Amid the awful possibilities and gathering rain clouds, the news could not have been better. After four nights and parts of five days on his own in the wilderness, 11-year-old Brennan Hawkins was found hungry, cold, thirsty, bored, wanting his mom and most of all alive. Hallelujah!

Ever since Brennan rode out of the Uintas on a four-wheeler Tuesday afternoon, munching on jerky provided by house painter Forrest Nunley — the man who found him — the thousands who joined in the 90-hour search have been walking around with a bounce in their step. Beyond that, the tens of thousands who prayed and pulled for the lost boy's rescue have enjoyed bolstered faith and increased humility. There is nothing like a missing child in the forest to appreciate the vastness of the elements, the importance of human teamwork and the need for help from a higher power.

Now for the slightly unpleasant follow-up question:

How long should the parents be grounded?

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Although 12 is the minimum age for a Boy Scout, some 11-year-olds are a good risk to sleep out at Scout camp. Brennan doesn't appear to be one of them. There is nothing wrong with that. Kids mature at different rates. Some are driving tractors on the farm when they're 10. Some are ready for college at 12. Some win Olympic gold as teenagers.

And some kids come along at a more leisurely pace.

The trick to parenting is knowing when they're ready.

From the facts as reported, Brennan seemed more suited to a camp environment for younger boys with tighter controls. Typically, boys from the Salt Lake area 11 and younger spend their camp time as Cub Scouts and Webelos (11-year-old Scouts) at Camp Tracy in Millcreek Canyon, where supervision is tight. "At Tracy we have one camp staffer for every one or maybe two youths," says Kay Godfrey, public relations director for the Great Salt Lake Council of the Boy Scouts of America. "The ratio is relatively small because little kids are typically all over the map."

Overnight camps at Tracy don't begin until a boy is 11, and then only in conditions Godfrey describes as "pretty well choreographed."

At the East Fork of the Bear Boy Scout Camp, with a looser staff-to-boy ratio, Brennan did not observe the fundamental Scout tenet of the buddy system. He got lost when he left the climbing wall area alone. Perhaps he was frustrated by his experience at the wall. Maybe he walked off alone because he was upset.

We don't know because, as Brennan's parents said in their press conference, they don't want to pressure him about details.