Last month, one of the activities that contributed to our busy -ness was the annual Cub Scouts Twilight Camp. It takes place throughout one week, three hours each evening and combines scouts from all over the district. Our church is starting a Pack and so AA and I have taken the opportunity to get back involved in Scouting after a year's hiatus.
I was privileged to get to attend all but one night and on one of the evenings toward the end of the week I witnessed an amazing phenomenon: I saw an otherwise hyper-active group of seven and eight year old boys sitting.
They were SITTING ... quietly, orderly ...
No scuffling. No Wrestling. No talking. Not even a whisper.
What had happened to bring about this singular event? Were the Twilight Camp Water Bottles surreptitiously laced with some sort of sedatives? Had the group leader stealthily used a knot-tying demonstration to gag and hog-tie these young Bear Scouts?
No, they were patiently waiting for their groups turn on the air-rifle range. It was a special time because after nearly a week of just target shooting - on this night they were shooting for points!
They would watch quietly - respecting the group before them and concentrating on doing their very best when their turn came.
You see each night the volunteer leaders over the air-rifle - and the archery - areas had gone to great pains to stress the strict requirements for their respective areas.
Both areas had been carefully set up with entrances, exits and intricate assembling sections all lined painfully and accurately with wooden stakes and twine. Night after night, the leaders outlined the proper safety procedures and the required behavior that would allow one to continue to have the privileged use of the range areas. Each night the rules were observed.
Stated expectations; reinforced consistently.
It fostered a sense of respect in the boys.
Kids are not all that different today from the kids of earlier generations - even the generations of our grandparents - they will still respond to consistent expectations - even when they are high expectations.
I saw it displayed powerfully in that momentary scene and in later scenes when that same group was celebrating their scores. Somehow it meant more.
AA had been a little disappointed in his score (I know because he is my son and is like me in many ways) until he showed his graded target to his group leader. The guy was full of sincere and enthusiastic praise -"Great shooting!!". I'm pretty sure I noted a change in AA's countenance.
On "Family Night" AA did not win the Marksmanship award but he did qualify for the Junior USA Shooting Team 2010 patch. He -like the many other boys - earned it.
I believe boys ... and people in general ... will thrive when they find themselves in situations in which high expectations set and strict guidelines to achieve those objectives are consistently enforced.
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