krakatoa

Scoutfish, I like the waters you swim in! I'm with you all the way. Great minds think alike

"to beg for 'symapthy' from any one is pathetic" Really Noname? You are just the sort I'm being sarcastic about. You have totally missed my point or you are actually convinced of the worthiness of your own intolerance. I don't like to address individuals directly because of flame wars so please understand I have no intentions of starting one, but as you said we all can have an opinion, right? I'm all about rules. I support them and adhere to them, but I also believe in compassion. Compassion is NOT the same as sympathy (check them out). I don't want sympathy. What I want is for people to understand that these lads have every right to experience scouting. I have considered the presence of special needs kids to be enriching to the lives of "normal" kids. They learn that people come in many shapes and sizes, colors and conditions. Is this not worthy of your expectations of scouting? I agree that rules are to be followed but how about a little levity at times? We are not teaching military cadets, we are developing future leaders and fathers. I agree that there needs to be limits to interruptions but if we have scouts and parents that would quit a pack because of a few "quirky" boys, then I for one wish them farewell, such callousness should not be taught to the rest of the pack. I appreciate all of you leaders that write on this forum and have learned a great deal while lurking thru the posts. Perhaps I will see this issue differently in a few years when I gain more experience, but for now I guess I'm more dad than den leader. My most sincere apologies to anyone I may have offended in my previous post.

Wow, I'm rather disappointed at the lack if sympathy for developmentally challenged children here. The overall concern for rules here seems to be contrary to what I see when I go to council/district events where so many "normal" kids are running around off the hook, who could tell them from the ADHD/Autistic lot? Perhaps I'm a bit biased as my own son has issues, but I truly expected a little more compassion for this subject. Maybe BSA could open up a new wing for "Special Scouts" that way we don't disrupt "regular" people at the Pack meetings.

I'm DL for our Bear Den 2, it seems the good Lord put me there to lead our special needs children because 4 of the 5 boys I teach have some level of ADHD or (in my own son's case) Autism. We stand out as a den and everyone knows our boys are "not the same". We teach acceptance but to be honest, the other boys in the pack are certainly more accepting than the parents. My son and I have had our share of whispers and down right rude prejudice from day care workers, teachers and even church youth staff (real heart breaker there!). We have gotten to the point where we do not even bother with explaining our son to people as this seems to turn into some kind of apology. If they ask, we tell, if not then we march on like any other parent does. The cadre are the only ones I consider to be on the need to know list.