Children and Youth Program

[bluebell]

16 hours ago, rpn said:

I don't know that it will save a lot of money.   The church is funding the biannual FSY week long programs at colleges including transportation when it is not close to home (parents and local congregations will be asked to pay $75/youth.   Headquarters will also provide the chaperones.

And YM AND YW will be going on High Adventures, as well as overnight camping. 

I did find myself wondering if bishops would look for the parents of youth of that age to be the leaders, as they will also be the ones helping the youth with the programs.

It'll save money on the ward-level, which will be nice.  Ward expenditures just for cub scouts and BSA is typically in the upper thousands of dollars each year.   In our ward, the YM and YW already do high adventure and monthly camp outs, so those expenses will stay the same for us.

[bsjkki]

14 minutes ago, bluebell said:

It'll save money on the ward-level, which will be nice.  Ward expenditures just for cub scouts and BSA is typically in the upper thousands of dollars each year.   In our ward, the YM and YW already do high adventure and monthly camp outs, so those expenses will stay the same for us.

I'm hoping the Primary budget stays the same and doesn't get cut with this change. It would be nice to give the leaders a little more money for activities. Cubs would usually require 2/3rd's of the Primary budget due to the cost of cub scout awards. The savings in not having registration fees for each boy in scouting will be a large number even if the ward budgets all stay the same. How much was that per boy? Did that money come out of ward budgets? It was never part of the primary budget..came out of some other account. All the leaders who registered as BSA leaders also needed to have fees paid too unless that was waived for the church. Anyone know how much we payed BSA for these fees?

[bluebell]

Just now, bsjkki said:

I'm hoping the Primary budget stays the same and doesn't get cut with this change. It would be nice to give the leaders a little more money for activities. Cubs would usually require 2/3rd's of the Primary budget due to the cost of cub scout awards. The savings in not having registration fees for each boy in scouting will be a large number even if the ward budgets all stay the same. How much was that per boy? Did that money come out of ward budgets? It was never part of the primary budget..came out of some other account. All the leaders who registered as BSA leaders also needed to have fees paid too unless that was waived for the church. Anyone know how much we payed BSA for these fees?

I don't know, but I know that our ward paid over $3000 for boy scout camp each year and only about $1000 was paid for by parents.  

[Prof]

33 minutes ago, bsjkki said:

I'm hoping the Primary budget stays the same and doesn't get cut with this change. It would be nice to give the leaders a little more money for activities. Cubs would usually require 2/3rd's of the Primary budget due to the cost of cub scout awards. The savings in not having registration fees for each boy in scouting will be a large number even if the ward budgets all stay the same. How much was that per boy? Did that money come out of ward budgets? It was never part of the primary budget..came out of some other account. All the leaders who registered as BSA leaders also needed to have fees paid too unless that was waived for the church. Anyone know how much we payed BSA for these fees?

My understanding was that for the last several years, each council would directly bill the Church HQ in Salt lake for scout registration. The wards and stakes would not pay registration fees. 

The current fee for registration is $33 per individual. This includes all boys (cubs and scouts) and all adults (scoutmasters, assistant scout masters, and committee members). It looks like the registration fees will go up significantly next year, but they haven't released an amount yet. One more reason that I am glad we are leaving BSA

[Rain]

37 minutes ago, bluebell said:

I don't know, but I know that our ward paid over $3000 for boy scout camp each year and only about $1000 was paid for by parents.  

Our stake went to a stake run day camp for this reason.  It was almost like they threw money at us because it was so much less than sending the boys to day camp and we heard so very many good things about how it was run.   

[rockpond]

19 hours ago, Prof said:

I think the program has a lot of potential. I am a bit concerned that in my ward, the young men don't want to do much. We've given them the opportunity to plan events, but they really haven't done so. I hope that changes.

Growing up, mutual night was pretty much just basketball. I fear that might be where things are headed here.

Oh, and that was a good looking cake!

What happens on activity nights is still going to be dependent on the types of leaders called into those positions.

Our teachers and priests pretty much cut the cord with scouting a couple years ago (except for the few still working toward Eagle) and yet our wards have continued to have meaningful, educational, and fun activities that weren't just basketball.  In fact, during our stake YM basketball season, practices were scheduled before the YM activities.

For our ward and stake, I don't anticipate a noticeable change in activities as leaders were already focused on the types of skills, talents, and activities that the youth wanted to be working on.  The obvious exception to this is Deacons and Cub Scouts (still very BSA focused).

[nuclearfuels]

On 9/29/2019 at 1:05 PM, kllindley said:

Just got back from the broadcast introducing the new Children and Youth Program starting in January. I was very impressed and feel excited about the impact it will have in increasing faith in Jesus Christ in our family. 

Childrenandyouth.churchofjesuschrist.org

What are your thoughts?

It was a great presentation.

Would be nice to see which of the four areas per month the Primary kids are supposed to be helped with.

I'm not sure how my 9 cub scout-aged boys will be able to - within an hour - work on individualized goals across four areas but...whatever.

I wont be carrying the adults in this program like I did in BSA

[Amulek]

On 9/29/2019 at 12:05 PM, kllindley said:

What are your thoughts?

We really enjoyed the presentation. When it came time to the portion where they asked the children to write down ideas in the four areas, my wife helped our son and I helped our daughter.

She was a little flustered at first because she wasn't really sure what she was supposed to write down. I said, 'Well, start by just picking one thing - something that will help you improve in one of these four areas.' 

She thought for a minute and then looked up at me and said, "What about tennis?" 

Our daughter isn't terribly athletic, but she has - on one or two occasions - casually mentioned something about tennis before.

I said, "That's a great idea! You know, when I was a little older than you, I was actually on the tennis team. So, tell you what: I'll break out my old racket, find one for you, and then I will work with you to help you achieve your goal of wanting to improve physically by learning how to play tennis. That's how this new program is supposed to work. You find ways to get better in all these different areas, and we (your family and your friends at church) are going to help you do them." 

Her face just lit up. I could tell that she was really excited by the notion that her family and friends were going to help her achieve her personal goals. 

I can often be a bit skeptical when it comes to change, so this was a nice, day-one testimony building experience for me about the new program. I'm excited to see how things go.

 

Edited September 30, 2019 by Amulek

[rockpond]

16 hours ago, Amulek said:

We really enjoyed the presentation. When it came time to the portion where they asked the children to write down ideas in the four areas, my wife helped our son and I helped our daughter.

She was a little flustered at first because she wasn't really sure what she was supposed to write down. I said, 'Well, start by just picking one thing - something that will help you improve in one of these four areas.' 

She thought for a minute and then looked up at me and said, "What about tennis?" 

Our daughter isn't terribly athletic, but she has - on one or two occasions - casually mentioned something about tennis before.

I said, "That's a great idea! You know, when I was a little older than you, I was actually on the tennis team. So, tell you what: I'll break out my old racket, find one for you, and then I will work with you to help you achieve your goal of wanting to improve physically by learning how to play tennis. That's how this new program is supposed to work. You find ways to get better in all these different areas, and we (your family and your friends at church) are going to help you do them." 

Her face just lit up. I could tell that she was really excited by the notion that her family and friends were going to help her achieve her personal goals. 

I can often be a bit skeptical when it comes to change, so this was a nice, day-one testimony building experience for me about the new program. I'm excited to see how things go.

 

Thanks for sharing this experience.

My primary age daughters were also very excited (teenage boys were much more muted in their reaction).  I think this will lead to some good family time!

[Avatar4321]

I like the program. It seems very much in line with what my wife and I are doing with home school already.

I am thinking i might try to work on some goals too