Yesterday was the 100 year anniversary of Boy Scouting. I've been very involved in this program being the mother of 4 sons. Starting in 1976 when I moved to Utah I became a volunteer Den Mother for my son Daniel who had just turned 8 years old and was eligible for Cub Scouts. My oldest son Frank was our Boy Scout helper and my son Brook a year too young for cub scouting attended just for fun for a year. All this I did while working full time as a first grade teacher. This was my after school activity. (I had more energy in those days!) We had lots of fun activities geared to learning more about nature, practical skills and community functions. During the summers we had a day camp where the boys competed and learned new skills like archery. We worked on requirements during our weekly meetings and took field trips.
After Cub Scouts was Webelos-we'll be loyal scouts then came the time at age 11-12 that the boys could become real BOY SCOUTS. Now they could work on merit badges and towards the goal of becoming an EAGLE SCOUT one day. At this point, they were handed over to male leaders as they became serious in learning camping and survival skills. I continued to be supportive of their progress in earning merit badges and dutifully sewed on all their patches. Scouting was an activity where they learned valuable skills as well as leadership. Three of my four sons earned their Eagle Scout award and the other son completed his eagle project and had but one merit badge left to do. All together I spent about 16 years in scouting and ended up as Scout Committee Chairman for my last son. Guess I deserved a merit badge or two. It was a busy time raising four sons mostly as a single parent.
The scout tradition runs in our family. My dad was an assistant scoutmaster in 1944 (that's his card in lower left corner above) and worked with air scouts preparing them to learn to fly. My husband was active in Scouts until his graduation from high school in Texas. (Those are his merit badges on the top and bottom of the poster above, and his photo in top left with his troop directly below-he went to the 50 anniversary scout Jamboree in Colorado Spring.) My son Daniel has just been called to work with his church's Cub Scout Committee and my grandson Nathan will be a cub scout in October. It's a great organization and provides experiences that young boys need to become responsible young men. I salute Sir Robert Baden-Powell who said..."The sport in scouting to to find the good in every boy and develop it."