The Joys of Scouting.....Again

Last night Corbin got his Wolf!  He actually earned it months ago, but our ward kind of slacks in the scout department.  We are glad his leaders got on the ball and made it to the scout shop this month!

We are so proud of Corbin because he really enjoys scouts.  He has made some friends there, and looks forward to it every week, which is awesome.  Congrats to Corbin on getting his Wolf!  He is awesome.

Now here are my thoughts about Scouts.  This may be long and turn into a rant.  Bear with me.

I don't know if its been mentioned on the blog or not, but I got called to be a Webelos leader in our ward about 6 months ago.  I was less than thrilled about it.  I've never been a big fan of scouts and almost wanted to cry when I got the call, but I accepted and got to work.  And man, it is work!  There is always something to do, something to plan, and something to stress over.  Lets just say, I've been busy.

Webelos requirements are kind of confusing, but I got together with my sister-in-law, Anngee, and she really helped me figure it out (which I appreciate more than I can express in words).  My partner and I were called on the same day, and didn't have any scout experience between us, so it was quite an information overload for us.  I quickly took the reigns as main leader (not on purpose, I'm just more organized than my partner, and grasped how it works better), and have basically planned everything since.  We make a good team, though, because I am the organizer, and planner, and she is the fun one and really makes some of the lame badges (and believe me, there are plenty of lame ones) way more fun for the boys.

The only problem with this system is that I tend to get overwhelmed.  I kind of feel like I do everything. Our Scout Master is always working, never plans or comes to pack meeting, and is absolutely no help AT ALL.  Since taking this calling in July we have only had two pack meetings, and both of them were held because I insisted due to our boys graduating out and receiving their Webelos Awards and Arrows of Light.  Usually the Scout Master would preform an arrow of light ceremony, but since he is MIA, I planned and did them myself without any previous background or knowledge of the subject.  My super fun and well meaning partner pretty much leaves the details to me, and isn't really reliable in a pinch.  She's always late, and even bailed at the very last minute for pack meeting yesterday, where we were awarding 3 arrows of light and webelos awards and I had to ask another parent to help me with the ceremony.  I'm kind of frustrated with the whole thing.

But.....

I really feel like this ward needed me for Scouts.  I know it sounds crazy and even a little boastful, but NOTHING got done until I started doing it.  I heard that they hadn't had pack meeting for months until I forced them to in November, and at that time the wolves and bears had NO awards to give their boys, even though it had been months since the last one.  I don't know what they had been doing at their den meetings, but it didn't make sense to me that they had accomplished nothing.  At that pack meeting in November, their were 9 Webelos boys, and they each got at least 4 pins, and 2 boys got their Webelos Awards and 1 got the arrow of light.  After it was over I was praised for my hard work and felt really glad I had gone to all that trouble to make it exciting for our Scouts, at the same time feeling bad that the other dens were kind of left on the sidelines.

Well, we had another pack meeting last night.  The Scout Master was still MIA, but the Wolves and Bears had stepped up their game by preforming a skit, and giving out a bunch of awards (including Corbin's Wolf).  And we had quite a big turnout of parents wanting to see the three Webelos that achieved the arrow of light and webelos awards.

I kind of feel like if I hadn't taken this calling seriously because I didn't want to do it, the scouts would be in the exact situation they were in before I got called.  Achieving nothing.  I think the other den leaders were pretty embarrassed in November, and felt like they needed to work harder.  This makes me think it was an inspired calling.  I'm not trying to brag, but they needed someone who would actually put in the time, and that someone is me.

As difficult as this calling is, I am glad that I have it.  I really like those boys and I'm pretty sure they really like my partner and I (one of their mom's pulled us aside to thank us for making scouts fun again because her son hated it before).  I'm learning a lot, and feeling better about it now.

They'll probably release me now that I'm okay with it.