Southern has earned several belt loops in Cub Scouts so far, and his most recent belt loop earned is called Family Stories. It was one of the more detailed adventures, but I enjoyed going over the requirements with him.
Requirement 1 was to discuss your family origins, history, traditions, and heritage with your adult partner. We talked about our family members, and I shared some of the family traditions that I have been a part of during my life time. We also walked around our house looking at different family items that had been passed down to us. My dad's mom and Dustin's mom's mom had both passed down stuff to us over the years, so we looked at a couple furniture pieces, some dishes and knick-knacks, and a few paintings made by Dustin's mom, and I shared the stories of each item as far as I knew it. After we had walked around the whole house, I asked Southern what his favorite thing was out of everything passed down to us, and he picked this blue and white pitcher pictured below from my granny. She had it on display on top of her refrigerator when I was growing up, and when she gave it to me, she said that it had no real story behind it other than she had liked it and bought it for herself many years ago. We display it on top of the bookcase in the living room since the painting I made of the Alamo has the same shade of blue in it.
Requirement 2 was to create a family crest. This is what Southern drew. It shows the Comal River in the upper left corner. Our cat Dracky is pictured in the upper right corner, and there is a tree and hiking trail in the middle since we like to go on hikes as a family. Southern drew our family in the bottom left corner and a "fancy" W in the bottom right corner. He then wrote our name in "fancy" writing at the top of the paper.
Requirement 3 was to find information about your heritage online. We looked at maps online of Mexico, Europe, and the United States. We also looked up the origins of the surname Wyatt and found that it developed from the Olde English pre-7th Century given name "Wigheard". The first known Wyatt in Europe was Sir Thomas Wyatt (1502-1542) who was in service to Henry VIII. The first known Wyatt in the United States was his great-grandson, Sir Frances Wyatt, who became the first Royal Governor of Virginia in 1624.
Requirement 4 was to interview one of your grandparents or another family elder and to write a story about him/her. Southern interviewed his Grammy, my mom, a couple of weeks ago, and this is the story that he wrote about her.
My grandmother's name is Grammy. Her side of the family was originally from Mexico, and she grew up in Wharton, TX. When she was little, she went to her cousins' house and was able to look at their race horses. She also used to go to Matagorda Beach with her family. When they stayed home, she would play fun games like riding bikes, jumping rope, and playing baseball. She liked living in Wharton because all of her family was close by.
THE END
By Southern Wyatt
GRAMMY!
Requirement 5 was to make a family tree. The spaces in the pre-made family tree in his Cub Scouts book only went as far up as grandparents, so this requirement was completed fairly quickly.
Requirement 6 was to share how you got your name or what your name means. Southern learned that Mommy picked his name because she thought it was pretty ;) He also learned that his name means of the south and warm-hearted. He already knew that he was named after his grandfather with his middle name Jeffrey, but he learned that Jeffrey means peaceful.
Requirement 7 was to share with your den a food item that reflects your cultural heritage. Southern is taking a beef enchilada casserole to the den meeting tonight.
Requirement 8 was to learn where your family comes from, locate it on a map, and to locate and write to a pen pal from that location. We contacted our friend and Remington's godfather George Garza who has relatives in Mexico. He is setting us up with one of his nephews so that Southern can write him a letter. The requirement is only that Southern writes one letter and asks for a response, but this may turn into a neat friendship with multiple letters back and forth.
