If you want your sons to have the same experience as you in any activity, you will be bitterly disappointed and so will they.

If you do it because you know it was beneficial for you and will be for them, then it can be good for both of yall.

Besides wanting to know if they can have the same experience as you, what is your question?

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It would be with a troop that I am not yet familiar (hometown troop not a geographic option), forcing me to decouple all my baseline expectations of what used to be. Of course, vetting the new troop and getting hands on interaction is a huge part of the next steps - I just don't have any 'shop around for the right fit' experience.

What I wish is my sons could have the exact same scouting experience I had, but like El Rancho Cima, those days are gone.

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My son just had his Eagle BOR. My Dad was an Eagle. I loved my scouting experience as well. I had one child drop out along the way. The younger boy saw it through.

My thoughts.

I was not really itching to get my sons involved but changed my mind after a few parent events. One dad on my son's 5th grade tackle football team bought an Academy deer stand because he wanted to get up high to film practices ( . . .I know) and sent out an email asking for help in putting it together. I was the only Dad in a group of 12 folks that had tools. Similarly, we did an adventure guides thing for our kids and and it was always at some guys Lakehouse with catered bbq. I realized pretty quick that Scouts is one of the few places that still provides hands on and quality real world skills that people care less and less about these days.

I did consider other options but the type of team-based, outdoor, leadership oriented activities I loved as a kid was so hard to find.

Scouts, like everything, has fundamentally changed from my experience in the 1980s.

The technology involved in the merit badge process is something new. A lot of the advancement was done digitally through groups like the Edmond Library or other national councils. We did plenty within the Troop as well but their are now many digital options for your kids to really accelerate the advancement process. Ditto for many of the regional camps like Hale up in Oklahoma. They feature accelerated curriculums where so many of the requirements for first class get knocked out in a structured way.

The high adventure options are much cooler than what was available in my day. I did Philmont but no one would have thought to explore other options. Our kids did that and Sea Base in the Keys and Northern Tier.

Local options are much better. We had crappy Camp Constantine and new joints like Trevor Rees-Jones are a lot better.

Think through how your son might react to hanging with kids he does not know who might be much younger. My kid saw it through because he had six really great kids from his grade go through it with him. My older son looked up one day and had a girlfriend and a spot on a few varsity teams and his willingness to stay engaged vanished overnight.

The regulations and structure are much tighter for obvious reasons. I can still remember Scouts starting grass fires, burning up tents, and many Dads being pretty darned drunk at events. That is all gone. Their is a risk management process to it all.

Find what works for your kid and will provide a community that will keep him engaged. . . . . .there are so many more distractions in this modern world.

I've been an assistant Scoutmaster & have been to Northern Tier & Sea Base as a an adult leader.

I would encourage you to be involved in Scout Leadership at the Troop level. So many people complain about Scouts and don't step up. The way the Scouts behave, the things they learn etc. is all a reflection of adult leadership. You need to be the example!

The High Adventure experience is one of the coolest, most unique things a kid can do (or an adult for that matter). Seven day full days on the water in Canada, no cell phones, seeing only a few other people & using only what you pack in is an amazing experience. I haven't been that unplugged since the early 2000's.

I didn't do Scouts growing up, so I had nothing to compare my son's experience with. I got my outdoor education through hunting/fishing with Dad & Grandad & their friends and I learned a great deal. It is important to note that this isn't an either/or choice. Do both. It's good for kids to interact with other adults and kids from different backgrounds and careers and go places other than the lease or a family camping trip.

as usual, Sandy is spot on.

I'm also an Eagle, am currently the Cubmaster of a pack where my youngest is a Bear and my oldest just joined a troop a few months ago so here's my $0.02

We don't live where I grew up so we had to shop for a Troop. And I'll say as a general note that if you are fortunate enough to live in an area with multiple units you should check out as many as you can, even if you were in one of the local Troops as a youth. Things change.

First and foremost we were looking for strong youth leadership. Covid hit scouting hard and many troops are currently missing that 14-18 year old leadership band that is so critical. We saw some pretty stark differences between some of the troops.

We of course wanted to find a troop that was a good fit from a personality standpoint, and I had to be careful that we were looking at this from my son's perspective and not mine. He ended up surprising himself as a troop he thought would be great because he knew a couple of boys in it turned out not to be a fit for him.

A big thing for me was the adult leadership. What I got out of scouting was immense and is hard to put into words. But I do know that a big part of why it was so good for me was that I did it myself. My dad was not a scouter. He would come on the occasional campout when I invited him but not much more than that. I am very focused on making sure that once my boys get to the troop level this has to be theirs. And so I made sure to find a troop where I didn't feel obligated to immediately take a prominent leadership role; I don't need to go on every campout.

We were fortunate to find a troop that met all three of the requirements above and he is having a fantastic time. I'm keeping myself occupied and out of his hair by finishing up as Cubmaster with my youngest and staffing Wood Badge (if anybody is considering Wood Badge and would like to do it at Philmont in September, you can email me at my username at gmail).

Happy to answer any specific questions you think of

Boy Scouts doesn't exist. Long live BSA Scouting….

Can still have good experiences but summer camp is ruined as they are all over run with blue haired girls and all the teen boys jockey for position for the two cute girls at camp turning it into every other social setting they participate in.

Eagle required woke badge is dead until the next administration. When I saw a 13 year old girl get Eagle and every merit badge a few years ago it became evident that the prestige is waning. Doing Philmont with both my sons this summer as a swan song and can't wait but I doubt either finish their Eagle and I could care less.

It has become a great program for girls as they don't have anything like it.

I too am an Eagle from the 70's and Cima days.
Troop 640.
Boy howdy we had so many great experiences led by some great selfless men.
A couple of weeks ago I had the honor to attend my Grandson's first court of honor. He received his Scout rank. (New to me)
His troop is led by a great group of men who understand that boys need men to guide them. There are women active in the troop but women do not attend camp outs.
My Grandson came home from his first camp out and reported that he froze at night. He did not unpack his sleeping bag. Momma had always done that for him on previous camping trips. He will not make that mistake again.
I am proud he is involved in Scouts.

While it's not the exact locations from my experience, my sons have had and are currently having the same experience that I had with my troop in the 80's and 90's. The scouts run the troop. They pick where we camp. What summer camp we go to, an option I was never given as a scout. They vote on leadership and run the troop their way. They learn lessons the hard way if they don't take advice from adults. The adults are advisors and not dictators.

Yes, there are girls but we mostly only see them at summer camp and my scouts largely ignore them because the scoutmaster sets the tone that we aren't at camp to flirt and the girls aren't interested in a bunch of smelly dirty boys anyways. So they stay to themselves and the girls do the same.

They have to do cooking merit badge now, which I never did. Personal Fitness is harder than it used to be, more requirements. Hiking merit badge is harder now as well, more miles required.

High adventure, in all it's flavors, is still a high light of most scouts journey. Eagle still ranks as the highest leadership experience you can put on a college application for a reason.

Yeah, things have changed, but they have stayed the same more than not.

My brother and I both Eagled and now my son is honing in on his Star rank. Scouting, though its changed, is very much an experience based on the troop you are in. Our troop has very active adult leadership where people volunteer for committee spots even after their boys age out. We do not have any girls in our troop and do not intend to admit them.

Getting to go to Sea Base with my son last year and Philmont this summer is undescribable and has strengthened our relationship. So many forgotten memories of mine have been unlocked by getting to tag along with my son on his adventure.

As others have stated, give it a go, and while it may not be the same as yours, it will be his journey.

Cannot say enough good things about our current Boy Scout experience, I'm the committee chair for our troop and am happy to answer any questions you may have. Find a good sized boys only troop with a traditional values. The Troop you go with makes up 99% of your experience.