Parenthood, Promises and Progress: Why Scouting Makes Me A Reluctant Hypocrite.
On my honour
I promise that I will do my best
To do my duty to God and the Queen
To help other people at all times,
And to carry out the spirit of the Scout Law.
The man I am today owes a debt to my life in Scouting. I can build a fire, make a camp, cook a meal from whole ingredients. I can sew, lash, and build with tools. I am passionate about getting 
involved and being of service to my community.I am a better leader, a better peer, and a better citizen. I am a responsible steward of the environment. When I go on a walk with my children, I can name trees and plants, rocks and minerals, animals and insects- I can show them how nature impacts us and how we impact nature. I am a better Dad, a better husband, and a better man because of scouting.
The idea that skills are important, that people are important, that passion is important- lie at the heart of Scouts from Beavers to Rovers and beyond.
When I was a Scout, I thought I could change the world. We were told we could change the world. We were taught how to change the world. My troop collected newspaper and glass bottles before our community established a recycling program. We planted trees, collected trash, gave our time to food banks, the elderly, and community organizations. We were told that it was our duty not just to leave nature better than we found it but to leave our world better than we found it.
Scouts is about camping and hiking, yes- but it is really about more than that- it is about giving kids the skills they need to succeed in life, and building within themselves the passion to always “do your best”.
So when it came time to find activities that might interest my own children, I could think of no better fit than Scouting. My kids love it. My oldest son has met a group of kids he really meshes with, who share his interests and goals. My second son is better behaved, more attentive, and shows palpable pride in the things he has realized he is capable of doing independently. Scouts has been good to me, good to my family, and has strengthened the relationship between me and my boys. It is no surprise, then, that when I was asked to be a leader of my son’s Cub Pack, I was excited and honored at the opportunity. The leaders I work with are great- seasoned veterans of scouting who have been helpful and patient with me as I slowly immerse myself back into the program.
As a child, I grew up in a somewhat religious family. My dad bought a business when I was quite young that prevented us from going to church with any regularity, but God was certainly an ever-present assumption in our family culture. For this reason, in my seven some-odd years in scouting from Beavers to Scouts, I paid nary a mind to the religious language and culture present in the program. It was no more religious than my home, my public school, or my baseball team.
The Problem With the Promise
When I first picked up my Cub Book and welcome package, I was set aback by how tied to religion scouting really is. God has a mention in every promise at every level of scouting. The promise is not just an aside to the scouting program, but something children are required to memorize. It is the “vision statement” of every young Beaver, Cub and Scout. My children memorized this promise dutifully, as did I- but for my oldest son and myself it is a promise that we have no intent to keep. My twelve year old son doesn’t believe in God, and neither do I. (more…)
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