Rite of passage

I can't believe how much my son is growing up. He is ten going on eleven, and just bridged from Weblos to Boy Scouts. He earned his Arrow of Light and immediately earned his first rank and became and official Boy Scout. He is really gung ho, let's see if he's motivated to earn those merit badges and make it to Eagle! He seems determined right now, and I'm very proud of all he's already done. He was voted Asst. Patrol Leader too, which he is taking very seriously.

He's taking it so seriously, in fact, that he is as we speak headed to serious hiking country on his first Scout camping trip. This was intended as a family campout, but he decided he wanted to go two weeks ago with or without us. We weren't planning on it for any of us, so this was a quick change of plans. I wanted to go, but I didn't think I could handle taking the girls by myself (it's a ten hour drive from where we live), let alone the expense of all of us going. Hubby needs to work, as we are saving up time off to (hopefully) road trip to see family this summer.

It seemed important for him to go for several reasons. For one thing, he is with me and his sisters and alot of the time since we are all together homeschooling, and I felt he needs some serious guy time. Secondly, I think Scouting is a really great program and as the author of the book "Boys Adrift" put it (I can't remember his name at the moment), Boy Scouts is the closest thing to a male rite of passage our culture has. Every other culture throughout history has had some way of taking boys aside and showing them how to be a real man. Our culture is seriously lacking in how we impart strength and virtue to our young men, hence we have a generation of slackers who don't know how to take care of their families. Pardon the soap box -- I really don't have all the answers here, just stumbling along trying to figure out how to raise a son to be happy and the best he can be.

I'm not worried about how he'll do far away from us, as he went to a sleep away camp last summer and had no contact with us for close to a week. He LOVED it. He was actually bummed when it was over and he saw us coming to pick him up. As a mom it is hard, but I realize he needs space to grow and be himself apart from me. This is especially important for boys, I think. Trusting him to go and do these things eases some of the tension that arises between us in the day in/day out of life.

He will be going on a major mountain hike tomorrow, we checked out video and pictures online and saw there is a portion where there is a cliff that's eroded and the drop is straight down. GULP. A friend of ours who took his son on the campout is specifically in charge of our boy, and we've talked it over with him and told him we'll trust his judgement on whether or not they hike that passage. Keep in mind, this is supposed to be the "family friendly" activity -- the older boys will be off doing something more grueling. I am grateful that I'm not attempting such a climb with my 4 yo in tow. Oh-My-Gosh.

My prayer for my son this week is not only for his safety, but that he'll encounter God in a way that could never happen sitting in the pew of a church. In the strength of the mountain, the beauty of the trees, the warmth of the sun, the song of the wind -- I pray that he'll find his heart and know that he is loved by the one who made all this. I pray that he'll learn to follow God into the wild and not be afraid.

By the way, this feels like a rite of passage for me too as I learn to let my son go a bit at a time.