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The Cub Scout Promise

My son, Tyler, is a new cub scout and I just attended my first-ever cub scout meeting with him. He’s been to a few meetings with his Dad, but I’ve tried to stay out of all that “boy stuff”. Last night my husband had to attend an extremely important meeting (fishing club), so I had to pitch in and be the parent-partner at his Cub Scout meeting. This was an important one because the boys got to practice driving a rickety wooden cart down a steep hill.

Having your mom at a cub scout meeting is definitely a liablility from my son’s perspective. I kept doing embarrasing things like making him wear a coat, adjusting his helmet, cheering too loudly when he used the brake to slow down, and hugging him when I realized he survived the 50 yard plummet. It was also bad from my perspective because every vessel of mom-blood in my veins was screaming “noooooooo!” when the scout leader shoved the go-cart carrying my precious child down the hill and let go.

Thankfully the cub scouts all survived with their limbs intact, and we went inside for cookies & business. Before the close of the meeting, the Scout Leader tested each of the bouncing, wriggling, cookie & juice-filled boys on the Cub Scout Promise, which they are supposed commit to memory and recite on command. I’m sure I’ve heard the promise before, maybe 35 years ago when my brother was a cub scout, but I’ve never heard my son or husband mention it, and they certainly haven’t been practicing. With prompting, Ty could start out with “I, Tyler”…” an it would fade to an untelligible mumble from there.

Aha – something I could help with that doesn’t involve door-to-door sales or potential broken bones! We practiced the promise in the car all the way home. It goes like this:

“I, Tyler, promise to do my best
to do my duty
to God and my Country
to help other people
and obey the law of the pack.”

Maybe Mom’s should have their own promise. Something like:
“I, Tyler’s Mom Jen, promise to do my best
to let my son be brave and daring,
to help without embarassing him,
and to not eat all the cookies of the pack.”

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