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Thanks you so much for taking us along on your daughter's adventure- it's been a lovely escape from this grey, bitter, hideous winter!
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Thanks. I enjoy sharing. I'm very proud of her.
I'm a state over so I feel you on hideous. I'm in shock.
I love to travel by PBS too. I am a homebody every time we have to be away for any reason, I am nervous about the animals, our house, and property and if it is garden or flower season, forget it. My favorite shows are on England and the castles and different churches and such. It would be a dream trip to go there and tour any of the museums and churches. That would be a wonderful trip to take but I would still worry about 'home' too much.
It think it's wonderful that your son is involved in the Scouts. My nephew just received his Eagle Scout badge. It was a proud moment for the whole family. As far a speaking in public that is wonderful that he is learning at such a young age to do that. I love the moments of our children's lives when you can remember yourself at the same stage..and they pass you up, do a better job of it, or just have a natural skill for it. It is a proud moment to watch them fly. Thumbs up to you for being so supportive and involved.
I don't want to be away more than a few hours with so many scattered flocks of chickens. Seems like there's always something to do.
Europe, Asia and Africa have such long and rich histories compared to the Americas if one discounts the native Americans. But why would you. My family and I have been to almost half of the know Mayan cities in Central America and Mexico. What an amazing culture.
THis troop is very active thanks to the high number of adult leaders meeting monthly with the patrol leaders. The TUesday announcement was to remind the patrol leaders to be there or sent a representative from the patrol. ( About 10 patrols) My son asked if he could go so he could see what it was all about and prepare for becoming a patrol leader. Holy crap!!! THis kid is growing up!!! Told him to email scout master to get permission as he would be an extra-- now I will have to remind him to email. He's growing up but still doesn't remember everthything to do.
He joined about a year ago and worked hard to reach the first level of tenderfoot, he's alsmost finished with first class, and partly done with second class and the next level. I suspect he will have all these done by end of summer. THen he will enter the 7th grade and I hear it is loaded with homework and projects so less time for scouting extras.
In January we attended the COurt of HOnor for 3 scouts reaching Eagle Scout. THis is very hard to do. Each had a unique service project. State and local politians made speeches. THis troop is very active about teaching kids to be nice, serve others and teach others. THeyblow me away! I see boys be boys, and yet are kind and courteous and thoughtful. Many times my younger son, a cubbie, has been invited to join in: pull up a seat and join in. Older boys come to talk to me, or a leader does. THey lead by example for sure.
HOw is it the scouts can do all this and school is missing the boat? In an hour and a half, there are several meetings, game time as a physical activity, a teaching class, and leaders available to the kids the whole time. THese leaders are all unpaid volunteers.
Just amazes me!!
I like to hear of the success stories with the scouts and how they helped.
My experience isn't the same. I think it depends largely on the troop leaders. I was never a scout myself but my daughter was a brownie and son was a cub scout. The brownies were pretty good and had a great leader. One day at the beginning of school year orientation, each of the scout leaders gave a presentation of what to expect. The brownie leader spoke about all the interesting things they had done and were to do. It was impressive and exciting. When the boy scout leader got up, the first thing he said was, "I want to be a brownie." Everyone cracked up.
Not having been a scout and having grown up on farms, exploring forests and fields, hunting and fishing on my own and introducing my son to the same things even before he was in the scouts, I found them to be a let down. I understand there is a big safety issue but everything they did, my son had already experienced, and it seemed more of a sterile experience to me. That didn't bother me or my son because he was doing things with his friends. I understand that it is a great thing for kids that would never have an opportunity to do any of those things otherwise and I admire the organization for that.
2 events turned me off.
First was a father/son campout that we looked forward to. Having camped together since the kids were born, it sounded like fun. I love camping but I'm not fond of heat and bugs so I always camp in Fall, Winter and Spring - avoiding the heat of summer like the plague. I also take extremely good care of my tents. As dirty and rustic as it gets during the day, I want to sleep in a nice clean bug free bed at night after I have bathed. On this occasion, in the worst heat of summer, we couldn't bring our own tent and had to sleep in the tents the school owned. There was no floor, no zippered door, just old flap door canvas tents. The ceiling and walls of the tent were crawling with spiders. I just couldn't bring myself to sleep in there. They also had a swimming pool at the camp. By the time all the fathers and sons got into the Olympic size pool, we were elbow to elbow with what seemed like thousands of sweaty bodies. It was a little disgusting. There was no room to even take 2 strokes. It reminded me more of a Turkish bath. Do I sound like a wimp yet?
The second event was a day they went to learn to swim and or try to win merit badges. All ages of cub scouts and boy scouts went to a pool with swim instructors for all ability levels. To start and determine the group the boys would be in, they had all the boys sit on the side of the pool. If the kid wouldn't jump into the water, they were in the first group. If they got in but wouldn't leave the side - group 2. If they could take a few strokes, group 3. If they could swim at least half way across the pool - group 4. Make it all the way across = group 5. Swim across and back, group 6. My son was the only one his age that was in group 6. All the others were several years older.
I ignored what the other groups were doing and watched group 6. They had to do all types of things like dive to the bottom of the deep end and retrieve things, do surface dives, do several strokes properly with appropriate breathing technique. After the session, it was time to hand out merit badges. When it came time to award the highest level badges they called my son's name. His scout leader interrupted and said he couldn't have it because he wasn't old enough. He was only a cub scout and apparently you have to be an Eagle scout to earn the award.
. I was livid. He could perform every skill as well as the older kids but he couldn't get the badge? I see that as encouraging mediocrity and discouraging achievement. It was just like they told him, don't dare try to excel or you'll be penalized. He didn't say much about it but I could tell he was disappointed. He dropped out shortly thereafter.
Did I say I hated the scouts for that?
