories. I put my oldest on the waiting list when he was 3 or 4. Mainly because I was such a Tom boy as a child and very miffed i couldn't join Scout's rather than (in my mind) horrible girly brownies/guides. 😂

Be prepared to help out when they start, lots of the younger sections do parents rotas, especially if they are short on volunteers.

My experience too. I'm a Scout leader (50/50 F/M ratio group. No phones used usually (might be the odd occasion when we are doing a goosechase thing), big waiting lists.

Live abroad so possibly a different experience, but the Scouts that my son does is great.

He's done it for 4 years, absolutely zero tech allowed. Lots of tent building, géocaching, sleepaway camps etc.

Very well run and organised, inclusive too.

Can't praise it enough

I am a guide leader. We don't use any technology at our meetings.
Girls don't bring phones, smartwatches etc to camps.

I am transferring to a Scandinavian group in a few months. They had the same approach then I visited them to say hallo.

I’d say guides / scouts ( I’ve got dc in both) are quite traditional in terms of activities. Astronomy, crystal growing, cooking, den building, camp fires, camps type stuff. I don’t think they’ve looked at a screen in the last year whilst there!

Our Brownies and Guides are generally low or zero tech - especially for Sleepovers, Holidays and Camps - no phones or smart watches etc allowed for Brownies or Guides, and we usually avoid watching films.
We don't generally use tech in our weekly meetings - occasional 'Leader googles something they don't know the answer to' or checks the email account to check whether a girl is coming on a trip, and music for a party, but nothing the Brownies will use. Meetings involve physical games, practical activities, learning, hands-on crafts and
There is some use of tech to do the badges at home, but this is supplementary generally (eg, a girl might make a powerpoint with photos of show what she's done for a badge she's completed at home, or do research for a badge by visiting a virtual collection on a museum website), and isn't required, and generally does require doing something beforehand.

Most of our comms is tech based - we email everything, and have a closed facebook group for parents. But this is more with parents, rather than the girls themselves. During COVID lockdowns we also ran on zoom, and managed to include tech, whilst keeping the ethos of Guiding generally, so we're not behind the times, just keeping things fun and generally low-tech!

I would say it is a mix. We're generally phone free in our scouts. We use ours to take the register and take pictures to post for parents in our group but that's it and the scouts are expected too keep phones in pockets and if they are seen then they have to hand them in to us to collect at the end of the meeting. On camp they can bring them to user to take photos but we have rules, they are too be used in free time only and just be handed in at night.

We do crafty things, knots and pioneering, cooking, fires, knives and axes, hikes, nav and fussy aid.

But we also do other things. My cubs did airfix with some discounted kits and Warhammer do a collaboration with scouts which is great.

Tech has a place too and there are skills too be learned there eg coding. We recently did a sleepover based around the digital maker badge. We used a local school will let us use their iPads and it was great, it was a weekend of the kids just learning to code, creating useful things that they could apply to games and activities (eg a simple leaf identifying app or a game based on compass directions). I didn't really have a clue but they worked out their problems and helped each other. It was a great way of learning and really brought out teamwork and collaboration and teaching skills.

My DD and SIL run Beavers, Scouts and Explorers locally and I admire their energy and all the wonderful things they do.

I do think that groups vary depending on the personality and energy of the volunteer leaders.

If your children do join in it is worth thinking about volunteering to help in some way. Without volunteers these organisations would fade away.

We love Scouts. Have a son and daughter in two different groups. My daughter tried Brownies for a while but, in her own words ‘mummy there is too much colouring at Brownies and not enough axe throwing’.

My DD has been in guides.... finished a few months ago. It was a fantastic experience....helped her with friendships and gave her lots of great opportunities... camping, trips, crafts, all sorts. Id totally recommend it