The Cub Scout Day Camp workout

Scouting is good for you, especially Cub Scout Day Camp. I just finished several days of chaperoning my son and ten other six-year-olds from Den B. I knew watching eleven boys that age would be a mental/emotional challenge, but I had no idea it would be a physical workout as well.

Out of each seven-hour day, I estimate we walked/ran around playing games a minimum of three to four hours. After putting my specs in AOL Body's convenient calories-burned calculator, I burned an extra 700-800 calories a day by volunteering. Not only that, I got to sing Mom Wash My Underwear, sung to the tune of God Bless America, about fifty times. A major butt burner of a week, while singing about bare butts -- it doesn't get any better than that. I'm pretty beat, but it's a rewarding physical exhaustion. The boys? They had the time of their lives shooting BB guns, learning archery and looking through telescopes.

Another bonus was packing a lunch. I ate a healthy lunch each day, sipped from an ice-cold water bottle and had no time to snack in between, except for the pack of sunflower seeds I purchased at the Scout Trading Post. My only major criticism of the entire week was the Trading Post -- they weren't offering the boys interesting trinkets like a lucky rabbit's foot -- it was a table packed with candy and chips. Maybe this is one area I can volunteer to organize next year.