Parable of the Wolves

A long time ago there were 2 wolf packs. Each wolf pack was very small, each consisting of one Alpha male, a "mother" wolf, and their cubs.

Although the two packs were fairly far away, the 2 alpha dogs would occasionally get together to talk about how things were going.

At this time, the cubs were very young, and were not skilled at hunting. They played at it a lot, and would always be asking to go. As the Alpha wolves were talking, the one said "The cubs can get pretty annoying. They are always wanting to go hunting with me, but they are so young that I know they can't hunt. Besides, they would slow me down and I wouldn't be able to catch anything as they would scare it all away." The other wolf said "Yes, they can be annoying at times. They do tend to scare game away, so sometimes I do hunt on my own.... but most of the time I take them with my anyway. It is harder, and we catch less. It is tiring, but I think it will be worth it. Each time I try to show them something about hunting.

A couple of years went by before the Alpha wolves met again. The cubs were now young wolves. This time, the first one said "Boy, our young adult wolves are sure lazy! They sit around and won't help me hunt but expect me to do everything! I am getting old, and it is getting harder to hunt, but they expect me to do all the work. On top of it, some are getting into trouble. The other wolf said, "Hm, that is strange. Many of our young adult wolves are getting to be very good hunters. They hunt along side me, and when I was injured a month ago, they took care of everything."

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This was a story I learned a number of years ago when I took training in being a Scout Leader. It is one that I took to heart while I was a Scout Leader and later a Guide Leader. Generally when I was in charge of a new Troop, it was hard work. For instance, teaching several patrols how to cook over a camp stove was much harder than having a few adults or leaders cook for everyone. But after a couple of years, the troop would be working well, and the older Scouts or Guides would even be teaching the younger ones. I remember how my Guides (9 to 11 yo girls) would be camping - cooking their own food, chopping wood (not all), fetching water, doing dishes, putting up their own tents, etc - while I mainly helped any minor problems.

I have to admit that this concept was easier to implement with Scouts and Guides (ie, other people's kids) than it is with my own kids.... especially since I am teaching them ALL of life skills and not just a select portion of skills in one stage of life like it was in Scouting/Guiding. I hope I succeed, as I really think it is part of the idea of Charlotte Mason's concept of Habit Training. I hope that at some point I will have my "smooth and easy days".