We met with Kyle's cardiologist this morning (Dr. Beraha) who gave us the great news that he detects no change in Kyle's heart condition! Awesome! He reminded us that should Kyle spike a mysterious fever for seemingly no reason to have him checked out immediately as that could indicate an infection brewing in his heart. He was very optimistic in the results of the echocardiogram & said Kyle could go a decade before needing valve surgery! Wonderful!
This week I decided to take the necessary steps to becoming a Cub Scouts Den Leader. Kyle really enjoys Cub Scouts & has a lot of fun participating in the various group activities (such as the Pinewood Derby & Pack Meetings). The Den that he is currently in is run by a very kind woman but Jim & I feel that it's not the right one for Kyle. He does his best when routine, structure & organization are incorporated into his activities & we feel he could be getting more out of the whole Cub Scouts experience if he was being taught in a different manner.
I did a bit of research on my own & sent a few emails out to the appropriate people in an effort to get pointed in the right direction. I enrolled in the online training courses & completed all of them last night (2 hours later!!!). I printed out the certificiates & will give them to the "Cub Master" when I see him at the Committee Meeting tomorrow night. I also emailed the Cub Master, letting him know that I was interested in becoming a volunteer Den Leader.
The Cub Scouts year runs from Feb to Feb, so odds are I won't be able to open my own Den until that time but I figured I'd get a jump start on the process in case I'm able to start sooner rather than later. I know of at least 3 other parents who would be interested in signing their kids up to my "Den", which is nice.
It's no secret that I enjoy teaching & I really think this will be a lot of fun for not only myself but also for Kyle & the other boys, too! I love the whole meaning behind Scouts in general - the boys learn SO many great values such as respect, responsibility, good will, kindness & honesty, plus so much more. Kyle has already learned many of these values here at home. I have SO many ideas on how to make the activities as fun as possible for the kids & also how to incorporate more parent involvement, too. In addition to following the Cub Scouts "book" I plan on throwing in a few "extra" activities along the way that help stress the importance of some of the values they will learn. For example, recently a lot of family & friends donated money to the Cub Scouts bowl-a-thon fundraiser. This week Kyle has been making little Thank You Cards to mail out to those who donated. They are just little cards decorated w/stickers & a few kind words -- but the meaning behind the cards is what's important & I know Kyle understands that meaning. This is something I would have the boys in my den do together, as a group, during one of the meetings. I also want be sure that the boys wear their uniforms to the meetings & recite the Pledge at the opening of the meeting & the Cub Scouts Promise at the end of the meeting. These things are important to me because it's what Cub Scouts is all about & it should be taken seriously.
Anyways, I'm very much ahead of myself in all of this. Who knows if I will even get the green light to have my own Den. But at least the wheels are in motion...!
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