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10 Dangerous Activities Every Royal Ranger Should Do

We live in a world of fear.  Okay, not so Earth shattering.  But, the commercial secular world has figured this out and now we have huge, giant, enormous industries that are built around fear marketing, and it’s this constant daily emersion of fear that has given all of us some very irrational fear.  It’s easy to fall prey to this.  I have.  I have a security system at home.  The homicide rate in Polk County, where we live, is .05%.  Now, that factor alone doesn’t make me want to go home and tear out my system.  It’s just to illustrate a point.

Well, we can always go to the internet to research dangerous things, right?

“9Volt Battery”

5 Top Fears

1. Kidnaping
2. School Shooter
3. Terrorist
4. Dangerous Strangers
5. Drugs

5 Actual Causes

1. Car Accidents
2. Homicide (familiar)
3. Abuse
4. Suicide
5. Drowning

Note the overlaps – NONE!

All of our efforts to make sure our Children know about stranger danger may be better spent encouraging our Children to get outside.

10 Things Your Royal Rangers Should Do

1. Drive A Nail (Carpentry Merit)
2. Throw A Tomahawk (Knife & Hawk Merit)
3. Boil an Egg In A Paper Cup
4. Burn Things with A Magnifying Glass (Solar Science)
   1. Kids learn early that the sun is a great source of power and a magnifier helps demonstrate how to harness or subdue that power. “Take dominion over the Earth”  There are also great analogies to light and power within God’s word.  Refracting is less intuitive that reflecting.  There is something immensely powerful about the idea of concentrating your efforts and being laser focused.
5. Build A Rocket (Rocketry)
6. Climb A Tree
   1. A study out of Germany says that children who engage in natural play structures exhibit greater cognitive ability. Unlike a jungle gym a tree requires you to figure out how to climb each moment of it.  You must take responsibility for themselves, and there is this unique sense of freedom.  Gever Tully 50 Dangerous Things
   2. And Jump Out
7. Whittle (Tool Craft Merit)
8. Change A Tire (Automotive Mechanic)
9. Rope Swing
   1. And Let Go Over the River
10. River Walk (Walk In The Woods) (Kidnaping – bottom 5000)

Bonus Danger
Super Glue your fingers together (Disability Awareness Merit)

Trust me when I say this is harmless.  I have done it many times.  Gluing your thumb and finger together and then attempting to perform simple tasks, like opening a jar, can help you understand what it is like living with a disability.  Do it for an hour and your brain actually builds new kinesthetic maps, and when the glue comes off there will be this moment where normal is weird.

The Only Two Rules – Respect & Safety

Royal Rangers must be Royal Rangers in order to get the full benefit of the program.  To be an Outpost with a spectrum of ideas and philosophy’s just waters down to dramatic impact of Royal Rangers.