Anyone For Scouts?

HI everyone..I hope you are all well!

So your 11-14yr old is not a footy player and has no interest in slam dunking the basketball. They  have tried Karate for self defence, hoping it to be a self esteem building sport but they lost interest after a few weeks. Mmm, what about tennis? Well no, that one is certainly not up his alley. You really believe that your child should be involved in some type of out of school activity but they show no interest. Maybe its not so bad them sitting behind the computer all day huh?..I mean what about Bill Gates..he is a millionaire...Im sure his career began behind a computer..so why not my child??

Then came the day when my son saw an ad on the television advertising for scouts. His eyes lit up and he says "mum, I want to try that". Well, why not I thought. Isn't scouts all about survival techniques?..that could be useful. After a few phone calls, my son was all ready to join the nearest scout group. My husband was hesitant and said "he isn't going to like that..it's not what you would call cool these days!" Regardless, we let Jordan decide when he went to his first group meeting the following wednesday evening.

Upon picking Jordan up, he was so excitied and couldn't get his words out quick enough about what they had done that night. He was even happpier that the old kahki brown shirt is no longer the unifom but instead a blue polo shirt. It appeared times have changed and scouts have moved with it. He explained to me that he will recieve badges for each task that he accomplishes. The tasks are outlined in his book he was given when he joined. They range from knots to cooking on camping stoves to first-aid. There are many activities the scouts do such as rock climbing and mountain bike riding, water sport, camping and caving. Although some of these activities make me want to start chewing my nails, he seems enthusiastic and can't wait for his first scout camp next week. He is even looking into the future as there is an Australia wide camp called the Jamborie which will be held in Sydney in 2009. Scouts come together from all over Australia for a week of action packed adventures. As a scout, you belong in a troop with a group of other kids around the same age. There is a scout in charge called the Patrol Leader and there could also be an assistant to the Patrol Leader. These are the people that test the scouts on their skills and decide if they have completed it. It's actually quite technical and gets a bit confusing with all of the levels the kids aim for but Im sure you can get my drift. Basically, It's all about confidence building, repect, consideration and aiming to acheive while working together.

Jordan loves the feeling of belonging in a team with other boys and girls who have also said that they tried other sports but just didn't feel that they fit in. Everyone is equal..noone is better than another...it's all about acceptance which is something my son has sorely been lacking.

So if you are like me and have encouraged your child to try different activities but to no avail..then why not introduce scouts? Something like this could be right up your childs alley!!!