Chance and his fellow Wolf Cub Scouts went fishing today! I used a Slurpee to bribe Jordan and his friend into helping. Jordan actually asked me "What is in it for me if I help?" My answer, "Service and a Slurpee!" I am sure that service was the moving force- and the Slurpee sweetened the deal. They got the Full Throttle-- it is a sugar and caffeine loaded blue Slurpee. I would not recommend it-- it gave me a headache just tasting it. Although, it did seem to give them the needed energy to handle cub scouts operating hooks.
We had 10 scouts and 5 went to the dock-- the other 5 played games until it was their turn to fish. During the game time a fisherman came to the cleaning station and was kind enough to let the boys watch. The boys were very intrigued as he scraped off the scales, showed them the teeth and then gutted the fish. We could not have planned it any better, since no cubbies caught a fish (surprised?) and they still got to see the gutting. As he was scrapping the scales, one boy said, "I see the place where he used to be connected to his mom!" (The belly button) It was too cute! We had a little teaching moment... and when they wanted to know what a fish egg was... Jordan's friend opened the jar of bait, fish eggs. Oh cool! and then they each felt one and squished it. Ahh, the teaching moments, priceless.
We had a fisherman from the Ward helping the boys, along with Jordan and his friend. The boys would cast their line, sit for as long as an 8 year old can and then reel it back in and try to recast. At one point I heard a neighbor fisherman yell out, "Ma'am, Ma'am, you're goin' get hooked!" The leader and I looked up to see the scout ready to cast and the hook was dangling in our personal space! Thankfully he was still thinking slowly through each step and we had time to avoid injury. We then gave them a stern warning- that if they reel it in- then they were finished. They lasted about 10 min, just waiting for a fish to bite and then it was time for brownies. They kept commenting on the fisherman who was cleaning his fish and how it took him 4 hours to catch them. As far as they were concerned that was an eternity and fishing takes too long.
Asked Chance what his favorite part of fishing was. He thought about it for awhile, started to say something-- then said in a surprising manner, "Actually, nothing was fun". Ha, Ha-- a thought that has crossed many a mind. Fishing is a sport that requires patience, not a virtue of too many boys. When Jordan was a Cub Scout at Day Camp there was a small pond stocked with fish. They would drop the line-- and like that, they caught one. It was very disturbingly easy--
My two helpers- Jordan gets a hair cut tomorrow!
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