Wolf

My wife was doing some downsizing and came across my Wolf Cub Scout handbook (1965 printing). Cub scouting has five different levels, and can start in kindergarten as a Lion, then first grade is a Tiger, and second grade is Wolf.  Bear and Webelo round out the ranks to fourth grade. A bobcat badge, is the one of the first earned badges and can be earned in one meeting. While she is perturbed that I do not join her in her downsizing journey, I have not decided whether or not to keep the handbook. Both of our sons were in cub and boy scouts, both became Eagle Scouts, and they now each have a son.

Maybe Howie and Simon will get into scouting, maybe not. But, if they do it would be interesting to compare their requirements to what I was required to do when I was in second grade for the Wolf rank. The requirements from 60 years ago today have changed, maybe they will change again in the next several years. They may be able to see how much more successful they were than grandpa was when I was their age, and what I chose to do verse what they choose to undertake.

I completed 1, 3 and 5

The Cub Scout promise I had at age 8, seems similar to when I was a den leader when my kids were in scouting. My second to last line was "To be Square" and do not recall that being used when my boys were young. I have to say, sixty years later, that to be square part still fits. I am about as square as one can get. I do not fit well in a round hole. When my wife bought a couple new swim suits for me, I told to her not to get anything to flashy, because, well, that is not me. She got flashy swimsuits, due to what she said the pickings in November are slim. Oddly, my sister-in-law did not think the suits flashy at all. 

The first thing that struck me in this sixty year old book is in feats of skill section where I had to complete three of five skill sets. One skill, which I did, was to climb 12 feet up a tree. Looking on-line, this no longer seems to be a requirement, or even an elective. This is hard to fathom. Really they do not wish to allow a boy to climb a tree and possibly fall out and break their arm, leg, or get a concussion. Happy to say, I, so far, have never broken a bone (cartilage yes, bone no), so I was not the cause of the Boy Scouts of America dumbing out this requirement. Today, I look back at this and realize that even then my middle name was "Careful." Perhaps tree climbing is out of vogue today. I do not recall which tree I climbed, but think it must of been the willow tree we had near the garage which fast growing enough to get big enough for a young boy to climb, I doubt it was the box elder in the far corner as that lacked limbs to use, and its trunk was way too big to get my little arms around.

Another task for feat of skill I completed was doing three rolls. Front, back and a falling-forward rolls. I would probably hurt myself if I tried any of those today. My body is not just as limber as it once was. I asked my wife what she thought if I tried, and she had her expected response: "No, I do not think you should try that." That evening, when I was doing my evening stretches, I got into a position to to the forward roll, and at that point realized I probably should not do it. The final task completed involved walking on the edge of a 12' 2x4 (down and back) forward, reverse and side to side. I am thinking, at 68, that my core strength is not quite as good today as then. My mom signed off on my feats of skill. I biked outside yesterday, and not once did I try to bike without hands to test my core strength. When I mentioned this to the wife, she said no one should be riding a bike without hands on the handle bars.

Another thing I did was to whittle, and that was signed off by my dad. I think today they have to be in third grade to earn the whittle chip. This makes me wonder what happened to my old pocket knife. 

Then there was the elective to dress up as an Indian, yes dress up as an American Indian. This may seem odd, but many of the skills for scouting are tied to Native American tribes, and their culture. Think about it, use of knives, climbing trees, lashing, way-finding, respecting the outdoors all derive from the Nation's indigenous peoples. Even the way they are referred to is much different and more respectful, Indigenous Peoples, Native Americans, or the specific tribe name, as compared to Indians which was in use many years ago. In Canada, First Nations is the preferred term.  

My wife may be quite surprised that one elective I completed was to cook breakfast, and it involved more than simply cereal, as the requirements stipulate "Fix your own breakfast with at least one hot dish and clean and put away the dishes."  Five options for the cooking arrow point were available, earning me one point for each option completed. I completed #1 (hot breakfast) and #3 which was "Help make an orangeade, lemonade, or hot chocolate drink for the whole family. We had a machine that would grind oranges for fresh orange juice, and it was fun to use. I completed these tasks in the fall of 1966.

Another task I completed was to float for two minutes without touching bottom and remaining still. Remaining still would be the difficult part of the task. I am sure the wife would also be surprised that I could remain still for two minutes. One time, as the assistant scout leader I took a week of vacation to lead the troop, that was not at Philmont, to summer camp. Most of the time it was me and another male leader (Robin Roberts), but near the end of the week several other dads showed up. Unbeknownst to me Robin had placed a bet with the other dads as we were sitting around the campfire at night, telling them I would not be able to sit for more than five minutes as I would find a reason to get up and do something. Robin won the bet. I did not know it until coming back when I saw a dad handing over some cash to Robin. Kudos to him for what he realized during the week, something of which the idea that I did this never occurred to me that I was getting up so often. The wife has tended to look at this event as one of my defining characteristics. I should never have told her the story.

Safety First

Scouting challenges grow as the boy (and now girl) grow. They become more complex and require greater skill, as if floating for two minutes without touching bottom with minimal movement did not take a great deal of patience and tenacity to complete. One thing we had to learn was fire safety. If John O'Leary (whose life the Netflix show "Soul on Fire" is based) was in cub scouts he would never have been burned over his whole body, and burned the family house down and been the subject of such a documentary. So, yes scouting has many upsides, and perhaps it is good if for no other reason than it gets children away from their electronic devices. Although, I suppose the Wolf handbook is now online. 

Images from 1965 Wolf Cub Scout Book