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When I was a kid we had the scouts and camping, now adays we have the hoodies and mugging 😯
Funny how things change innit ❓
Yeah well, that was the old days - these days life on the street is tough. Kids ain't got time to **** about singing poncey songs round a bleeding camp-fire - they've got business to attend to.
In scouts I got to carry a knife and burn sh!t up, nothing's changed 'cept hoodies don't have badges all down their arm to show how pimp they are...
Apparently, more girls joined the Scouts last year than boys.
Boys - get yourselves down there quick!!
Rachel
Which just goes to prove that scouts is for girls.
And softies.
I was in the beavers, never got into all that rows of tents cub scout malarkey though.
Scout leader: Can you watch my toast for me on the BBQ
'spoon many years ago : OK
30 minutes pass
Scout leader : I thought you were watching my toast?#
me: I was
SL: You've burnt it
me: Yea, you told me to watch it, you didn't say anything about taking it off when it was done!
My son and daughter both in scouts. Best thing they do all week, loads and loads of activities, camps, caving, climbing, chess, cooking, orienteering the lot. They both love it and brush aside all of the piss taking from their mobile hugging facebook addicted pasty faced friends. Last weekend they even met Bear Grylls who is the chief scout...oh...there is a downside.
Scouts was ace, everyone took the mick but we did so much more fun stuff than everyone else and many occasions we had cracking evenings around a fire with a beer or two and didn't feel the need to become a bunch of drunken idiots wrecking the place. Everyone I know tha attended scouts has grown up to be a productive member of the local society, same can't be said of the retards who took the mick!
Tell you - growing up in Glasgow in the 70s was much tougher than it is now
No mean city still had some truth to it
i like beavers,,, oops, said that out loud.
scout/cub troop near opposite my house seem to have a great time ( i live in a northern town with typical drug/crime/youth problems,,,, same as every where else if you are honest) and i have just missed out on a volunteer position which im pretty gutted about. i believe that the cubs/scouts made me the man i am today and gave me inspiration and valuable knowledge that i could adapt to other walks of life (MTBing ?)
since the tories have cut funding for youth clubs etc in my local area and 'the chavs have hit the streets' it seems that the scouts should be taking up the banner and hopefully will provide the youth of today with something other than this mass produced, american influenced way of life that people call normal. not every kid wants to be trisher trash,,,,,, some of them need to be shown that the country side can be just as exciting as MTV, how do we do that ?.
best alternative i can think of is to get somebody like bear grils in charge of the scouting movement. i realy cant see what the problem is with BG haters, i think he is a great influence on the 'possibly interested' youth of today, ex-SAS, the programs he has done on TV (OK some of that stuff was a bit manufactured) the mans a moderned day hero compared to M and M (that rapper,,, what ever frikin his name is)
scouts, bear grils,,,, OK by me,, more of the same please
We have fools for leaders and this is all too evident by where they have led us.
The TV has a massive influence on our culture, used sensibly it can be a good influence, however when so many kids are abandoned by their parents to the streets and then have to fend for themsleves.
It's no wonder the streets in many places are so dangerous, they are all trying to better each other in the idiocy of retardation competition, that the youth of today see as a right of passage!
These individuals have no one who is teaching them how to set goals and go about achieving them, they are not conditioned mentally at all, our greatest resource is beaing squandered, just like all of our other resources.
Basically the youth of today are thick as pig shit from a constipated pig!
I reckon kaesae's hit the nail on the head.
Well actually I don't reckon kaesae has hit the nail on the head at all - he completely failed to give any sort of explanation why things are different now compared to when he was a child. I'm presuming that he's not that old and TVs existed when he was a child.
We had TV when I was a child, but we had Fingerbobs.
What you didn't learn from FingerMouse wasn't worth knowing!
{mods can you change my name to FingerMouse please?}
My son has aspergers tried Beavers a number of years ago but didnt work out for him. Started scouts last year and he has really taken to it overnight camps etc.
Tonight its axes and saws in the woods!! hope they ask me to stay, like revisiting my own childhood.
TandemJeremy - MemberTell you - growing up in Glasgow in the 70s was much tougher than it is now
No mean city still had some truth to it
Thought you were an East Coast dude?
And yes Glasgow really didn't leave the dark ages until the mid '80's I'd say.....
ernie_lynch - Member
Well actually I don't reckon kaesae has hit the nail on the head at all - he completely failed to give any sort of explanation why things are different now compared to when he was a child. I'm presuming that he's not that old and TVs existed when he was a child.
Perhaps you are right ernie_lynch, perhaps I need to explain it, as the rising crime rate and child pregnancy statistics are not enough, simply put each generation has less mental capacity for logic and reason. They live only for the moment and cannot grasp that what they do today shapes the future for us all.
They are more and more delusional and less and less able to function in a civilized society, partly because of the circumstances they find themselves born into and thus conditioned by, combined with an inherent survival instinct and also because they have no guidance in life and they are slaves to their emotions and other factors.
As I said poor quality leadership with no grasp of the issues most people face or how to go about rectifying situations in an efficient direct manner.
What most people would call leaders, I would call modern day court jesters, yes the bells and tassles are gone and the outfits have improved if only slightly, but they are still able to do nothing except take the piss and get paid!
Tonight's programme involves:
- saws & axes
- setting fire to things
- burning some food (if we have time)
being a Scout leader is fun! 😀
Does it still have strong religious undertones?
When I was a kid there were kids hanging around causing trouble on the streets. They just weren't wearing hoodies.
People have always been the same kaesae, take those rose tinted memory specs off! 🙂
What most people would call leaders, I would call modern day court jesters
You are living in fantasy land if you think the leaders of yesteryear were any better than today!
TSY, it does indeed, another Scout Leader here - the misses said it would be good for me.
Can't say I do religion and if asked I just give a softened down version of my views. Just come back from a weekend camp with out lot, still using canvas tents and collecting firewood so we can do all meals cooked on open fires etc.
I do have issues though, the stuff we do is all stuff I should enjoy, we start cycling badge this week, use axes, knives, saws, learn to tie knots and build stuff.... if only it wasn't for the kids, little sods appear to have no respect or desire to learn. I just have to hope some of what we try to tell them stays with them.
I was a scout and an army cadet.
Scouts was more fun and the activities were more varied.
Cadets was more about discipline, weapons and learning how to kill a man with nothing but a ballpoint pen. 😀
My little girl will be sent to the Scout hut across the road as soon as she is old enough.
Gee-Jay.. that was the main reason that I never made it out of beavers. That and the patronising bint that ran our local group.
Other than that I think it's a good thing for kids to be involved with.
best alternative i can think of is to get somebody like bear grils in charge of the scouting movement.
is that a joke??
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8054699.stm
[i]"failed to give any sort of explanation why things are different now compared to when he was a child"[/i][b]Perhaps you are right ernie_lynch, perhaps I need to explain it[/b],
Well you have certainly explained how things are different, but you still haven't explained why things are different.
Why the rising crime rate and child pregnancy ?
Why less mental capacity for logic and reason ?
Why more delusional and inability to function in a civilized society ?
Why no guidance in life and slaves to their emotions ?
Why poor quality leadership ?
Why the modern day court jesters ?
Does it matter, TSY?
The parents of today are more concerned with "easy, comfy, convenient" than "challenging, interesting, curiosity-inducing", the effects are clearly visible on the streets. Thanks to that the life expectations are roughly those: get laid at 13, be pregnant at 14, get a council house and all the benefits ASAP for a girl; get a BJ at 11, father the girl at 13, steal at 14, get an ASBO at 16, drive a BMW316 with a massive spoiler at 17 for a boy.
If more parents paid attention to their kids it'd be different. Scouts, martial arts, pottery, ballet, whatever rocks their boat, but why? It's so much easier to watch BGT, BB, ICGMOOH, DOI and all the rubbish available.
I'm so pleased there're some 30k people here, it means I'm not alone wanting my kid to be well-educated, well-spoken, healthy and interested in things. Long may STW continue!
growing up in 1980s newcastle was, I imagine just as bad as today. The times I got 'taxed' of my belongings are too numerous too mention, a couple of times by knife, you just shrugged it off, as probably many of the kids do today. the issue is that the media these days makes such a big deal out of it. I can remember kids being stabbed in and around school, kids being set upon with bats, all sorts. nowadays its front page news, those days it wasn't!
In the loft somewhere I have a bronze statuette that I inherited from a great uncle: it is a boy scout standing with his hands (camply) on his hips and the plaque says it was presented to him by Baden-Powell 😀
(Personally I think it was a come-on)
be pregnant at 14
What a load of bollox.
Girls today "typically" want to get pregnant at 14 ?
What's the point of coming out with rubbish like that ?
There's a waiting list round here for cubs. So it must popular. And no, we're talking Lichfield, not somewhere posh.
I spent 10 years working with kids/teens in West London/Middlesex (Feltham ad the likes). Many, way too many were saying they wanted it. Their examples were coming from their mums.
Besides, I did say "roughly", didn't I?
Religion?
In the west of scotland the Scouts were Catholics and if you were a prod you joined the BB's, combined with segregated schools what a wonderful place to grow up if you are a religious bigot.
Coming from a mixed marriage I wasnt allowed in the scouts,I had to go to the BB's, it always seemed to me the Scouts did the fun stuff while the BB's were a quasi religious/military organisation. I eventually got kicked out the BB's for not going to church enough, the club run with Ayr Roads was much more fun on a sunday morning than sitting listening to some fire and doom minister for a couple of hours.
Hairychested... I can only speak from personal experience, I don't have children so I go from memory.
As a 6 year old I was taken along to beavers. I found the religious content and the patronising style of the leader (what do they call them?) too much. So I quit, it wasn't for me... I was taken to other things where this wasn't an issue. I'll allow any children I have to choose in the same way.
As an aside... a good number of the lads I knocked around with all got kicked out of the scouts/cubs for setting fire to things. They're all well spoken >£30k people now, just a little bit too curious for the cub/scout movement it seemed 🙂
I'm just of to the newsagents to get my Daily Mail.
Or rather I would go outside, but the likelihood is I'll get mugged by a hoodie.
It wouldn't have happened in my day, I can tell you.
Besides, I did say "roughly", didn't I?
Yes you did, you said "Thanks to that the life expectations are roughly those:"
It isn't even roughly true.
What percentage of girls do you think today want to get pregnant at 14 ?
How does coming out with hysterical nonsense like that help understand any problems which might
exist ?
In the west of scotland the Scouts were Catholics and if you were a prod you joined the BB's
Not in Milngavie they weren't (Or maybe we just cared less).
I was a proddy (by birth at least) and went to Scouts with quite a lot of my proddy schoolmates.
Religion was never really mentioned - we were too busy building bridges across the river, playing Chalk Rugby and burning our hands with meths.
What a load of bollox.Girls today "typically" want to get pregnant at 14 ?
What's the point of coming out with rubbish like that ?
Perhaps he's going for a job at the Mail and is practising? He forgot to mention "feral youth", though.
GrahamS - Time to out myself. I am the scout leader across the road ... look forward to seeing her in the Beavers.
TSY - There still is a religious policy. But as it is a multi-faith organisation it should never be dogmatic and is meant to be about 10% of the programme. Many leaders pay it scant attention, though there will always be the odd zealot.
50% of the programme is the good old outdoors, and it is what the young people like most. Most areas are struggling for leaders (the Guides in our village have just folded because of the lack of adult leaders), so STWers get out there!
@TSY, I got kicked out too, setting fire to a field was the factor (or was it telling the chief scout he knew nothing?). I asked out of curiosity, thanks.
@ernie, clearly you live in a better place than I did for many years. Enjoy!
@GG, why don't you ask the Police to deliver? If the Fire Brigade can take a cat off a tree, surely a PC should be able to help you with this.
@mogrim, that's the one!
It's no wonder the streets in many places are so dangerous
Are they? I walk through some of the rougher part of Manchester after a few pints and don't really feel threatened (although maybe I look like I'm not worth mugging!). I think the main prob is the media demonising kids. I used to hang around the streets when I was young, sometimes we caused a bit of trouble - getting into derelict buildings, trying to kill each other with fireworks, riding our bmx's in pedestrianised areas etc etc - my parents never really knew about what we got up to but it's what young kids do when there is sod all else. I think my folks would rather I was out riding my bike or meesing around on the promenade than sat at home on the Megadrive.
We may have looked menacing to some folks at the time but that wasn't intentional and we would never have thought about being violent or threatening. I don't think anything has changed that much apart from kids seem much more conscious about their image nowadays which I suppose in the wrong circumstances can lead to them being led astray.
I was also in the Cubs, Scouts and Ventures by the way.
On another unrelated note, as the cub leader said to the priest;
'Pass me another cub, this one's split..'
Well you have certainly explained how things are different, but you still haven't explained why things are different.
I wish I could answer that, I'd be prime minister in a flash.
I'd go along the lines of education and expectation.Since I was at school the content of the GCSE has massively dropped, since my parents were at school even mine looked like watered down kiddies work. During my A levels my parents were discussing calculus with me, they left school at 16. I re-visited my old college after 8 years and asked the physics teacher how things were, he just shook his head and said they'd watered down the course so much it wasn't even fun to teach anymore and he had no idea how anyone was getting through uni courses. At primary school there appears to be issues too, seen from afar - things are somewhat more fluffy than they used to be and the kids seem to grow up being told that they're amazing when they're not and only not being given things when they're bad, rather than only being given things when they're good. Too much carrot and not enough stick I think.
I think society in general expects more for less these days, meaning less effort is put in all round to get those things.
There's always exceptions though, and I know dozens of late teens/early twenties who put shedloads of effort in and do really well, it just seems the average are getting lost somewhere.
GrahamS - Time to out myself. I am the scout leader across the road ... look forward to seeing her in the Beavers.
No way! In Wylam? Blimey - that's a small world. We can hear the beavers/scouts from our house and it sounds like they have great fun! Our little girl is only one - so she's got a while to go yet (it's six for Beavers isn't it?)
TSY, as LabWormy says its probably down to the pack. Our troop leader is (very) religious, a couple of prayers at the end of each meeting and Scouts Own (like a mini church service)on Sunday am at camp.
I don't do religion, went to a Methodist Boarding School and it convinced me that leading a good/moral life is very important but there is not a god other than human spirit generally (but that's another discussion) - I figure that I do more for the general community by keeping quiet about that belief (or lack of) and helping the kids learn some stuff than getting on my high horse and doing nothing for anybody. So I ignore the religious bits.
If that makes me sound pious or as though I am preaching then sorry, I am neither but would rather do something than nothing.
@ernie, clearly you live in a better place than I did for many years. Enjoy!
Yep, life outside the "shocking" fantasy world of the Daily Mail is indeed better.
Unfortunately though, it requires being aware of real and pressing problems. Such as the fact that youth unemployment in Britain has reached an unprecedented 1 million......... a "shocking statistic" which the likes of the Daily Mail seem hugely unbothered by.