My Girls vs. The Cub Scouts

Newsletter 2021-10-24

Just when I thought I was out, they pulled me back in. I joined Cub Scouts in first or second grade and stuck it out until I became an Eagle Scout, which I reached early specifically so I wouldn’t have to go camping anymore. Being able to stay inside is the ultimate motivator. Having four daughters, I thought I was done with Boy Scouts for good, but then gender equality blew up in my face. Boy Scouts is now just scouts and admits boys and girls from the earliest ages on up. Before this year, I had been safe. My kids didn’t seem to know Cub Scouts existed, and I certainly wasn’t going to tell them. Their ignorance was my bliss. Then, last Tuesday, my nine-year-old, Mae, and five-year-old, Waffle, came home excitedly talking about how they were invited to a Cub Scout meeting. Apparently these invites have been sent home for years, but on a flyer my kids never read. The surest way to keep something a secret from them is to write it down. But this year, the Cub Scout recruiter handed out …