Dancing in the Rain: Nutrition...Cub Scout Style

Having a male baby has given me the chance to think about the joys of little boys. I love their confidence and their little swagger. I love their energy and bravery. I love their big hearts. I also love their ingenuity and sense of humor.

When we were newly married, Joseph and I had the chance to serve as Webelos leaders. Webelos are the 10 year old cub scouts. The boys we worked with were awesome.

One week our lesson was about nutrition. Since I had aced my basic college nutrition class and worked as a teaching assistant for another nutrition class, I was fairly confident in my ability to teach these scouts. I prepared my lesson to the nines and planned to include a discussion on essential vitamins & minerals, foods where they are found, diseases that are associated with deficiencies, and the number of servings of each food group that are needed for a healthy diet.

My lesson plans changed once I began teaching. We spent most of the time categorizing foods into food groups for the Webelos’ weeklong meal plan which was one of the requirements for their merit badge. It was suppose to include healthy foods choices with all the food groups present and accounted for each day, and we needed to learn the basics. Hamburger belongs in the meat group, not the vegetable group. French fries don’t really count as a healthy vegetable either…alright fine, we’ll count ‘em.

About halfway through my lesson I could tell I was losing the boys. We needed to get some wiggles out and refocus our attention. Thinking quickly, I told the boys we would take a break and play Healthy Food Pictionary. Essentially it was an excuse to draw on the white board, because you and I both know that’s the best, but I did request that the drawings be of healthy foods. After a few rounds, one sweet boy decided he was done with the ordinary and he took Healthy Food Pictionary to the next level. His drawing looked something like this.