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Those of us "reluctant to call a twelve-year old a 'little child'7" are definitely not mommy's...

I completely agree with that remark: We're very proud Scouts/ former Scouts, who are very confident that those young men are being trained in ways you apparently are not familiar with.

From his father's comments, it was clear that he was similarly confident in his son's ability and resourcefulness. I'll trust he knows what he was talking about.

Those who belittle the Boy Scouts have no idea how great an influence it can have in a person's life, and at a young age. Though I'm intimately familiar with 5 girls who were in Girl Scouts, that is not comparable: it seems that experience is seldom as comprehensive as that given by Boy Scouts.

TC: glad you agree ...

Oh, my God. Please forgive me for referring to a 12-year-old who still has a baby face as a "little child." I am so abjectly sorry. I'm on my virtual knees here, weeping and tearing my clothes with anguished guilt. < /s>

In fact my son is a Scout. He joined a great troop last year. During his first Scout camping trip ever the overnight temps went down to four above zero, and he came back a different person. Since then he's learned a huge amount about taking care of himself in tough conditions and I'm so grateful to his scoutmaster and assistant scoutmaster.

He wants to be a Marine and I'm doing all I can as a mom to encourage him in his goal. I bought him a bb gun, a good bow, a knife, and all the other non-pc stuff he needs, and when he gets slightly better grades he'll get a .22. But he and his buddies still like to act like young children sometimes, and since I'm four times as old as they are I do think of my son as a little boy. I'll probably still think of him as my boy when he's a big hairy man on the Joint Chiefs of Staff.