Torn over Scouting

I, Doug, realize the obligation to my fellow Eagle Scouts;
to my home, my country, and my God.
I will at all times do my best to assist other scouts
who are climbing the trail to Eagle
to give back more to scouting than it has given me
to assist my troop as much as possible
and to be a living example of the Scout Oath and Law
to the best of my ability.

I took that oath on January 13th, 1989.  When, in subsequent years, the Boy Scouts took their anti-gay policies all the way to the Supreme Court, I cried.  It was wrong.  They were wrong.  I knew openly gay leaders, at least one of which was involved in the Supreme Court battle, and I can honestly say they were no danger to me or any of my friends.  They did not push who they were on us, and knew and taught the scouting program easily as well as any leader who I was sure was straight.

And the award goes to:

On Monday, Sylvia’s Girl Scout group had an awards ceremony.

Someday, I’ll post about all the little things that bother me about the differences between Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts.  I have enough experiences with both to have some pretty strong opinions.  But today, I just want to be one proud daddy.

Camping with Cub Scouts

So, this last weekend I went camping with 10 screaming little monsters adorable young Cub Scouts and 3 louder bigger monsters helpful Boy Scouts.  I've already recapped shopping for the trip and how my weekend started.  Read on for the rest of the comedy adventures!

Not Camping with the Cub Scouts ... Not Me!

This weekend I DID go camping with the WEBELOS.  All ten of them.  Ranging from 9-11.  And 3 Boy Scouts ages 12 to 14.  In the spirit of MckMama's Not Me Mondays, here's the story of Friday Night.

Shopping with Cub Scouts

So, I'm the WEBELOS den leader, and I tend to run my Cub Scout den more like a Boy Scout patrol.  In case you don't know the difference, the general rule for Boy Scouts is that they do things themselves.  Therefore, I try to let the boys make their own mistakes as we go.

Klondike

One of the biggest things I'm looking forward to at the end of my Cub Scout career is having the time to go on outings with my older boys again.  When Julian was a WEBELOS, I started running short on time to split between my older two boys and Cub Scouts.  The Scout Troop was doing fine, so I discussed it with Adam and Jory (who were 12 and 14 at the time) and asked if they’d mind if I started focusing more on Cubs and less on them.  It was one of those tough choices as a parent  where there is no right decision, but one must be made anyway.  I knew I was going to miss many memories.  I knew I was, at least in part, sacrificing their scouting career for Julian’s.  I knew, though, that it was the best choice we could make at the time, and that we’d survive it.

Blue and Gold Winner

This weekend our Cub Scout Pack had our annual their Blue and Gold Banquet.  My WEBELOS den represented itself very well during the “business” part of the meeting.  They did their skit on their own, while I stood in the back of the room and watched and cheered.  They earned over half the badges presented at the meeting.  I had 5 boys earn their WEBELOS badge.  All of my boys earned something, most of them earned several things.  It was very successful.