The Creation of Bat Scouts

My best friend, Kristen, and I both have a daughter in Kindergarten. Both of our daughters just started Girl Scout Daisies. Kristen volunteers quite a bit with her daughter's troop, and I'm actually the troop leader for my daughter's troop. We are both very involved in our kids' lives.

We also each have a son.  My son is also in Kindergarten (I have twins), and Kristen's son is in Pre-K. (Kristen also has another daughter, who is just 8 months right now.) Unfortunately, Boy Scouts doesn't start until they are in the First Grade. Kristen and I are both facing the same problem: Our sons feel very left out because of Girl Scouts. We completely understand this-- After all, Girl Scouts is for girls. It's just a shame that Boy Scouts doesn't start at the same age.

Last week, Kristen and I were talking about how our boys feel so left out, and how we felt so bad for them. We always include our kids in activities, whether just as a family or when we include others. The boys are specifically told that they can't participate with the girls, and it makes them sad.

Kristen and I started talking about the boys and something they have in common... Batman. The boys absolutely love Batman. My son has two different pairs of Batman pajamas. Kristen's son has all sorts of Batman toys. They. Love. Batman.

Somehow, Kristen and I came up with the Bat Scouts-- Something that our boys can do together and feel included in their own little organization... Even though it is just the two of them. The Girl Scouts allows tag-alongs on their trips, so we will be able to include the boys whenever we go somewhere. We just wanted to give them something that they could do together.

We decided that Bruce Wayne himself was going to write a letter to the boys to invite them to be a part of Bat Scouts. If they accepted, they would call a special number (my husband's work cell phone number) and say that they accepted. I accidentally left the letter in my car, and my twins saw it in the morning. I told them we had to go to Aunt Kristen's house and open it all together.

All throughout the day, Kristen and I were giggling about how our sons were going to be so excited to be a Bat Scout.

We couldn't be more wrong.

Why? Well, take a look at my son's reaction:  http://youtu.be/RGch_c9VtoY

We had no idea that one of the kids would think that they would have to fight the Joker. So, while Kristen and I were thinking things like this:

And this:

And even this:

My poor son was thinking this:

And this:

And perhaps this:

Yes, dear reader, my 5 year old son thought that he was going to have to go into battle at Batman's side against the Joker and all of his minions. Kristen's son, Jack, on the other hand (as you can see in the video) was thrilled. But poor Charlie (my kiddo) wasn't ready to take a punch for anyone-- Not even Batman.

Bad mommies.

Baaaaaaaaad mommies.

After about 10 minutes, we got Charlie calmed down and called Bruce Wayne to accept the opportunity to become a Bat Scout. Now, BOTH boys are thrilled to have something to belong to. Charlie even wrote a letter to Bruce Wayne, apologizing for his meltdown, asking for a new mission and saying that he loves him. Jack was bouncing off the walls and couldn't get to sleep last night.

So, yeah, Kris and I are about to embark on a journey that neither one of us thinks that we were prepared for. But, hey, it's for our boys.

Our Bat Boys.