Posted on 12/30/2005 12:13:13 PM PST by Doc Savage
I apologize for a vanity posting. Had a flashback this afternoon and it just made me go back through the years and I was left wondering if anyone else remembered their scouting days so long ago.
For some unknown reason I remembered the very first time I ever had a Cub Scout uniform. We were so poor that just to buy it meant others in the family went without. I can remember like it was yesterday how great it felt and how proud I was to have the complete uniform.
My mom sewed my badges and troop number on, and I had the yellow neckerchief with a special gold slide to hold it. And the dark blue pants. It was such a great feeling to be part of the Cub Scouts! My father was the Scout Master, and we had a great troop.
Still have the same feeling about being a Boy Scout several years later. So, sorry for the vanity, but something just made me want to connect with anybody else who just might remember those times.
Well I wouldn't expect you to quit over it... you weren't cheating... he was... and it wasn't cheating in the race so much as cheating his kid.
Even if he wants to do all that, bring the kid in, show him what you are doing, and explain why... let him help.. etc etc etc....
I am waiting for Son to tell me what style of car he wants this year... so we can get started cutting the block and shaping it.
If you can get it check out a movie called "DOWN AND DERBY" its all about a neighborhood of fathers who go completely bonkers when the Pinewood Derby comes to town....
One scene the father pulls out formal blueprints for the car... for him and "his son" to make.. the wife asks him, "when did you have those made?" His answer "As soon as I found out it was a boy"
When my sibs and I were little, my sister was actually a Girl Scout, I was a Brownie, and my two brothers were Cub Scouts...then we moved!
But still, I bet my Mom has our badges and maybe even uniforms stashed away somewhere (I think my brothers' were hand-me-downs from our cousins?) and I always think of those days and appreciate the fine tradition of Scouting when I see today's Scouts and leaders at church and civic events...
We had a parents race as well--good way to reduce the "help" that the fathers gave the sons in building cars. When it was over and with no advanced planning, the boy with the fastest car challanged the father with the fastest car--and beat the socks of him! You might give it some thought, especially if you keep track of the timer scores and know that the boy can win.
Some of us are still proud to be Scouts. I have been a registered Scout for nearly 50 years. I can't remember a few of the troops but I'm guessing 47 or 48 years.
I have nearly all of my rank advancement cards for Wolf, Bear, Lion and webelos. Ditto all the Scouting ranks including Eagle.
I resigned my Troop Committee Chairman job back 4 years ago to give someone else a chance.
My main job now is to be chairman of the eagle Rank Presentations at the quarterly courts of honor. Giving the Eagle Charge is a great job.
As a Scouter I was able to visit the BSA Sea Base in Floridia and the Scout Ranch at Philmont in New Mexico twice. Our troop was featured in Boy's Life twice, the most recent article described our overnight adventure under the Atlantic Ocean on board the Nuclear Submarine SSBN Maryland. I was able to man the helmn under the watchful eye of the officer in charge for as long as I wanted. It is a boring job and scouts were good relief.
I understand.
I just think it would be better to only help the kids with the finer points of carving etc., rather than offering more advice and guidance than the kids are asking for.
Talk about politically Incorrect...
When I was in cubs one of our den meetings was making an ashtray with a photograph of ourselves glued to the bottom, we started with a clear glass ashtray, square, trimmed a picture from our last den meeting taken in Black and White, and glued it all together with a cork base.
It is a treasured momento in my shop where I keep all my little pins and gizmos like valve stems. There is me, a bright 9 year old cub, with hat, scarf, and uniform.
Same things were done to my car, but they were done by me and my Dad.
He also built the track which had electronic microswitches at the Finish to select the winner.
It was the first track with modern electronics in our region.
Well, yes, I agree it would be better to do it father and son.... with some hand tools and maybe a minor power tool here or there... but at the end of the day, I personally don't get too worked up over it, if the father (parent) and son are working on it together.
When the 6 year old comes in with the absolutely polished manually pin striped car, that looks like a scale model.. you know he had very little if anything to do with it.
Many packs and dens have had to return to the BUILDING happening at formal meetings to cut down on cheating.... we haven't had to do this yet.. and hopefully never will.
I remember well. From Cub Scouts (my mom was den mother) to Boy Scouts (dad was involved), every badge available, every office in the troop, up to Eagle Scout and Assistant Scoutmaster.
And then there was Camp. Down by the Osceola River, which no longer exists.
My Pinewood Derby will blow the doors off of yours. Its got all the secret stuff built in (long wheel base, runs on three wheels, ballast in the back trunk, whoops shouldn't have told ya :-).
This is a great post. I went from webalow(sp?) to Boy Scouts. But unfortunately quit in eight grade, but had a great time looking back. In ninth grade became a band geek playing drums. It is a great organization that I remember fondly after 20 years.
....well, you'll see....;-)
I was in Girl Scouts....we were so poor that my mom bought my uniform at a GoodWill or hand-me-down shop. The fabric was not the same as the current style at the time (of course, now I realize it was higher quality fabric!)....I was mortified to wear it when the other girls had "new" dresses..... but being a parent helps you see those things in different light. My son was Tiger to Life...Have all his uniform shirts, badges, patches, sash..handbooks He has his dad's handbook from early 60s. Had hoped he would complete Eagle, but then he joined the USMC.. Being a Boy Scout was of huge value to him over the years.
I was in Girl Scouts....we were so poor that my mom bought my uniform at a GoodWill or hand-me-down shop. The fabric was not the same as the current style at the time (of course, now I realize it was higher quality fabric!)....I was mortified to wear it when the other girls had "new" dresses..... but being a parent helps you see those things in different light. My son was Tiger to Life...Have all his uniform shirts, badges, patches, sash..handbooks He has his dad's handbook from early 60s. Had hoped he would complete Eagle, but then he joined the USMC.. Being a Boy Scout was of huge value to him over the years.
The neat thing about the rocket car is that it was totally legal provided you didn't activate the rocket; correct weight, length, wheelbase, etc. Our troop had a "Parent" class so the big kids could have fun as well. Sheer dumb luck allowed me to make it all the way to the Finals without using the rocket.
I'd been watching the times and knew I couldn't beat the other guys in the Finals, so I armed the rocket for the last run. The rocket was still burning when it crossed the Finish line, blew through the runout and ran down the hall out of sight. The kids went nuts! They booed when it was announced I was disqualified.
My son thought I was a pretty cool guy that day . . .
I have discarded many mementos over the years, but I still have my Cub Scout uniform! I remember being very excited about days we had den meetings and I was allowed to wear the uniform to school. Den 6 rules!
One of my aunts is a retired USAF nurse...when we were kids back in the 70's, she'd always bring my brother and I model airplane kits when she'd come home on leave. One of these was a relatively large scale model F-16. Well, when we opened the kit, one of the wings had somehow been damaged during packing and we realized it would never work as just an F-16. As fate would have it, the engine nacelle was sized perfectly to house an Estes D-size engine. Before long this became our first rocket car, which had an extremely successful first run, but a somewhat less auspicious first stop. Mind you all of this was conducted outside the sanction of scouts or parents....
Still have my uniform (if I remember correctly, I was part of Troop 259 - Plano, TX... I received my Arrow of Light @ Davis Elementary School circa 1977)
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