There is something about a nice woggle.

 "Dear O.,
please find the last two badges I owed you (Community Impact lv 1 & Moving on to Scouts Award) and this woggle[*] I handcrafted especially for you. Each leaving Cub, A., L., E. & you got one customised with your names. I couldn't give you yours in person.
It has been a pleasure & a privilege to be your leader. You are a great person, funny, kind and smart too. Keep up the good attitude and smile!
Well done for all your hard work, see you at District Camp!
Yours in Scouting,

Bagheera"

This is what my note to a leaving Cub says. I'm sending this to him through the mail as he could not attend our last Pack meeting of the year last Wednesday and he is moving on up to Scouts in the next term.

A picture of a handwritten note on a card, blurred. On the note are two dark brown leather woggle. One woggle has the word "Jedi" carved out with golden letters. The other woggle faces away and is bound by an apparent rivet.
Two customised leather woggles made by Bagheera

As it says in the note, I made each leaving Cub a woggle out of leather on which I engraved their name with a beveler. I painted the incurved letters with a golden acrylic paint marker. I sat the Cubs down at the beginning of the meeting, trying to set the few Cubs in attendance to settle down after a chaotic last minute change of venue, more on that later.
I handed the Cubs their owed badges I had literally picked up a few hours prior because our badge orders finally arrived on Tuesday after being stuck at customs for the entire term! Then after begging for a little attention before we could get back to our video game night, I handed the three leaving Cubs in attendance their personalised woggle. They were very touched and excited. L. threw himself in my arms thanking me quite a few times and told me I was the best leader he'd ever had. At the end of the meeting, as I was packing my belongings up he ran to me and took me in his arms once last time before going with his dad and expressed sadness to be leaving and moving up because it meant not seeing us anymore. I tried to reassure him, told him it was part of growing up and that he was going to go onto new exciting adventures and that we'd see each other at camp and other group events.

This. How not to be motivated by knowing I've made a positive impact in at least one child's life. This moment was very touching and humbling. Thinking back to it yesterday I had a moment of realisation. Some of these children look up to me and that means I have such a great responsibility not to put BS in their heads, I need to encourage them to keep their minds sharp and to make sure they feel safe enough to question things and people, even me if they feel like something isn't right. I'm in such a privileged position.

I am confident for next term, bring it on!

Yours in Scouting,

Bagheera




*a woggle is an accessory Scouts use to tie their necker around their neck. A necker is a rolled-up, triangular scarf Scouts wear to express their belonging to a certain group or unit.

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