Priorities

I received an email the other day from another Scouter that really has me thinking. Apparently several members of his family really do not like Scouting because their father spent so much time on it when they were younger. To quote a part of his email:

"I've seen that happen to... men... whose resulting losses on the home front haunted them to their graves. Men whose children have openly denounced Scouting and consequently the church, for drawing away their fathers from more important duties; including my own. Men who harbor unbridled devotion to Scouting as the deepest regret of their lives. Men who also served as Bishops and Stake Presidents who felt that even those demanding callings didn't do the harm that Scouting did."

Has anyone else seen this happen? For those involved with Scouting outside the LDS church, does it happen in community or other church groups? Does this happen with other organizations, such as the Elks lodge or Rotary club? If it does, why?

We are taught that everything in the church should serve to strengthen the family, our own as well as those we serve. If we are not strengthening our own families by our service, then shouldn't we change how we do things? I'm not suggesting we abandon Scouting or that we don't follow the program, but how do we find the balance?

I think that's something that we, as church leaders, need to do better when we ask people to serve. We usually tell them all the meetings they need to go to and all the training they need to have, but do we tell them that their family is the most important? If we don't, we really should.