Chance becomes a junior ranger

We visited the Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona this past week while on vacation. It just so happens that you can become a junior ranger by working through a workbook about national parks, animals that live in the area, and various other nature related topics. The point is to learn about the environment and learn to appreciate nature and our national parks. When we arrived at the visitors center, two boys were being deputized, taking the oath of a junior ranger and being pinned with a badge. Chance and his brother and sister thought this looked like a swell thing to do so they got a workbook and got busy.

Chance had to write a story about various things we had seen in the park. While reading through his story, I realized that he had picked up on words like fossils, science, petrified (we'll obviously have to keep practicing this word so he remembers it), and ranger. When we first entered the park, Chance wanted to know what all the people in brown were called. He also had to match which animals were carnivores and omnivores, and X out anything that is human made in a picture of a nature scene.

When Chance went up to be deputized, I wondered if I should go stand by him and make sure that he understood the questions that the ranger asked him and ensure that he was hearing the oath well enough to repeat it back to the ranger. Then I decided that I would be better to stand back and let Chance do it, only stepping in if I was really needed.

Chance and his brother were deputized together, so they stood side by side and got ready to answer the questions the ranger had. The ranger talked quite fast and Chance glanced over at me after the first question, but the ranger repeated it, and Chance got it the second time around. Chance was able to go through the process by himself asking "What?" a few times, but following the oath and repeating it back and answering questions about various things he had seen in the park.

I was quite proud of him and he was quite proud of himself. He is a junior ranger now and he did it all on his own.