Anti-Social Scout
Deirdre LaRock (butterbuns@EARTHLINK.NET)
Fri, 3 May 1996 11:58:00 PDT
I'm a mom of a difficult scout. It's probably one of the reasons I'm
involved in scouting. Part of his problem is that the den meetings aren't
as exciting as they could be. We spend a lot of time working on the
achievements that parents should be doing at home. My son earned his Wolf
badge in February, along with several arrow points. If all the other
parents worked as hard...we could devote our den meetings to more fun and
interesting things. Unfortunately, he gets bored doing things that he has
long since done. Him having all the answers gets the other scouts a bit
edgy, too. (Unfortunately, it hasn't motivated them to work harder to best
him!)
My son has the same problem at school. He is a very intelligent child, and
when he gets bored...he makes his own excitement (sometimes leading to phone
calls from the principal!) My hope is that next year he will get into the
gifted program which will keep him busy and challenged. (It's not available
for anyone below 3rd grade.) And, I might move him to a cub pack that
progresses at a normal pace, with lots of activities to keep him busy and
interested. In our pack, we have few boys who earn their ranks when they
should (if they earn them at all.) The den leaders do their best to help
the boys with necessary achievements to get ranks. But, they can't do
everything. Which leaves the boys who are advancing being stuck in
"remedial" cub scouting because the parents of the others are doing NOTHING!
(These are also usually the first parents to complain when their son doesn't
get an advancement or recognition, it's tough to get dues from them, too!)
We as a society have become responsible for many activities that used to be
the parents domain, but because parents don't do it, we all suffer. I saw
it happen when I was still in high school. Enriched programs were cut to
fund remedial reading programs. If the child can't read, what is he doing
in high school?? How did he get this far, and why wasn't something done
back in second grade? Last year our school system had a program for first
and second graders called the academically talented program, it was cut this
year for a remedial reading program. The gifted program has so far escaped
the axe. If parents would take the time to read to their children, check
their homework with them, make sure they are prepared for tests, etc. We
would have much less need to spend our tax dollars doing their job for them.
While there will always be a need for these programs for children who do
have a true need...they wouldn't be as prevalent as they are today.
And, we would have money left over to encourage the exceptional children to
reach their full potential. These are the children who will be our future
scientists, doctors, etc. These children could truly make an impact on our
future. While every child is important and all should have a good
education, there is no reason why we should have to choose one child's over
anothers. We have limited resources. If parents would make the commitment
they should to their child's education, we could have more "optional"
activities and programs for all the children.
The same is true for scouting. We have limited time and leaders. We cannot
go on a fun outing, and work on basic achievements. If parents would spend
just 1 hour each week working on basics with their boys, we could spend more
of our time working on electives, or going someplace, or having fun. The
boys would have more fun. The ones that have already completed their
achievements wouldn't feel bored and listless. The last thing we want is
for the good scouts to quit because they aren't having any fun!
Just one mother/leaders opinion
Terry Howerton Sakima Group, Inc. SCOUTER Magazine Kansas City |
