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A Cub Scout Badge for Video Games?!
Filed under: Toys, Video Games
A Cub Scout badge for video games? What next? Troop hikes to GameStop? Wienie roasts on the Wii?
"On my honor I will try ... to blow away more virtual grunts"?
"We are not encouraging them to go out and buy Halo," says Renee Fairrer, spokeswoman for the Boy Scouts of America, sounding like this is not the first time she has been asked about the new badge.
The whole idea is to bring parents into the loop when it comes to video games. About two thirds of U.S. households already own a game system. "Maybe the situation is not where the parent would want it," Fairrer says. "This is a way to open the dialog and possibly rearrange the agreement with their child."
Requirement #1: "With an adult, create a schedule for you to do things that include your chores, homework and videogaming." That's one of the three requirements for the Cub Scout belt loop. (Only Boy Scouts earn actual merit badges. Cubs can earn loops or pins.)
"Create a schedule." That sounds kind of sensible, especially since in my own home, the kids' computer time really has gotten out of hand. (So has my computer time, but that's another story.)
Requirement #2: "Explain why it is important to have a rating system for video games."
"Media literacy!" says Anne Collier, codirector of the nonprofit group Connect Safely. "Thumbs up!"
Requirement #3: Learn to play a new video game that is approved by your parent, guardian, or teacher. The Scouts hope it'll be an educational one.
But is that really the point? Educational or not, isn't just sitting there in front of the screen exactly what Scouts exist to counteract?
I remember the first time my younger son followed his older brother's footsteps and went on a Boy Scout campout last year. "That was the best time I ever had in my whoooooooooooole life," he said, plunking down his backpack and filling the living room with the smell of ripe socks and campfire. "I wish I could spend my whole life out there."
This from a boy who usually wished he could spend his whole life watching "Saturday Night Live" on TiVo.
And maybe that is exactly why it makes sense to have a video game badge, or pin, or whatever it is. Not to encourage kids to come inside and stare at the screen. To encourage kids who are already staring at the screen to dip a toe into Scouts.
"There's still knot tying, starting a fire, First Aid," says Lori Pierce, a Mississippi mom who just finished three years as her son's Cub Scout leader. "They've got to learn about the outdoors and then they can do the other awards."
There are awards for almost anything that could keep a boy's interest: Basketball, chess, skateboarding, soccer. You get the feeling the Scouts are doing everything possible to keep the boys from drifting back to their basements.
So far 41,000 of the video game belt loops have been awarded. Another 19,000 are on back order. That's 60,000 boys who will know how to tie a half hitch in addition to how to install an Xbox. And at some point each one will spend a night staring at flickering lights on a black background.
But this time, they won't be pixels.
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ReaderComments (Page 1 of 1)
5-05-2010 @ 8:31PM
Meredith @ thinkthinks said...I kind of like the idea. How symbolic to look down at your sleeve/sash (what do scouts do these days, I was a Girl Guide (Australian) back in the dark ages so am not sure) covered in badges and see that gaming is just one patch in a whole sea of patches of fantastic activities and abilities that you can do.
My husband was a scout as a lad, and can still tie a sheet bend and two half hitches. He is very handy when we go camping. When he's not tying knots, he is an IT specialist, and plays a lot of games. Always did - even when computers were a rarity.
Computers and electronic games are not going to go away. The secret is to make sure that opportunities like scouts don't go away either.
(PS neither of my children are scouts. We do give 'em knives and sticks when we camp and teach 'em to whittle ourselves. And by teach, I mean bellow "Cut AWAY from yourself!" every now and then. My husband is keeping his knot skills to himself, so he can't be made redundant.)
Reply
5-05-2010 @ 9:31PM
bushidoka said...I think it is pretty sad. I'm a newly minted leader in Canada and if we had that badge I'd seriously consider giving up. That goes against everything Scouting is supposed to be about.
Our Scouts are building a full sized Trebuchet - take THAT video game badge! Last week I took the Beavers (5 to 7 year olds) fishing. Close to downtown Ottawa. Now THAT is Scouting!
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5-05-2010 @ 9:50PM
Cassandra said...Many (if not all) boys 6+ play video games. Many of these boys are also playing games with a 'MA' rating. I think boy scouts is taking a responsible approach to helping kids learn a life lesson of budgeting their time, and deciding what is age-appropriate. I think it is empowering the boys to make good decisions, and if nothing else, getting the conversation going between kids & parents.
It's a sign of the times.
Reply
5-05-2010 @ 10:55PM
Patrick M said...(Since Lenore's tweeting for comments....)
While incorporating the ever-encroaching 24/7 media feed was probably inevitable for an organization such as the Boy Scouts, the danger is that there becomes less of a line. And sometimes, not blurring those lines is what makes us all sane.
As part of the first generation to grow up playing video games (before I was even old enough to join cub scouts), having a separate time where you disconnect from the games, the blogs (except maybe that Free-Range one...), and getting out of the house is essential for a healthy mind.
I think the badge is simply a concession to keep the kids around longer rather than having sparse attendance when the next 60-hour time suck that is a Final Fantasy game comes out. As long as they can whittle with (real, sharp) knives, it's a necessary evil.
Reply
5-06-2010 @ 3:04AM
Valerie said...I hate the idea of a merit badge for gaming, especially for this age. Kids need to be playing, moving, making up their own games out of their real lives, not virtual lives on a screen. Call me old-fashioned, but as a pediatric movement therapist I see so many children with problems in school and in life -- because they are not playing anymore, their movement and their brains are not developing well. Real play, with each other, in real relationships. Bring back cops and robbers and running around and hide and seek and tag and kick the can. Really, part of my job is teaching kids to play at RECESS! So, I'm not a fan of gaming at all, and certainly not honoring it at the same level as other merit projects.
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5-06-2010 @ 9:25AM
maggie said..."Educational or not, isn't just sitting there in front of the screen exactly what Scouts exist to counteract?"
I agree with this. Even with the scouts going about it in a way that teaches kids about responsibility and how to manage their time I think it's a bad idea. There are plenty of other ways to teach kids the same things without having them sit in front of video games.
As a parent I'd rather interact with the kids and teach them something myself than have them play an "educational" video game.
Reply
5-17-2010 @ 11:16PM
Father Time said...They should add to the requirements either
a. go to a LAN party
or
b. Play a game offline with more than 2 people simultaneously (easier than it sounds a lot of multiplayer games max out at 4).
These games have potential for social interaction and it's a pity the boy scouts missed the opportunity.
Having said that it still seems weird that the Scouts are giving out awards for video games.
Reply
7-07-2010 @ 5:42PM
Sean McLaughlin said...Starting with Cub Scouts, and moving on to Boy Scouts, boys are encouraged to study "vocations" and "avocations". I am a scoutmaster and did not/'would not allow a video gaming activity my scouts wanted to do for the same reasons many of you gave out.
Yet video gaming is an pretty well accepted and popular avocation--and if the point is to educate kids (not necessarily reward them for PLAYING video games) then I say, let's not toss out 100 years of a program which has always aimed to teach and educate and the amazing think tanking which shows in scouting and its programs.
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