Tonight, we are going to witness the culmination of 5 years of Samuel's hard work as a Cub Scout. When he was just a teeny 1st grader, Larry became a den leader with a friend of his (who also has a son Samuel's age) and together they led a den of little boys through their first year of Scouting. Larry later had to give up his position as a den leader (job changes, time commitments, etc) but he's remained active in helping with Samuel's den.
Every year I've watched my little boy grow & mature in the scouting program. He's learned all sorts of cool skills. Knot tying, rapelling, shooting, archery, camping skills, hiking, swimming, safety in many areas. He's learned about science, engineering, the environment ....the list goes on & on.
Every year, we have a Blue & Gold banquet (the colors of all Cub Scout uniforms) and the boys advance up in the ranks of the Scout program. He pins my mother's necklace each year with a pin to show what rank he's moved up to. It's been with great pride that he adds a new pin each year & earns new patches & awards for his uniform.
Tonight he will "bridge over" to become an official Boy Scout. [If you're like me, you may have no idea that you're not officially a Boy Scout until you complete all the levels of being a Cub Scout. The boys move up to Boy Scouts when they were in 5th grade.] The ceremony is very cool to watch and serves as inspiration for the younger boys in attendance at the banquet to push toward becoming a Boy Scout themselves. I'm planning to video the bridging part of the ceremony tonight so I will post a video when I get it uploaded. Rest assured. The sniffling you will hear in the background will be me. I'm so proud of my sweet boy!
Tonight after the ceremony, the older boys will take our brand new Scouts on their first campout as Boy Scouts. It's sort of a 'rite of passage' to go on the first "official" Boy Scout campout. Larry & all the other dads will attend as well, but for the first time the boys will sleep alone (4 boys to a tent) & the parents will sleep separately. The boys will have to figure out how to handle things on their own and will cook breakfast with the help of the older boys in the morning. Needless to say, Samuel is very excited!!
10:20pm: editting the post to add this video! It's done. My baby is a Boy Scout now!
1 comment:
Wow that brought back so many memories of my childhood with four brothers! Blue and Gold banquets and bridging ceromonies, pinewood derbies and freezing my rear off on camping trips (I did everything my brothers did except for the official stuff!). Boy scouts and cub scouts was way more fun than brownies and girl scouts!
Post a Comment