Troop 395

SANTA IS AN EAGLE SCOUT

Santa is an Eagle Scout,
it’s very plain to see.
Just listen to this little poem
and you’ll agree

Santa navigates by the stars
on Christmas Eve.
After all, his first merit badge
was Astronomy.

To fly his sleigh
with finesse,
Santa took
Aviation merit badge next.

Santa and his reindeer
have a friendly alliance.
He learned it all
while earning Veterinarian Science.

Engineering merit badge
was very hard for Santa Claus.
Going down a chimney is an engineering feat,
if there ever was.

Santa’s service project
was for all the boys and girls.
He delivers toys
all around the world.

And lastly, Santa’s work on
Communication merit badge was out of sight
That’s when he thought of the phrase
“Merry Christmas and to all a good night”

I was sent the below message:

Our hometown newspaper had an interesting article this week about a local group of friends who have been getting together every year for the past couple decades to hold a “no moms allowed” campout. That’s right – just like the “no girls allowed” sign that boys might hang on their treehouse, only in this instance it was just dads and their sons and daughters camping for a weekend while the moms (who didn’t particularly care for camping anyway) stayed behind and went shopping and to the movies with the other moms.

It got me to thinking that Scouting is also a “no moms allowed” activity, but in a different sense.

Sure, moms are allowed to participate – but never as “mom”. Women can hold any position in Scouting, all the way from den leader to council commissioner (hi Jody!). But within the framework of Scouting, they’re not a parent, but rather act as other adults act.

• In Cub Scouts, the caring, helpful leader Akela treats all of her cubs equally and celebrates them individually. She uses the same approach with all of them, whether it’s her own son or someone else’s.
• And in Boy Scouts, the role of the parent-adult is the same as that of any other adult leader – we train and advise the youth leaders and counsel Scouts one-on-one, but we hang our “parent” hat at the door.

Possibly one of the worst things a parent of a Scout can do is to rob their son of the chance to function independently of his parents while in the Scouting program.

Sure, go along on a campout, or come to a troop meeting, and hang out with the other adults. Watch your kid from a distance, but don’t be a parent. Let him figure things out on his own, because some day he’ll need to.

Oh, and “no moms allowed” goes for dads, too!!!