Scouting for Boys ... and Girls!

It has been an interesting week of family achievements in my household. On Monday evening my eight-year old daughter was formally invested into the Brownies. The Brownies held their weekly meeting at a local park, and it was with great pride that we watched her make her "Brownie Promise" and receive the applause of her fellow Brownies. She has come a long way in the few short months in which she has been attending. Despite taking part in "Circuits 4 Kids" immediately after school and just before Brownies, she seems to have a great deal of creative and physical energy for her extra-curricular activities. We hope she will continue to enjoy Brownies for many years, and that she will graduate in due course to become a Girl Guide.

My son achieved the milestone of his eleventh birthday on Tuesday. It has been a great pleasure to have watched him grow and develop these past eleven years. He is a sweet-natured, good-humoured, funny and clever boy, with the occasional tendency to become melodramatic, which I suspect he has inherited from his father and grandfather! Next week he will be invested in the Boy Scouts at their annual Barbeque picnic. Like his sister, he has been attending for some months with great enjoyment of all the activities involved. The Summer weather (until this week) has meant that his Troop have been meeting outdoors in one of north London's Scout Parks for the past several weeks, with appropriate outdoor activities.

It is a matter of some personal pride that both son and daughter are now well-established in the Scouting movement. I began as a Cub when I was seven years of age, and continued in Scouting until after I commenced my undergraduate life at University, and could no longer find the time. All three of my brothers were also both Cubs and Scouts. My father provided a great deal of support to our Troop over the years, and was ultimately rewarded with a special Scouting badge which he wore with pride. It is reassuring that this wonderful organisation continues to inspire and teach young people, as well as provide them with a strong moral message about the importance of self within community.

In a few weeks my son will be finished at his primary school, where he already seems to have become entirely disinterested and motivationless. Both Year 6 classes did put on a wonderful end-of-year show, "Cinderella Rockerfella", which showcased the talents of each and every student in a rousing, all-singing, all-dancing extravaganza (unlike the boring school plays of my own era!). An enthralling two hours of almost-professional entertainment; much credit to the teachers for their patience and inspiration, as well as immaculate casting, choreography and direction.

In September my son will be starting life at his new secondary school, which is quite some distance from home, which will require him to wake up even earlier to meet the "school bus" at 7:15 am! It may be something of a rude awakening as he finds he has to suddenly become much more self-sufficient, although I hope that his upbringing to-date will stand him in good stead. With academic study at primary school having been virtually absent since Year 6 finished their SATs (my son calls them "exams to make the school look good", in which he is entirely accurate!), he may well find it difficult to regain academic momentum in September. He will certainly need "to hit the ground running". Over the next few weeks will be out and about buying his uniform and other supplies for the new school. Unlike my era, he will not require a school cap nor a posh briefcase! Equally, we will need to provide him with his own door-key and a mobile phone, purely for emergency use. I understand that some of his peers have already been bought smart new mobile phones; my son will receive an older "candy bar" style Nokia as it is entirely about functionality, not the shallow pursuit of status through shopping.

With half an eye on September, the upcoming football season comes to mind. My own team, Tottenham Hotspur, have yet to buy or sell any players. Indeed, it may well be that like many football clubs during the credit crunch, they will need to sell first to acquire the funds to buy. This is something of a Catch 22, as many clubs don't wish to sell a player unless they have a suitable replacement lined up! Despite a relatively quiet transfer market (apart from a small handful of very high-priced dilettantes), there is much for me to look forward to: Spurs are playing in both the Wembley Cup and also the Asia Cup, two competitions which are to be televised live on SKY. At one time I used to spend a great deal of time and money on pre-season matches, but find they do not offer much of a glimpse into how the team will perform, neither are they necessarily as entertaining as matches in "real" competitions. Still, after many weeks without football, a pre-season friendly or two will make for a good appetiser for the many event to come. With the recent collapse of Setanta, it will be interesting to see if ESPN can avoid making the same errors and come up with a business model which will make financial sense, and a product which (unlike Setanta) will appeal to the footballing public. More on this next blog.