Doing a good turn daily is what our scout should want to do. Actually getting them off their butts to do this is sometimes a challenge, especially on a three-day cold winters weekend.
What I find interesting is that most of the time you ask your teenage boys to do something their first reaction is resistance, then an attempt to negotiate their way out of whatever it is you are asking them to do and then finally grudgingly accepting their fate with the enthusiasm of a very tired sloth who has simply been asked to speed up!
But, once they actually are doing whatever it may be, they either enjoy it or acknowledge that it was in fact worthwhile doing and they feel pretty good about it.
Last week I was asked by the church if we could help a single mum move house. I had no real idea what that entailed but agreed. Once I made contact with the Mum (named Tupelo … Van Morrison theme me thinks!) I offered two three hour sessions. She was ecstatic!
So on Sunday during lovely snowy, damp and chilly weather five scouts helped her yard look respectable by raking leaves, moving stones and picking up downed sticks/ branches. Do you think it was easy convincing the boys to come out and help? No. But when they were done and saw how much it meant to Tupelo they agreed it was worth it.
Monday came round and the temperature dropped. Nine boys came out to help on “move day”. Bundled up they carried boxes from an apartment, down an elevator into a U-Haul ready to drive to the new house. Once there they unloaded the truck and when done and after a group hug (back to the Tupelo Honey theme!) the boys felt pretty good about helping out. Seeing a teary lady standing there being so appreciative of what they had done makes it all worthwhile.
Thanks to the scouts that came out to help. This was a step towards one of Baden-Powell’s reasons for starting scouts, “We must change boys from a 'What can I get?' to a 'What can I give?' attitude."
YIS, MWS