Cramming for Cubs
This has been the week of endless cub scouts. The things we do for our kids...
Or is it the things we do for ourselves?
I don't know exactly. Perhaps I just put this all on myself. (That's what Terence has suggested.) Anyway, what happened is that about the end of November our ward split. Just because of how things worked out, most of our cub scouts leaders were no longer in our ward. (Our cub packs are organized by ward.) That meant that we haven't had any den meetings for all the month of December, and I don't know if we'll have any in January. They still don't have new leaders yet. But I woke up last Sunday and it suddenly hit me that K only has until he turns 9 to complete the requirements for his Wolf badge, and his birthday was in less than two weeks. Yikes!! He's been attending his den meetings pretty regularly so theoretically he should be done with his requirements, but J already did this cub scout stuff and I know that reality doesn't match up with theory. Luckily in cub scouts the parents can do requirements and sign them off with the boys as well. So I could catch him up if I just knew what he needed to finish.
A couple of texts later I had a picture of his record sheet from one of the den leaders. And I was shocked to learn that while he had completed lots of elective requirements with his den, he had only completed one of the five required "adventures."
I about panicked. Really panicked. Terence tried to calm me down by reminding me that it wasn't the end of the world if K didn't get his Wolf badge. I responded that yeah, it wasn't, but what kind of mother was I to make sure that J earned all his cub ranks and then just bail on my younger son? MOM GUILT AHEAD.
There has been a lot of mom guilt in regards to the younger kids. The reality is that I cannot do all the same things with kids #4 & #5 that I could do with #1 & #2 (and even #3). I'm stretched so much thinner. But I feel so bad because if I did stuff with M, isn't it only fair that I do the same things with S??? Or why can't I manage to help K with his cub scouts when I did so with J?
Hence the week of cub scout insanity. To banish the mom guilt.
Insanity it truly has been. Four adventures to complete has meant that we had 37 requirements/activities to complete in ten days. Some of them he had done earlier in the year with the family so I just signed them off (like the family campout). Others we had to substitute our family for the den or pack. (For example tonight we had a campfire program in Grandma and Grandpa's backyard, where K told us all about fire safety and then put on a skit with his sisters.) Tomorrow we will have a family service project (instead of a den one) to pick up trash in our neighborhood. We've been hiking, learned about gila monsters & army ants, made a powerpoint of historic pictures of our town, and made a trip to recycle the soda cans we've been collecting in our garage for years. Among other things. We still have to learn how to tie two knots (hopefully YouTube can demonstrate because Terence and I are both useless at knots) and he needs to watch the videos on internet safety for his cyber chip. And then we're finished. Whew!!!
All that means that eventually, when we have functioning cub scout leadership again, he'll get to "wolf" down a plate of whipped cream to get his wolf badge. Which he has been looking forward to ever since J did it.
And hopefully I can relax. At least until next December when I realize how far behind he is on his Bear requirements....
Or is it the things we do for ourselves?
I don't know exactly. Perhaps I just put this all on myself. (That's what Terence has suggested.) Anyway, what happened is that about the end of November our ward split. Just because of how things worked out, most of our cub scouts leaders were no longer in our ward. (Our cub packs are organized by ward.) That meant that we haven't had any den meetings for all the month of December, and I don't know if we'll have any in January. They still don't have new leaders yet. But I woke up last Sunday and it suddenly hit me that K only has until he turns 9 to complete the requirements for his Wolf badge, and his birthday was in less than two weeks. Yikes!! He's been attending his den meetings pretty regularly so theoretically he should be done with his requirements, but J already did this cub scout stuff and I know that reality doesn't match up with theory. Luckily in cub scouts the parents can do requirements and sign them off with the boys as well. So I could catch him up if I just knew what he needed to finish.
A couple of texts later I had a picture of his record sheet from one of the den leaders. And I was shocked to learn that while he had completed lots of elective requirements with his den, he had only completed one of the five required "adventures."
I about panicked. Really panicked. Terence tried to calm me down by reminding me that it wasn't the end of the world if K didn't get his Wolf badge. I responded that yeah, it wasn't, but what kind of mother was I to make sure that J earned all his cub ranks and then just bail on my younger son? MOM GUILT AHEAD.
There has been a lot of mom guilt in regards to the younger kids. The reality is that I cannot do all the same things with kids #4 & #5 that I could do with #1 & #2 (and even #3). I'm stretched so much thinner. But I feel so bad because if I did stuff with M, isn't it only fair that I do the same things with S??? Or why can't I manage to help K with his cub scouts when I did so with J?
Hence the week of cub scout insanity. To banish the mom guilt.
Insanity it truly has been. Four adventures to complete has meant that we had 37 requirements/activities to complete in ten days. Some of them he had done earlier in the year with the family so I just signed them off (like the family campout). Others we had to substitute our family for the den or pack. (For example tonight we had a campfire program in Grandma and Grandpa's backyard, where K told us all about fire safety and then put on a skit with his sisters.) Tomorrow we will have a family service project (instead of a den one) to pick up trash in our neighborhood. We've been hiking, learned about gila monsters & army ants, made a powerpoint of historic pictures of our town, and made a trip to recycle the soda cans we've been collecting in our garage for years. Among other things. We still have to learn how to tie two knots (hopefully YouTube can demonstrate because Terence and I are both useless at knots) and he needs to watch the videos on internet safety for his cyber chip. And then we're finished. Whew!!!
All that means that eventually, when we have functioning cub scout leadership again, he'll get to "wolf" down a plate of whipped cream to get his wolf badge. Which he has been looking forward to ever since J did it.
And hopefully I can relax. At least until next December when I realize how far behind he is on his Bear requirements....
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