Taylor and a rant about scouts

Taylor has been working on his scouting. His goal is to get his 1st class by his birthday. One of the requirements is to invite a boy to join scouts. Well we had to bend the rules a bit because he actually does not know any boys who aren't already in scouts. All of the boys in our ward are active - at least in his age group. There are some older boys who could probably come more often but when I mentioned them he flatly refused saying he was scared of them. I agreed, I'm scared of them too. I asked around to find out what others had done in this situation. Just like many other requirements in our wards scouting program they kind of just skip them. I didn't feel good about just skipping it so I decided to have Taylor write a letter to a boy inviting them to scouts. This is what he came up with....

Hello,
come to scout's sunny,
cuz if you don't well that's to bad.
You get knowledge, experience, and refreshments,
that are very yummy.
So if you don't come thats just
fine.
You just won't be a straight line
But you will be missing a lot I say,
Bowling, fishing, swimming, sports, work, and play.
However if you do come you are likely to get your
wolf, bear, webelos and more
maybe you'll get your eagle that will be
a high score.
So come or don't come for all I care
I just wanted to give you some
fun to share.

From,
Taylor

While not exactly what I had in mind but I decided to let it pass. Creativity can earn you extra points. Scouting is a interesting thing to me. I didn't think much about it until Taylor turned 8. Even then I drove him to his den meetings and listened to him say his scout law and stuff. Then I got called as a den leader. I learned a lot about the scouting program, the boys, my sons and my self. I am a big fan. I think it is very important. I feel strongly (like anyone who has read much of my blog already knows) that it is very important to teach children that they can do hard things. Boys need confidence. They need that taste of success. They need to accomplish something and feel good about it. I recently read an article by Bob Lonsberry that I very much agree with. Read it here http://www.lonsberry.com/writings.cfm?story=2963&go=4 . Pretty much it says that you don't give your children self esteem it is a consequence to actions. A consequence to succeeding. A good parent teachers their children to work hard, set goals and be persistent. Success will naturally follow which builds self esteem. I think scouting is a great way of doing this. So are sports and chores but that is a discussion for another day. So I like scouts, I think it is important. The problem I have with my experience with scouts, at least in our ward, is that it is not necessarily taken seriously. A scout is trustworthy... at least he should be. So when leaders just pass off a boy because the requirement is inconvenient or too hard I don't think it teaches him to be trustworthy. I know being a scout leader is hard. It is a demanding job - both in time, patience and money. But if one agrees to do it - he should do it. When the requirement says go on 3 cam pouts with your troop. The boys should go on 3 camp outs with their troop. Not one with the ward, one with their parents and one with the troop. A 1 mile hike should not be passed off by walking down the sidewalk from the church for 1/2 mile and turn around and walk back. (Even if they boys are technically walking for 1 mile - I don't think that is what Powell had in mind)

Anyway I could go on and on, but I won't. The thing is I know that it is a lot, a whole lot, to ask of a man. Especially when he didn't volunteer to do it. Most men agree when called upon, but not because they want to, but because of a sense of obligation and lets face it a bit of guilt if they refuse. Giving up 3 weekends a summer for the 11 year old boys and 10 weekends a year for the older kids - plus 1 week for scout camp is a lot to ask. I hated it when Rick was a scout leader. It's not fair to the leaders family to have him gone so much, for his vacation time to be used up with scouts. But it is also not fair to those boys to be in a program that is ran half hearteldy. I honestly don't know what the answer is.