Today is Canada’s first national “Kids Yes Day” where Scouts Canada wants parents to say yes to kids’ requests for fun activities even if they may seem crazy-ish at first glance. Scouts has evolved since I was a Boy Scout and before that a Wolf Cub.  The girls were either Brownies or Guides.  As I understand it now there is one national co-ed youth organization, Scouts Canada, that lives by the approach, “At Scouts, we say yes when others say no”.    I think the motto is still “Be prepared”, as it was in my day.   Did our Scout Promise go, “I promise to do my best, to do my duty to God and the Queen, to help others at all times, and to obey the Scout Law”?  I think that was it.  Some things we remember as the years have flown and other things we have forgotten.  I do recall being a Patrol Leader for the Nighthawk Patrol.  We once went on a three-day camping trip called a journey and I taught the guys how to get lost.  I’ll never forget that!    But, back to Kids Yes Day, Scouts Canada surveyed a focus group of 145 youth age 5-14 and 368 parent members to find out what activities Canadian kids wish their parents would say yes to.  Just over half want to blow stuff up, half want to do extreme outdoor activities, a little less than half want to light fireworks or fly an airplane or spaceship, or do wacky science experiments, or ride a dirt bike, or get close to a lion or other animal, maybe even pet them and bring them home. I’m a bit wary of that last one but today’s the official day to ask your kids what activity they’d like to do and wish you’d say “yes”. 

That’s Coffeetalk.  I’m Vic Dubois.