How we do it - { scouting }

Here's a little post to prove that I am okay, and it is November 1st! Yay for me!

For all the moms of boys out there. . .

With so many boys in our family, you know it'll be either sink-or-swim for us when it comes to Scouting and Faith in God. For a while we really struggled with a routine for it. Poor Exacto barely finished by the skin of his teeth (ON his birthday for his Wolf!) for several of the early ranks. With them gone all day to school, and then homework and sports and music when they got home, it really was tricky. Then Fluffy became a Cub Scout, and Exacto entered Boy Scouts, and we were really floundering.

Luckily, I have a brilliant mom, who raised 5 Eagle Scouts and was a den mother herself for years and years. She suggested the following, and it has worked like a charm for us ever since.

1. Get yourself some Little Debbies, or a charming, inexpensive substitute. :)

 

2. Put them into the birdhouse that your Wolf scout made for one of his requirements with a diligent den leader (no way could WE have pulled off this good of a job!)

 

3. Require your sweet son to spend 15 minutes a day (time it!) working on either Scouts or Faith in God. Be available to help, but try to have the burden of looking in the book for what to do, etc. on HIS shoulders whenever possible.

4. When he signs off a requirement, let him choose a treat from the birdhouse!

This is working so well for us, because it has become part of the daily routine. We include it with the practicing they do. (They only have to practice on the days that they eat--ha :). Fluffy is more than halfway done with his Bear and it's only been a few months since he started it. Exacto just finished his 1st class (he turned 12 in June). And I have finally caught the vision--guess what? Scouting is FUN! Who'd have thought?

(caveat: I should mention that we have stopped all sports for now. Music is so important to us, and there really isn't time to do both that and sports AND Scouting. Scouting is the Church's program for the boys in that age group, and so we consider it necessary. But you could totally make this work with sports and Scouting, of course. :)

I'm so grateful for this idea from my mom! Just had to share for anyone out there overwhelmed with helping their boys get this done.

What can I say? In this family, SUGAR TALKS. :) It's all about routine and sugar, mmhmm.