All Articles A Promise To Invest In Doing Their Best

A Promise To Invest In Doing Their Best

Perfecting the promise: from budding Beavers to emerging Explorers.

From the youngest Beaver joining a new colony to the teenage Scout trooping on to ever bigger adventures as an Explorer, being invested is an exciting and memorable part of the journey through Scouting. And it all begins with a simple promise with a simple message to inspire young people of all ages, backgrounds and faiths to strive for kindness and loyalty.

Learning the Scout Promise is an important part of joining the movement, and is a time for new and existing members to reflect on what it means to be a Scout. It is also a good opportunity for young people to explore the alternative wordings available for people of different faiths, so they can choose a Promise that resonates with their own beliefs and learn why their friends may say a different Promise. For example, in the Scout Promise, the opening line “On my honour…” is similar to the phrase youngsters sometimes throw about: “I swear on my life”. However, Muslims are not permitted to “swear by” anything except Allah, so they say “In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful…”.

Memorising lines doesn’t come easily to everyone, so parents and caregivers can help budding young Beavers, upcoming Cubs and soon-to-be Scouts learn their Promise at home.

Below are the Beaver, Cub and Scout Promises with the interchangeable bits highlighted in bold. The different versions of the Promise can be said together in unison.

Beaver Promise:

I promise to do my best

To be kind and helpful

and to love God/ Allah/ my Dharma/ our world

Cub Scout promise:

I promise that I will do my best

To do my duty to God/ Allah/ my Dharma

and to the Queen/ country in which I am now living

To help other people

And to keep the Cub Scout Law

Scout promise:

On my honour/ In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficent the Most Merciful,

I promise that I will do my best

To do my duty to God/ Allah/ my Dharma

and to the Queen/ country in which I am now living

To help other people

And to keep the Scout Law

Remembering the promise

Below are some tips on helping your child practice and perfect their chosen Promise at home. everyone has different learning styles, from listening and speaking (auditory) to reading, watching, and writing (visual), to doing something more hands-on – or perhaps a combination of all three!

Each Promise can be split into short sections. Do this first and ask your child what each bit means to them. It is important they understand what they are committing to do.

Auditory:

Read the whole Promise aloud together.

Ask them to “repeat after me” for each line.

Ask them to “repeat after me” for two lines, then three, and so on until they can recite the whole thing without prompts.

Visual:

Ask your child to write each line on post-it notes.

Highlight key words using brightly coloured pens or capital letters.

Stick the notes around the house where they will be seen often – e.g. on the fridge, cupboard doors, bedroom doors.

Challenge your child by covering up sections and asking them to fill in the gaps.

Hands-on:

Ask your child to write the Promise on note cards three words at a time.

Muddle the cards up and challenge them to put the Promise back in the right order.

Act out lines from the Promise together (i.e. for “I promise”, you could put your hand on heart).

Together, draw things associated with the key words on each line (i.e. a crown for the Queen).

Repetition is key, so the more often you can practice with your child the better. Set aside a few minutes each day, even after they have perfected it! If you feel like rewarding their efforts, the World Scout Promise pin or World Scout Membership pin would make great little gifts to say 'well done'.

When your child raises their hand to make the iconic Scout sign, surrounded by current and future friends, they’ll be able to confidently recite a Promise that they can be proud to live by.