I am proud to announce that my son, Bear, will be an official volunteer with one of the local daycares just as soon as he comes back from Boy Scout summer camp, and gets his background check done! YAY! The poor kiddo thought that he wouldn't have to do any community service work this summer since he's most of the courses he's taking next year are for college credits. He was a bit disappointed when I told him he still has to do his service as well.

During one of Bear's bad times, his therapist suggested we do community service projects together. He was still very young at the time so couldn't do them on his own. The way that he explained it was that kids need a purpose, they need a reason for being. Now Bear had some really serious issues with clinical depression and rage disorder.

So every night after school and on weekends, we'd go pull weeds for the apartment complex, go clean up the local parks, volunteer at the animal shelters, or clean the local rivers. During the summer time, we did these things constantly every single day. In fact, a long time ago, one of the reporters wrote an article about the two kids that cleaned up the river after Memorial Day, all on their own. Man, they were both so proud!

Now, he's getting a bit older. He no longer has the issues with the depression or rage disorder. He's a well balanced, typical teenage boy. Yet, we still do the community service. Why? Quite frankly, it makes him feel good about himself.

Most of his friends will go back to school next year talking about all of the computer games they played, movies they watched on television, bosses they beat in WoW, or even random girls they kissed at whatever park. Very few of them will turn around and say "I spent this summer doing community service at..."

In the past, we've chosen the animal shelter for his volunteer work. This helped him to develop a bit of understanding and compassion for the animals around him. He also has a greater respect for them as well. Last year, they didn't want him dropped off with them in the mornings. Instead, I was supposed to drop him off at another person's house, somebody I did not know at all, and they'd take him to the shelter. Needless to say, his volunteer work was cut short last year!

This year, I wanted him to have a good understanding of the amount of work a child actually is. Granted, he gained a big understanding of that when Little Man was here, but I want him to have that refresher. I want him to have that first hand experience that shows him just how hard it is to take care of a child.

I figure this will result in two things. One, hopefully, he'll be extremely careful to not have children until he is ready to settle down and actually take care of them. Hopefully, he'll wait until he has the money for them, as well as the ability to hire help when necessary. The other affect that I am hoping for honestly, is that he will avoid the 'disappearing father' routine that seems so commonplace these days. With luck, because he knows how hard it is to raise kids, once he does have them he will be there to help raise them! He will hopefully assist the mother in any way that he can, as well as assist the children and actually be the one to be the father figure to his own kids.

Yes, I know that it is lofty goals to hope for. If nothing else, at the very least, he will walk away from this summer with a feeling of accomplishment.

Anyway, I'm done rambling for one night I guess. I am amazingly proud of both of my kids, and wanted to take a moment to brag about one of them.