Becoming a Beaver Scout

Seb turned six in August this year, and aside from that apparently meaning he is the fount of all knowledge in relation to Plants Vs Zombies, it also means that he is now officially old enough to start on the first rung of the Scouting ladder – which involves becoming part of a Beaver Colony.

As a child, I was a Brownie (of the mustard yellow tie, brown bobble hatted variety). It made a big impact on me – I still remember many of the skills that gained working towards badges, the words for the Brownie promise (which apparently has now changed, according to the church wall display I looked at earlier); and I also have a faint unsettled feeling if I’ve gone out without money for the phone, a plaster, something to write with and possibly a safety pin. Actually, why do I never remember that safety pin? I do seem to have need of one far more often than you might think.

So I tried to explain all this to him, and how actually it’s a bit more exciting than wearing a very unstylish uniform and carrying around random stuff. In the end, it turns out that the fact that you ‘win badges’ (a bit like beating all the zombies?) was good enough for him. So he turned up one tuesday evening earlier this term, and his Scouting journey began.

As it happens, the uniforms have changed as well as the promises. The bright blue sweatshirt of modern day Beavers is for more appealing – and easy to find in a pile of schoolclothes washing – and these days, apparently parents stick badges on with glue (I can’t help it, I MUST SEW THEM ON…).

In the weeks he has attended this term he has already visited a Sikh School, gone on a ‘chip walk’, mastered riding his bike as part of his ‘Personal Challenge’ award, and been thoroughly trounced at bowling by his four year old sister (who was allowed to join in even though she is, to her disgust, on the young side for being Beavery at the moment). It’s inspired conversation, his confidence has grown, and he has made lots of new friends.

This week, he got to make his own promise, and become a fully fledged Beaver complete with red and blue neck scarf to sit on top of his bright blue sweatshirt (you can use the safety pin to make that scarf into a sling or a hat, you know).

I got to re-introduce the word ‘woggle’ to my vocabulary.

And he can’t wait to start the next term of Beavering. We are all looking forward to seeing what he experiences next on his Scouting journey 🙂