What is he most excited about, you ask? Is it learning to camp or canoe or tie knots? Is it making new friends?
Nope.
He feels the irresistible pull of this...
"Ooh, Mom... it looks like a police shirt!" he told me last night when I showed him this photo of the Cub Scout Uniform.
Um... I thought, Police shirt?? Seriously?!??
Then I showed my son the Cub Scout promise. He recited faithfully:
I, (say your name), promise
to DO MY BEST
To do my DUTY to GOD
And my Country
To HELP other people, and
To OBEY the LAW of the Pack
Oh, how he relished those last words... You know, the part about THE PACK.
It makes me think he's going to come home howling tonight.
[This is the part of the post wherein Julia pauses to thank the Lord in heaven that the boys' DAD is doing scouts with them, not her... Because -- well -- giggling during pack meetings would be frowned upon, I'm sure. ]
I showed him the Cub Scout Motto immediately after the promise. With the same irrepressible joy, he practically shouted Do Your Best!
I thought, well... that doesn't sound so bad.
(I'm still 50-50 on it... so we'll see how it goes. At the very least, a photo of him in that uniform will be SO worth it.)
- Midwest Mom
Scouting has been wonderful for my boys as well as my hubby. It highly depends on the Pack, Den and adults involved, but I really, really recommend it.
ReplyDeleteHope he has lots of fun and loves it. I hope you bought the police shirt big, if he likes it he'll be using it for a long time. :-)
Police shirt.. too funny! You must keep us updated on that.. I'm curious what the pack is all about!
ReplyDeletewhat a HOWL:) I thought for sure you'd say the treats at the pack meetings were his favorite part. T's big into the camping bit. It's a cool organization, but we waited until Webelos when it's not so parent-heavy with the workload.
ReplyDeleteOkay, ladies... here's the update.
ReplyDeleteDad bailed. (He *claimed* there was an emergency at work...)
So, I took the boys (and my daughter!) instead.
The first meeting went great... there MAY be a second. (We'll have to check and see if Dad is free.) ;D
- Julia
My son would DEARLY love to be in scouts but thus far I'm resisting the pressure. The major problem is that I don't do "outdoors". My idea of roughing it is staying at a hotel with an outdoor pool. So much of scouts involves selling stuff (so not badgering my friends to buy crap that they don't want out of guilt) or camping. Unfortunately, my dh works odd hours (over nights and weekends when most scouting stuff happens) and I'm not interested in being involved.
ReplyDeleteRight now, that means that he can't be a scout. If it ever gets to a point where he doesn't NEED a parent involved, then maybe, but not in second grade.
That is exciting :) I wish him fun time and beautiful memories!
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to hear how it goes or should I say IF it goes. You can tell me all about it and then I'll know for the future how to respond when Linus asks to join as I'm sure he will.
ReplyDeleteMain bit of my knowledge: witnessing one of my first grader's very large and pushy dad wearing Boy Scout shorts... not pretty but VERY funny.
-Abby
I get the feeling you are tepid about him being in the scouts because it has undertones of being part of an authoritarian regime, or something that tends that way rather than a more free-for-all, liberal get together? I pick that up from what you said, but I've been wrong before.
ReplyDeleteI just watched a TED video on the moral mind that you might enjoy.
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/jonathan_haidt_on_the_moral_mind.html