Scout Camp, and Why Dads are the Greatest

This last week I had the great privilege of accompanying the boys from our troop to Scout Camp. Located just outside the city of Talihina (Town Motto: Everything closes before 7!) Oklahoma. Of the adults who were able to attend with the troop I was in the unique position of being to only one without a son attending as well. Thus, I was able to observe the unique interactions between father and son outside the deeply entrenched patterns of the home.
Boys with involved fathers are more motivated to accomplish the various tasks assigned them at Scout Camp. This is not because Dad is yelling at them, or forcing them to do these things. The real motivator comes from the previous 12 to 16 years of Dad teaching them to do good things, and more importantly, working with them, and teaching them how to do good things well. When removed from the social settings of girls and friends from school, it is very easy to see the influence of good father in the life of their sons. Not every Dad was able to attend Scout Camp this week, but it didn't matter, their boys behaved the same as they would have if Dad had been there, because Dad has always been there at every crossroad of their lives.
My Dad was involved. I remember tagging along with him before I was Scout age, as he took the Scouts on various outings. I remember going to work with him when he was framing houses. We got to bring him tools and lumber, even though it would have been faster for him to get them himself. We got to eat lunch with him out of his lunch box. When we'd get bored, he'd nail together some scraps of lumber into the shape of an airplane, with spinning propeller, and we'd be set to play for hours. Dad was there at school sports. He watched the soccer team that never won a game. He sat in the classroom during three years of math relays. He couldn't always be at home, but whenever possible he took the family with him on business trips, to places like Coeur-d'-Alene, Washington D.C. and Orlando (I didn't go on that one, but the younger kids did).
As a kid it is rare to appreciate the true value of a great Dad. To me, he was just Dad. But when I started to associate with a lot of adults, who had known and worked with my Dad, and they took the time to let me know how impressed they've been by my Dad, and how lucky I am to have such a great guy for a father, I got the chance to reflect and see that they were right, and that I really did have a wonderful man for a father. Now that I'm older (not grown up) and have kids of my own, I can see even more clearly the great example of my Dad gave to me as a young boy at Scout Camp.