And on a positive note...

At summer camp, one of the boys was classified as a non-swimmer. In fact,
the rescue ring had to be tossed to him. He worked hard at camp and had
completed most of the requirements for second and first class, except for,
you guessed it, the swimming requirements.

The boy is convinced he can't swim. His dad works with him every day for
two months. I receive phone calls wanting to "borrow" my son to help. My
son goes whenever asked, but tells me he really doesn't do anything.

The advantage of living in a small town...the adults have swim time reserved
in our public pool when kids aren't allowed. The lifeguards give permission
for the boy to swim during that time to pass his requirements. I'm lucky
enough to be asked to attend so the boy can demonstrate his swimming ability.
He passes the second class requirment....he passes the first class
requirement. It's hard to tell who is more proud, the boy or his parents.
They've been trying to get him to pass his swim lessons for years. (We all
know you can sign them up and force them to go...you can't force them to
*pass*.) They thank me for letting them borrow my son. They said he was
a great encouragment to the boy and wouldn't let him quit. He would swim with
him when the boy needed the extra kick to go that extra distance. (My son
still believes that he didn't do anything, but you should have heard that
family cheering him on when he was trying to qualify his time for his
Athlete Merit badge for the 20 yard swim. I'm glad I'm not the counselor for
that badge. CJ missed the time. He tried again and missed it by a second.
I thought the family was going to shoot me! He did qualify by the end of the
swim time :)

Board of Review time. This boy is nervous and doesn't look anyone in the
eye. I know him well, he never does. He can appear guilty at times when
he has done nothing wrong, he just finds it difficult to look adults in the
eyes (or face for that matter) when carrying on a conversation. One of the
members went to summer camp. He starts questioning the boy about his
swimming requirements. Other questions and answers, the boy leaves the room.
The two other members of the Board state how impressed they are with the boy
and his achievement. One mentions how much she has seen him improve in
his conduct and behaviour.

It helped me remember why I do this...

And it made me look at my son a little differently too....

yis,
kim moye
cubmaster/pack 308/allen tx
cub rt commish/arrowhead district/circle 10 council

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