I begged and pleaded with my dad to take me to scouts, which he wasn't really inclined to do. Finally I convinced him and at the first meeting, after like 20 minutes I turned to him and said, "I'm bored, can we go?" If I'm being honest, I think I just wanted the uniform.

Between the outdoor education program at my school and going camping with the families I grew up around, I feel I got most of the skills you learn in scouts: I could tie all kinds of knots, start a campfire, use a map and compass, ride a horse, first aid skills, CPR, etc. I think stuff like that is wonderful for kids to learn, along with the values of honesty, thrift, helping others, and stuff like that are great. But I'm not sure you need to be in a regimental organization to get that. I learned it all from hippies in a coed environment.

So, some of the stuff seems a little old-fashioned and for that and similar reasons, I didn't encourage my kid to join Scouts. I should have taught him orienteering, though. That young man couldn't find his way out of a paper sack.