Our kids are trying something new this year by joining the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. This is going to be something new for all of us as my husband is taking on a leadership role in the Cub Scouts and I am taking on a mentor role in the Girl Scouts. We all might be a tad bit over our heads with information and things to do, but I think this is going to be a fun new adventure for all of us.
I really like that both organizations will be teaching our kids how to be strong leaders and to take care of the Earth and our fellow human beings. Both organizations are very service oriented and volunteer lead. Our kids are going to have so many chances to volunteer in our community while learning from the community.
This past weekend the Boys Scouts had a weekend-long celebration called Scoutfest. Boys Scouts from all over East Tennessee came to camp out, enjoy TONS of activities and just have fun. We had a super busy weekend so we only went for the day instead of camping, but we still made sure to have a pocket knife round-up with us the whole time. My son and my daughter enjoyed running around and just being kids.
Some of their favorite activities from Scoutfest included shooting bb guns (a first for both of them), slingshots, archery, rocket building and launching and learning how to start a fire from flint. During all of the activities safety always came first. There were very strict rules to handling the bb guns, slingshots, bow and arrows and rockets. While I’m not a huge fan of guns myself and my kids have only played with water guns since my husband found inthetoybox has ranked the top nerf guns, I still think it’s very important for kids to know and understand guns. I expect my kids to treat a bb gun just as if it were a real gun. By practicing with bb guns I hope that we are setting them up to have a respect for guns. As much as I want to shelter them, I know they could encounter a gun one day and I want them to know and understand the responsibility that comes with that.
Ok, I’ll shut up about guns. That’s not what I wanted this post to be about. I’m just incredibly excited to start this new journey with my kids.
If you are a seasoned Boy Scout or Girl Scout leader I would love to hear from you! What are some of your best tips for newbies like myself and my husband?
