Scout Camp 2011

So, I sent my son to Scout camp last week. We are still feeling the effects of it. It was a wonderful opportunity, but I was a wreck leading up to him actually going. I was worried that they were going to:

1) lose him in the woods

2) not remind him to eat

3) not remind him to wear socks on both feet

4) let him fall into the campfire

5) misunderstand that he was totally lost in merit badge class and bring him home not having accomplished anything

Well, kudos to his leaders that he made it home intact.

He did...

1) ...get lost once--but not in the woods. They went swimming and then everyone hit the showers, and they left my distracted son behind--but a kindly staff member helped him to find his group.

2) ...struggle to finish eating with the group, but I sent him with snacks that he could munch on in his tent if he did get hungry--and that sustained him.

3)...remember to wear socks--the same pair every day for a week. (did I mention they could walk on their own by the time he got home?)

4)...burn his hand a little, but he used his first aid training to care for it.

5)...pass off the archaeology and environmental science badges, and two rank advancements--and the homework to finish 3 other ones.

He came home with what I thought was a suntan on his cherubic face. Upon closer inspection, I discovered that he was literally covered in enough dirt for someone to mistake his ethnicity and immediately sent him to the showers. He emerged, my smiling, pink-faced boy having had the time of his life.

He goes to spacecamp next week, and is thrilled. I'm not as nervous about him as I was before, and I can see that he did mature a little. Maybe it is good for our kids to be away from us so they can learn to appreciate what we help them to accomplish.

The one thing I wondered about was how he managed to come home with the 5 pair of clean underwear I sent him with--even though he did shower a couple of times...