Non-Working Scout

[gcnphkr 11]

That it was a "touchy" situation indicated to me that the "peaceful discussion" had already occurred. I certainly could be wrong.

 

When I am dealing with my son it can be very difficult to do so as the SM, it is far too easy to be a parent. It generally is not fair to him. I either enable behavior that I would deal with in another scout or I am harder on him than he deserves. My biggest mistakes as a SM have been in dealing with my son. Although, I've managed to make some whoppers that had nothing to do with him as well. But if I make it so that parents and scouts are unable to talk to me about something then that problem will affect other aspects of my performance. Having a leader that you have to walk on eggshells with is not conducive to a healthy environment no matter how well he does other things. If he is touchy about his son then he is likely touchy about his other baby, the troop.

[gcan 10]

gee, Gunny, tell us how you REALLY feel, now!

 

Nancy,

it sounds like your leaders are hesitant to tell the SM his kid won't listen. Honestly, maybe dad would be more than happy to deal with the problem- just because he's the SM (or the Cop, or the Preacher...) doesn't mean he won't deal with the problem. Maybe you could bring it up at a committee meeting about "this child who does X,Y,Z, how can we help the SPL?" and THEN mention which kid it is. Or go to the guy directly (and quitely) and ask him how he thinks you should best handle this and hope he offers to do it, lol.

 

Anyway, OGO, short of babysitting the kid, maybe you could 'guide' the SPL to give the kid jobs he has to do where the adults are.

Or maybe instruct him to do something uber-important that he is the ONLY one doing, and let the kid slack off. Then when it comes time to light the fire/start dinner/whatever, and the whole troop is stuck because the kid didn't do it, you could point out that maybe the SPL was right. Nothin like falling flat on your face in front of your friends to make you sit up and look around!

Or maybe the SPL could give him a job that benefits the SM, then the kid can answer to him...

 

Honestly, you can't often reason with a normal teenager- it's sometimes a lot like dealing with a verbal 3yo. You are fighting a loosing battle if you try to rationalize. But letting the kids experience the outcomes of whatever choices they have made- they learn REAL quick when they are eating cold canned beans because they slacked off on getting the firewood.

[Gunny2862 11]

gcan,

I thought I did...