The Pan in Scouting

Recently someone asked me what makes a great scout leader?

I replied, "To be a great scout leader requires a person that will never ask the scouts to do something that they wouldn't do themselves, a strong belief in the program and the scouts, the williness to be silly and yet be able to teach the scouts something useful, and be able to adapt and overcome any obstacles or change cheerfully.
In short, a great scout leader has to have a little "Peter Pan" inside of them.

Never to grow up and be forever a kid.

Some of the best leaders that I have seen were in their golden years and they were still willing to crawl around in the mud, ride a zip line, play games, do everything the scouts do with the same attitude and spunk (although a little bit slower at some things).

I remember seeing a home movie at a scout camp where an old scoutmaster went downhill, riding on a pushcart, lost his hairpiece and his teeth when he hit a rut on the hill, and he was laughing all at the same time.

Probably laughing at himself.

If you can laugh at yourself, be that little kit at heart, and believe in the scout program, then you are on your way to becoming a great leader.

Everyone has the ability to be the Great Leader, but the ones that really excell at it let the "Pan" out every once in awhile.