DS7 was a first-time scout this year. It wasn't terribly time-consuming. There were den meetings twice a month and pack meetings once a month, usually on an off week for the den meetings. Then there were some fun weekend-type events that were optional like pro ball games or hockey, winter fun days and that sort of thing. Completing the achievements and arrowheads was pretty low-stress--a couple of hours a month at most whenever you have the time, totally at your convenience, and we did more with it than a lot of the kids. BTW, I usually did those things with DS at home, while DH took him to the meetings. That kept it from being too time-consuming for either of us.
Certainly we could have done a lot more in terms of achievements, but it seemed to be enough for DS7.
It's one of those things that can take as little or as much time as you want to take.
