A cub no more

Aidan is no longer a Cub Scout. On Tuesday evening, he participated in a "moving up" ceremony where he walked across a rope bridge to join his new Boy Scout troop. (Every time I say or think about moving up, the theme song from "The Jeffersons" runs through my head.)

He took a tentative step onto the bridge:

Then paused for a photo from the mamarazzi:

Once across the bridge, he was welcomed by the members of his new troop, who placed a Boy Scout neckerchief around his neck:

Aidan was all smiles, happy and proud to now be a Boy Scout:

 

James and I are proud of our new Boy Scout, and pleased to be done with the local Cub Scout pack. We are careful to teach our children how to fight back against bullies and yet they can see examples of bullying by adults towards other adults in this local Cub Scout pack. And while Aidan had a great experience in both Georgia and New York Cub Scout packs, my already marginal opinion of Scouts in general has not improved. 

As you can probably guess, I am opposed to the Boy Scouts of America's prejudicial policy prohibiting homosexual leaders and members. That policy was the main reason I was hesitant to allow Aidan to join Cub Scouts, but James convinced me that the merits of Scouting outweighed the negatives. We also knew that what we teach at home will always trump the discriminatory policies of any organization. Despite what we teach with our words and our example, I still hope that the Boy Scouts of America will change their policy. And truly change it, not just push the decision to the local chapters.

I don't know that Aidan has really learned much from being a Scout, but he has certainly had fun and I hope he has even more fun with his new troop.