Sick and Tired of Head Cases

[SemperParatus 1]

Maybe its just because its been a bad week for me, but I am SICK AND TIRED OF ADULT HEAD CASES in scouting, school, sports and everywhere else that seemingly have nothing better to do than impose their unreasonable demands and create artificial obstacles for children, just to fuel their own egos.

 

You know the type I am talking about.

 

Scouting seems to have more than its fair share, although the other areas of kiddom - school and sports - is equally littered with small-minded adults on extreme power trips to the detriment of our children.

 

As parents and youth leaders, why do we allow it to continue. These nitwits need to be dealt with quickly and severely and permanently. Certainly, a mistake in judgment can be made from time to time, but it is pretty easy to spot a true head case. We need to purify our organization, our schools and our ballfields of these self-centered, egomaniacal fruitcakes that give our institutions bad names, make our jobs that much harder to clean up the shattered mess they leave behind, and most importantly, to protect our kids.

 

To often, we coddle their behavior...

 

'Well, that's just Sam, we try and ignore him.'

 

Or, try and help them...

 

'Surely more training is needed.'

 

Or, turn a blind eye...

 

'He's a great coach. They're winning right?'

 

In most instances, these responses just give them more impetus to continue their campaign to fuel their unfounded sense of self worth by trampling on the hard work and dreams of children.

 

I say enough. No quarter to head cases. Its about time we take them out once and for all, hard and fast.

 

Like I said, its been a bad week.

 

 

 

 

[FScouter 24]

"You know the type I am talking about. "

 

You mean the ones that do their own thing and say they're being flexible with the program because not all boys are the same and standards only work with widgets and the cookie-cutter McDonald's approach won't work?

[evmori 11]

We allow it to continue because most don't want to "hurt someone's feelings". Not a good reason.

[scoutingagain 20]

Or the ones that show up at "rountables, training courses, and even the occasional troop meeting, pontificating on How Things Are Done as if the Scoutmasters Handbook had been handed down to Moses along with the Ten Commandments. Balderdash, Baden-Powell would say. Scouting is a game, not a science. As he wrote in the 1944 edition of Aids to Scouting, "What suits one particular troop, or one kind of boy, in one kind of place, will not suit another within a mile of it..." (From the Scoutmaster's Other Handbook by Mark Ray)

 

Just providing another point of view.

 

 

Ya, Semper I know the type. My unit err.. the unit I serve has been blessed with a notable absence of such types much of the time I been associated with it. Last fall we had two 11 year olds get into a minor scuffle during a troop meeting. An extremely rare event in the troop. They were separated, appropriately disciplined and life went on. One mom called the local police and wanted to press assault charges against one of the 11 year olds.

 

Have a better week.

 

SA

[Eamonn 61]

I really like people who are a little eccentric.

It seems in this day and age we are losing a lot of the characters who used to make life interesting.

One good thing about working with kids is that they can normally tell who is an eccentric and who is a head case.

When it comes to Scouting, School and Sports we need to do a better job of getting across the idea of stewardship.

Understanding that the day will come when the torch will be passed and helping to ensure that this is done with as little fuss and turmoil as can be is very important.

I don't know if you read Bleachers, by John Grisham ?

I read it sometime back and while I could see how the coach had in many ways done such a great job and how the community loved him. I seen him as being an egotistical twit.

There are some people in this forum who may think that I'm way too much of a BSA loving book thumper. They might well be right!!

I know very well that minor violations of whatever are not going to bring Scouting to and end.

But when I read that Scouts are leaving BOR crying this isn't a minor violation of the rules this is just plain wrong. I get really upset, not just for the kid, but because it was done in the name of the organization that I love so dearly.

Eamonn.

[FScouter 24]

Of course we all know that if it was "not invented here" it can't possibly be any good. The wheel is inherently a flawed design and I can design it better. God forbid anyone use the wisdom found in the Scoutmaster Handbook, or at Roundtable, or at training. What do they know?

[OldGreyEagle 5]

Yeah, I know the type, like the kind that had valid, stright forward explanations presented to them and still refuse to change.

 

The kind that has had the explanation that Scout Spirit is defined as the way a scout lives the Oath and Law outside of scouts, yet still wants to tie signing off on scout spirit to participation in troop events.

 

The kind that "knows" the way I learnt it is the best way there will ever be.

 

Oh yeah, and certainly the kind that point out how wrong everyone is with a smug, arrogant and pontifical tone (This message has been edited by OldGreyEagle)

[scoutingagain 20]

If you want to read a great book about the inner workings of a suburban little league, check out Bill Geist's "Little League Confidential". It's a great read, will make you laugh and will let you forget your scouting challenges for a while.

 

SA

[johndaigler 10]

Off with their Head, er, Cases!!!

 

 

[johndaigler 10]

When you're at work, I think they're called SUITcases!

[johndaigler 10]

The ones who don't wear boxers are BRIEFcases!!

[johndaigler 10]

I guess It's time to look elsewhere for that missing "rimshot"!!!(This message has been edited by johndaigler)

[Trevorum 24]

Sorry you're having a bad week. Sometimes it helps just to vent ...

 

 

[purcelce 11]

No matter where in life you travel there will always be idiots, knuckleheads, yahoos, and a plefera of others. (I am a part of this group, aren't we all?)

 

Do the best you can with what you got and remember if the youth are having fun, are safe, and learn something, then you've done your job as a volunteer.

 

OMG where did that come from? I'm begining to scare myself. I'll have to use that at Roundtable tonight.

 

 

 

[jr56 92]

Sorry about the bad week, better luck next week.