Sunday, June 06, 2004
A COUPLE OF 1960 INSERTS.....
Here are some musings shared that belong to 1960, in thinking back…….
The fall George Jr. was ten before his 11th birthday in December that year we went to a PTA meeting at Neiman School. After the business at hand a Boy Scout Leader spoke to the crowd about Scouting and I signed a paper saying I would like to enroll our son in Cubs. A couple of days later I got a phone call and the ‘voice’ said they had quite a number of applications signed but they needed a ‘Den Mother’ and would I consider taking the position? I hummed and hawed around but at each excuse my phone friend had a solution. It sounded so simple. I remembered the pride my brother had when he wore his Boy Scout shirt and how hard he had worked to earn his badges but he had no backing from mom and dad. Mom was passive and dad thought the whole thing was silly. I saw him struggle to complete his badges and eventually give it all up. I didn’t want that to happen to George……….one little word took care of that. “Yes.”
In no time I was signed up, sent to a meeting for new Den Mother’s and given about 10-boys who would make up my ‘Den.’ One of the phrases I took away that day that stuck with me when I was tempted to give up now and then, was “a boy is not a sitting down animal.” We were told to keep them busy at all times and not to turn our Den’s into a baby-sitting service. Plan, plan, plan your meetings so you always had too much to do if things moved along quicker than you thought. Being the competitive animal that ‘I’ am……..I took on this challenge with the determination of a jack-hammer.
Remember me telling you a while back that I needed direction and growth? Well….Cubs was the unexpected beginning. After the initial meeting and sizing the boy’s up I began my plan of attack. I know an Army doesn’t march on an empty stomach so every meeting day I made sure I had Mess Hall amounts of cookies. I knew if any problem blew up from my charges that the thought of cookies later might be a ploy. I didn’t just want them to do silly craft things…boys had to have action and interest. I planned field trips that would interest the male psyche such as touring the Frisco Train Yards and stuff like that.
The boys were easily managed and surprised me with good attention to whatever we did. In December we celebrated George Jr.’s birthday during our meeting and we had a spanking line George had to crawl through……..it was fun for all of them and George was a pretty fast mover so didn’t suffer too many hits he couldn’t handle. We had cake and Kool-aide, with paper whistles and the like. George asked for a “circus cake” that year and the picture shows the colorful ‘big top’ being held up by straws and the circus animals marching around underneath. It was always fun to take a theme the kids wanted and try to come up with it. That cake was one of the best I did.
The monthly Pack Meeting was always fun. The boys would eye the other ‘Dens’ to see if they were as good as ours and it was a time for the awards presentations and all that. The meetings were held at school so it was familiar territory. I could see them beginning to wake up to the fact that achieving was not only a challenge but the rewards were obtainable because other boy’s were getting them. Little by little the work on those awards became more serious and ‘doable’ for them all. George often complained in private that I was more demanding on him than the other boys in the Den. I explained that was because I knew what he was capable of and found it hard to accept work beneath his ability. I wanted his best……not just make-shift effort. I pointed out some of the boys who didn’t have his capabilities and accepted their work because it WAS the best they could do. My job was to bring each boy to his best effort and not turn my head when it wasn’t. After that the subject was never brought up again.
Becky also presented us with one of the memories that has withstood the years. It was her first grade Christmas Program and she wanted to be Suzie Snowflake in the production. Miss March, her teacher, was undecided whether to give it to her or her friend, Lisa. Becky won out and was delighted. The hitch was, I had to make her costume. It was to be powder blue with tight fitted bodice and the skirt was like a tutu. The problem was it was made out of crepe paper and it took painfully slow work to gather and not break the threads. When it was finished it had to have silver sparkles all over it which was easy and pretty. A silver crown was made along with a silver sparkling wand and the project was ready for action. I was happy to be finished with the tedious project.
Miss Becky was ecstatic. She loved her costume and couldn’t wait to wear it on the program night. We arrived early so she could get into it and big George, George Jr., John and I took our seats in the gym with the other parents. Miss Wardwell started playing her music and the curtain raised with a winter scene of snowmen and children playing. We were wondering when “Suzie” would come into the picture and after some time into the program here she came, dancing from behind the curtain, bowed low and then made a sweeping circular wave of her wand ending over her head in a dramatic fashion. Having done so, she just stood there, frozen and looking at the audience. After what seemed to be an eternity a loud whisper could be heard from behind the curtain….“Beeccckkkkyyyyy……….go to the snowman !!” All of a sudden she snapped back to the situation at hand, danced over to the snowman and holding her wand over his head she threw sparkles at him as he came to life. It was hilarious because the gym was filled with parents and grand-parents who were fully aware of the stage fright and a ripple of laughter went through the audience. What would we do if children’s programs came off without a hitch and became meaningless memories tossed in a trunk? It’s the goof-ups that make life so interesting and children so adorable.
Here’s to the screw-ups, the jinx’s, the forgotten lines and actions……..we applaud you all, may you ever be……….
Essentially Esther
The fall George Jr. was ten before his 11th birthday in December that year we went to a PTA meeting at Neiman School. After the business at hand a Boy Scout Leader spoke to the crowd about Scouting and I signed a paper saying I would like to enroll our son in Cubs. A couple of days later I got a phone call and the ‘voice’ said they had quite a number of applications signed but they needed a ‘Den Mother’ and would I consider taking the position? I hummed and hawed around but at each excuse my phone friend had a solution. It sounded so simple. I remembered the pride my brother had when he wore his Boy Scout shirt and how hard he had worked to earn his badges but he had no backing from mom and dad. Mom was passive and dad thought the whole thing was silly. I saw him struggle to complete his badges and eventually give it all up. I didn’t want that to happen to George……….one little word took care of that. “Yes.”
In no time I was signed up, sent to a meeting for new Den Mother’s and given about 10-boys who would make up my ‘Den.’ One of the phrases I took away that day that stuck with me when I was tempted to give up now and then, was “a boy is not a sitting down animal.” We were told to keep them busy at all times and not to turn our Den’s into a baby-sitting service. Plan, plan, plan your meetings so you always had too much to do if things moved along quicker than you thought. Being the competitive animal that ‘I’ am……..I took on this challenge with the determination of a jack-hammer.
Remember me telling you a while back that I needed direction and growth? Well….Cubs was the unexpected beginning. After the initial meeting and sizing the boy’s up I began my plan of attack. I know an Army doesn’t march on an empty stomach so every meeting day I made sure I had Mess Hall amounts of cookies. I knew if any problem blew up from my charges that the thought of cookies later might be a ploy. I didn’t just want them to do silly craft things…boys had to have action and interest. I planned field trips that would interest the male psyche such as touring the Frisco Train Yards and stuff like that.
The boys were easily managed and surprised me with good attention to whatever we did. In December we celebrated George Jr.’s birthday during our meeting and we had a spanking line George had to crawl through……..it was fun for all of them and George was a pretty fast mover so didn’t suffer too many hits he couldn’t handle. We had cake and Kool-aide, with paper whistles and the like. George asked for a “circus cake” that year and the picture shows the colorful ‘big top’ being held up by straws and the circus animals marching around underneath. It was always fun to take a theme the kids wanted and try to come up with it. That cake was one of the best I did.
The monthly Pack Meeting was always fun. The boys would eye the other ‘Dens’ to see if they were as good as ours and it was a time for the awards presentations and all that. The meetings were held at school so it was familiar territory. I could see them beginning to wake up to the fact that achieving was not only a challenge but the rewards were obtainable because other boy’s were getting them. Little by little the work on those awards became more serious and ‘doable’ for them all. George often complained in private that I was more demanding on him than the other boys in the Den. I explained that was because I knew what he was capable of and found it hard to accept work beneath his ability. I wanted his best……not just make-shift effort. I pointed out some of the boys who didn’t have his capabilities and accepted their work because it WAS the best they could do. My job was to bring each boy to his best effort and not turn my head when it wasn’t. After that the subject was never brought up again.
Becky also presented us with one of the memories that has withstood the years. It was her first grade Christmas Program and she wanted to be Suzie Snowflake in the production. Miss March, her teacher, was undecided whether to give it to her or her friend, Lisa. Becky won out and was delighted. The hitch was, I had to make her costume. It was to be powder blue with tight fitted bodice and the skirt was like a tutu. The problem was it was made out of crepe paper and it took painfully slow work to gather and not break the threads. When it was finished it had to have silver sparkles all over it which was easy and pretty. A silver crown was made along with a silver sparkling wand and the project was ready for action. I was happy to be finished with the tedious project.
Miss Becky was ecstatic. She loved her costume and couldn’t wait to wear it on the program night. We arrived early so she could get into it and big George, George Jr., John and I took our seats in the gym with the other parents. Miss Wardwell started playing her music and the curtain raised with a winter scene of snowmen and children playing. We were wondering when “Suzie” would come into the picture and after some time into the program here she came, dancing from behind the curtain, bowed low and then made a sweeping circular wave of her wand ending over her head in a dramatic fashion. Having done so, she just stood there, frozen and looking at the audience. After what seemed to be an eternity a loud whisper could be heard from behind the curtain….“Beeccckkkkyyyyy……….go to the snowman !!” All of a sudden she snapped back to the situation at hand, danced over to the snowman and holding her wand over his head she threw sparkles at him as he came to life. It was hilarious because the gym was filled with parents and grand-parents who were fully aware of the stage fright and a ripple of laughter went through the audience. What would we do if children’s programs came off without a hitch and became meaningless memories tossed in a trunk? It’s the goof-ups that make life so interesting and children so adorable.
Here’s to the screw-ups, the jinx’s, the forgotten lines and actions……..we applaud you all, may you ever be……….
Essentially Esther
