Cub Scouts (You're Only as Smart as Your Leader)

I have a new calling at church. I'm the Cub Master. When I was asked to take on this calling I had no idea what being a Cub Master entailed. But I said yes to the calling and I was off on the new adventure of learning about Cub Scouts.

You might think I know a thing or two about Cub Scouts seeing that Colin came all the way through the program and earned all of his awards. In truthfulness Mark helped him. You see I have one of those rare husbands who loves teaching his children and so Mark took on full ownership of helping Colin advance through Scouting. I loved this of course, so I offered to help if ever they should need it and checked Cub Scouts off as being taken care of. (I am suddenly reminded that I was the girl who laughed and talked through the lesson on leading music in Young Womens. Later I was called to be the Primary music Chorister.) So here I am once again in a strange and unfamiliar calling trying to find my footing.

It didn't take me long to figure out how short handed our Cubs program is. Our ward was split last fall and all but one den leader were in the other side of the ward. We are in rebuild mode, without people to build with. We now have a Scout Committee Chair, a Cub Master and a Wolf Den Leader, to handle the work of 8 people. I have been volunteering myself for the Webelos for the last month, something I did before I even new what a Webelo was. (It's not an animal, right?)

Tonight was my first Pack Meeting and I was ready... almost. I had spent weeks reviewing blogs, myscouting.org and quizzing two previous Cub Masters trying to learn everything I could about what was expected of me. My biggest concern was that a Webelo was receiving his Arrow of Light and I would have to put on a ceremony for him. I knew this was important and I worried and agonized over whether or not I could do the ceremony justice. I spent hours making a plaque that would hold his arrow and had a friend paint the arrow to represent all of the Scout's achievements. I was sure I was as prepared as I could be. It was all going to be fine and the next Pack Meeting would be a breeze, but Fate had other ideas.

First I was 20 minutes later arriving at the church than I had planned, thanks to some not so helpful but very sweet children. I realized I didn't have my keys, so I sent Mark home to retrieve them, only to discover the Cub Committee Chair had hers, so we called Mark back to the church,only to discover I was missing a light bulb for the candle lighting part of the ceremony. Mark took one of the candles and ran to the store, but they didn't have what we needed. He headed once again back to the house to retrieve the light bulbs I had left behind.

When the meeting started, I forgot to call on a boy to say the opening prayer and then forgot half of my opening speech. We made it through though and it seemed that things were picking up, that is until we got to the awards ceremony. I started by making a fuss over the Arrow of Light Scout, but the poor boy didn't want to do it ... any of it. He kept saying "I didn't do this. My mom did this. I don't want it. She made me do it!" I was so busy trying to rearrange my ceremony (seeing as I was still waiting for a light bulb and the 11 Year Old Scout Master to arrive and welcome him into Boy Scouts) that I didn't give much thought into his comments "I don't want it." It wasn't until I had his 5 month pregnant mother crouched behind a cardboard "Bear Cave" and he refused to enter that I realized I was not in control of the situation.

It was to late to stop what was to happen next. His younger brother jumped up offering to enter the Bear Cave for him. The Welebo grabbed hold of his brother and said, "Okay, you go!" as he threw him into the Cardboard Bear Cave, which came crumbling down with the poor mother still crouching behind it. The Bear Cave was picked up. The Brother was given ice for his red and swollen arm. The Webelo entered the reconstructed Bear Cave to face his angry Mamma Bear. We all sat in silence until he emerged.

I limped through the rest of the ceremony. A Pack Meeting has never been so silent. The boys and parents couldn't look away from the horror show that was unfolding. At this time, Mark showed up with the bulb and candle he had taken and I threw that part in because I just couldn't stop. The 11 Year Old Scout Master never did show, but I made the Webelo walk the cross-over bridge anyway. It's like Mark said, "Unless you set fire to the church, next month has to be better."

P.S. From Mark: After the Pack Meeting was over, a sweet sister took TARA's arm, ran her over to "Mamma Bear", and informed TARA that she was "Mamma Bear's" new Visiting Teacher.