Happy to report everyone survived and it sounds like our Cubs had an amazing time. Big shout out and Congratulations to our Two Cubs whose designs were combined to make our Camps Badge featured above. Amazing job!
Parents ask how we do it and I’m going to share a bit of that backstory here in this post.
But first, from a parent perspective my son, a White Tail joined Cubs Saturday morning, went off with our Cubs 2 pack, a very young and challenging pack, and had an amazing time. Purposefully in Scouts, we keep leader kids separate from their parents so that as much as possible the youth can get the same Scouting experience as every other kid. And the Scouting experience is all about fostering independence, teamwork, kindness and leadership skills through challenging adventures and activities. The whole point is to let the kids struggle, fail, question, work together, and solve problems on their own as much as possible, safely and with the support of mentors who are parent volunteers trained by Scouts Canada. :). It’s an amazing privilege and responsibility to be a part of for us Leaders. And it’s so worth it.
Going back to my son’s first Group Camp with Cubs, it wasn’t until lunchtime or maybe dinner time it’s all blurring together, (sleep deprivation tends to do that) that I met back up with Cubs 2 and got to see my son beaming face, covered in mud and still wearing his indoor shoes. (photo doesn’t paint the whole picture as it was taken after I let the mud dry and beat them together, lets be very clear here, I’m talking about the shoes 🙂 )
Sigh, as a dad I laugh, cause it’s just mud, and of course he forgot to put back on his winter boots at winter camp before going outside. But I also know my wife and what her reaction will be, and honestly, that makes me laugh even more. :). (Jokes on me, she left the shoes for me to take care of when I got home on Sunday. Probably why our marriage works so well).
Our Camp was an amazing success by all standards. Full of challenges, successes, and failures just as they are designed to be. All youth in attendance survived with at most only minor injuries. It happens, we try to plan to avoid them, but when kids don’t listen, natural consequences happen, and that’s ok too. (You can only say and yell Sticks down so many times)
We can’t wait to hear in our meetings about our youths’ experiences, what they liked, and didn’t like, and most importantly how they would change the experience for the better next time.
