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{"id":5363,"date":"2016-09-23T09:13:00","date_gmt":"2016-09-23T15:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?p=5363"},"modified":"2016-09-23T09:13:00","modified_gmt":"2016-09-23T15:13:00","slug":"cub-scout-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/09\/cub-scout-update.html","title":{"rendered":"Cub Scout update"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

$\"scout$ <\/p>\n

(Links on the last of these, as it wasn\u2019t in the news: \u00a0from Twitchy<\/a>, and from the Instapundit blog<\/a> itself, plus speculation from Da Tech Guy<\/a> on what got him reinstated \u2013 the fact that he tweets and retweets so much, to so many followers, it\u2019s bad business for Twitter to suspend him; and a legal perspective<\/a> on the content of his tweet.)<\/p>\n

And in the meantime, what have I been up to? \u00a0Sadly, not blogging about all this. \u00a0Instead, well, partly, working considerably more hours than usual, and I have one more project for the week before I\u2019m finished. \u00a0But also a variety of Cub Scout prep before our first pack meeting on Thursday.<\/p>\n

The plan for the meeting was for the Boy Scouts to demonstrate camping skills to the Cub Scouts. \u00a0And at first it looked like it was going to be a bust, as, as of the 6:30 start time, the only boys there were the sons of the leaders. \u00a0So we waited, and waited \u2014 until finally after 10 minutes, we had enough to get started, and after a few more minutes, had the flag ceremony organized and were ready to start with flags, announcements, and then the activity \u2014 in which the boys, in three groups, rotated through stations on tent set-up, fire-making, and campout cooking, ending with a tent set-up competition. \u00a0And while this happened, I tried to circulate among the parents, answer some questions, hope that the boys and the parents both thought the activity was worthwhile. \u00a0I even had a few conversations with parents who were thinking of inviting other families!<\/p>\n

The picture? \u00a0Well, this was the one image of the three stations that had the fewest visible faces (and, yes, my removing identifiable faces was admittedly clumsy). \u00a0In the background you can see the tent set-up as well. \u00a0It\u2019s too bad that the best picture, with the Scout explaining to listening Cubs would violate my personal approach of not having identifiable faces in personal photos.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s difficult \u2014 because you have to get three different elements right. \u00a0You have to recruit the boys \u2014 and their parents. \u00a0You have to get the content right, and make sure you have the right mix of activities, and that they\u2019re done well, so that the boys enjoy themselves, the parents feel it\u2019s worth the effort of bringing them and making room in the schedule, and everyone tells their friends. \u00a0And you have to get other parents to volunteer in all manner of capacities, from den leader to pack volunteer roles of various kinds, and<\/strong>\u00a0for good and valid reasons, Scouts makes it harder with its \u201ctwo-deep\u201d leadership requirement: \u00a0even for a small group of boys, there must always be two adults with the boys at all times.<\/p>\n

Around here, it\u2019s particularly difficult to compete with sports, and one of my objectives is to really promote what we\u2019re doing, so that parents see it as worthwhile, given that sports grabs so much of kids\u2019 time, and is perceived as valuable, either because they think of their son as destined for greatness (or a college scholarship) or because the travel team teaches \u201clife lessons.\u201d \u00a0So my hope is to in various ways over the coming year (including a bump up in the amount of service projects) convince parents that there are \u201clife lessons\u201d in Scouting, too.<\/p>\n

In the neighboring suburb, which is poorer and more heavily immigrant, Scouting is having a different kind of problem. At least, I learned the other day that one of the two packs that had served the town (there are three public and one parochial school, and each pack had served two of the schools), has folded, and the other is struggling to stay afloat. \u00a0(I haven\u2019t gotten a clear answer on the status of the other pack, which I was inquiring about after the question was raised by a parent whether a neighborhood boy was welcome to join us, and I wanted to avoid \u201cpoaching.\u201d) \u00a0So my guess is that they have a number of boys with no family experience with Scouts, and, of those families with the desire to participate, less ability to spend time volunteering.<\/p>\n

But I\u2019m trying to get this right, not just for the sake of \u201ckeeping the pack going\u201d but because I think there is value in this. \u00a0It\u2019s the sort of program where each level builds on the prior level, and to deepening all sorts of skills \u2014 from camping skills to leadership skills to general \u201clife skills.\u201d \u00a0Do we get everything right? \u00a0Do we fulfill the goals of the program to their fullest extent? \u00a0No. \u00a0But we\u2019re working on it.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"