Another Helicopter Parent Thread

[Stosh]

This past weekend, we were to serve cobbed corn at our local festival. The boys like to set up the dining fly so they can stand in the shade.

 

I showed up an hour early and three boys were already there and as I walked on site, they asked me if I had keys to the trailer. They had made a call to one of the parents to bring them, (the QM forgot them) and I gave them my keys to expedite the process. They asked me to wait for the parent with the other keys and thank them. I then went off to wait and then I waited some more while they set up the fly and then I helped throughout the day as needed just like everyone else.

 

It was a great feeling that these boys were already planning out the recovery for their dilemma even before the first adult step into the activity.

 

This weekend is the one "family" event we have when we need some parents to help out with the project simply because it's such a large project for our CO. I have often been accused of not doing anything as the SM and the boys tend to be disorganized and sometimes mess up kinda bad. But this weekend, three different parents thanked me for all that I had done for their boys over this past year. They had seen some very positive results of responsibility and maturity in their boys from having had the opportunity to be in my troop. One of the parents even thanked me for not being like the adult-led program that competes with our troop for the Webelos boys.

 

It was interesting to watch at the end of the event, all the adults went over, sat in the grass, ate corn and had a soda/water and watched the boys tear down the dining fly and put it back into the trailer without being told, helped or supervised.

 

Every now and then, the boys will totally blow you away with what they are learning in scouting!

 

My own real helicopter parent showed up, his boy did his 3 hour shift while the parent went off and didn't help, and he came and picked him up at the end of the shift and went home. The majority of the boys hung out at the corn tent for 2 full days of 10+ hours at a pop. No one told them they had to do more than just one shift a day.

 

Stosh