Those darn parents

[sctmom]

Another thread seems to be about bashing moms because some are outragous about camping. Lets talk about all parents. Weve all seen them and dealt with them. Perhaps we have been them at times. Those other parents.

 

The boy who yelled dont touch that honeysuckle, you dont know where its been. In an area where no chemicals had been sprayed. I knew where it had been on that bush all day long.

 

The moms who will not family camp with the Cubs because there is dirt and bugs out THERE.

 

The dads/Webelos den leaders who handed their boys a hotdog on a stick to put over a fire and said the boys cooked dinner for their requirements.

 

The mom who made her sons put on a jacket when the sun went down because they may get bit by a bug. She also wanted her husband to check on them in the other tent during the night to see if they needed to be covered. This was NOT a scouting campout and the boys were over 10 years old. She also made them take a bath after being in the clean lake.

 

The mom who showed up at a Boy Scout campout to see who wanted to go home with her because a storm was on the way. Oh, this one happened in the 1960s when women were not allowed to be Boy Scout leaders and they were camping on the military base where they lived.

 

The dads who would not let the 4 10-year-old Webelos walk around the Scout camp without an adult.

 

The dad who walked around behind his son with the kids jacket for 2 hours until the son put it on.

 

 

What have you seen or heard? We want the dad stories as well as the mom stories.

 

 

[benny]

No problem sctmom. There are plenty of Dad stories as well. How about a trained leader and eagle scout who decided that the foam mattress that he had was a little used and decided to throw it on the campfire as we were breaking camp and setting off a tremendous black cloud from the resulting flame over the entire camp.

 

Or how about a winter camp where the leader was unprepared and jumped into his car and strted it every 1/2 hour or so to stay warm.

 

Both male adult leaders. I have other stories which are probably not suitable for print.

[Jerry]

I've seen this one at a few outings: The entire family comes along (Mom, Dad, Scout, and younger sibling.) They all have matching sleeping bags, matching airmattresses (complete with battery operated air pump,)matching ponchos, and matching reclining camp chairs.

 

Now, with the exception of the motorized mattresses (which set a bad tone when trying introduce scouts to the joys of "roughing it",) there's nothing wrong with their choice of equipment. But the whole matching thing - does it strike anyone else as just a little, well, creepy?

[YoungBlood]

"Another thread seems to be about bashing moms because some are outragous about camping. Lets talk about all parents. Weve all seen them and dealt with them. Perhaps we have been them at times. Those other parents."

 

First of all, it is not mom bashing! I have a mom too you know. I love her plenty, I just don't want her to go camping with my Boy Scout Troop. I am not applying moms are overprotective or are not good outdoorsman. All I am saying is if the troop has enough male leadership, then let them restrict camping trips to males if they choose so. You can read the "mom bashing post" if you really want to know why I feel this way. Secondly, I agree that overprotective parents are both moms and DADS!

[slontwovvy]

Working on a camp staff, you get to see a lot of stuff like this.

 

A couple:

 

A mother once asked us to make Lifesaving "easier" for her twelve-year old son.

 

A mother once asked us to let her son into a merit badge on the last day because her son dropped out of life saving. No prereq's, nothing, just wanted to get in when everything was done.

 

A scout turned in an EVS report that (1) had writing that didn't look like a child's, and (2) was using words of four syllables or more (turns out his dad wrote it for him).

[yaworski]

It seems that today we either have parents that ignore their kids or ones that are too involved. There has to be a balance in there somewhere.

 

As for the matching equipment, that happens because Betty gets upset if Junior gets a sleeping bag that is perceived to be "better." Dad gets upset if Betty gets one that is "better" so to keep peace, Mom just buys identical bags so no one can complain.

 

 

[red feather]

How about a dad who brought a potato gun on an overnight in a state park...and fired it in the direction of the park ranger offices?

 

The dad who had cooking responsibility for the adults and brought the food from home, precooked and ready for serving.

 

The mom who insisted on sitting downwind of the fire to discourage bugs and complained about the smoke and ash.

 

The dad tht couldn't figure out why his shoe was hot... until the coal finally burned through.

 

The mom who insisted on being treated the same as the other adults but wanted help with her gear and wouldn't leave her tent during a surprise storm with high winds and heavy rain to ensure the scouts were safe.

 

Or a dad who slept through it all.

 

Utensiless cooking....frozen waffles and frozen hash browns wrrapped in foil before leaving home.

 

The parent who went on the overnight without gear thinking the troop was going to provide it.

 

The dad who parked his vehicle close to camp so he could listen to the game.

 

Oh so many.

[yarrow]

I laughed so hard at all your stories. Wow, makes our campouts seem so normal.

 

The boy who cooked his shoes over a fire to "dry" them.

 

The boys who broke open light sticks and painted themselves and threw some down the latrine.

 

The dry ice problem with solid eggs, milk, and everything else.

 

 

[LauraT7]

PARENTS!

 

the ones who want their boy in scouts (and want him to advance)but refuse to let him go on campouts because he might get hurt or sick from all the plants / dirt/ germs.

 

The boy who used up all his trading post money ($50!!!) in the first three days buying pizza, candy and pop and then wouldn't eat at the dining hall - and when his Dad arrived Wed to finish out the week with us - he gave the kid another $50!! (or more) to spend on more candy, etc.

 

the ASM mom who wants you to pass her kid on a Merit badge requirement that he started elswhere, you haven't seen and he can't explain adequately. "oh, just sign it, he did it already!"

 

parents who want you to sign off on work you KNOW they did for the kid.

 

The ones who send their boys loaded with goodies, pop and money to camp.

 

The ones who try to smoke on campouts - in their cars or in the latrines

 

The ones who know we don't allow pop as part of meals on campouts, but bring their own - and drink it in front of the boys.

 

 

 

 

[LauraT7]

I forgot one -

 

this past summer we did a canoe skill weekend at a local park. A new scout dad went with us. he spent most of his time away from the troop, fishing, alone.

 

at one point, the boys left their canoes and pulled them well up on the beach and came back to the main shelter to meet up with the group.

 

There had been a lone fisherman hanging around all day - a young man, about 20, who thought that it would be funny to push all of our canoes adrift as soon as our boys were out of sight. the Dad saw this and confronted him. Got into an argument with him, picked up the guys fishing tackle and gear and threw it into the lake.

 

The ruckus drew our boys, who showed up just in time to see the gear go flying & the guy fall into the lake, too.

 

The Dad came to find me (I was acting SM on this trip) told me only that "some guy set our canoes adrift and we'd better go get them"

 

Only when we were loading up the canoes on the trailer and all the boys & the park police showed up (seperately) did I get the full story.

 

After observing the young man and hearing him talk to the officer - it was obvious that he was handicapped in some way - "not all there" as one of our boys said, later. Both the dad and this stranger got tickets for "disorderly conduct" with the dad insisting he was within his rights to take action against this stranger. there was a disagreement as to whether the stranger was pushed or fell into the lake.

 

Luckily, the boy witnesses were our SPL and two of our older scouts - they agreed to not discuss this in front of the younger boys, especially this man's young son.

[red feather]

After burning off 12 acres of grassland,the excuse was I dropped a match and it just lit.

 

Observed a scout playing with fire and when told to get rid off it, it was thrown still burning in to brush.

 

The upset parent who after falling asleep during a water balloon fight using 2 man slingshots (asleep in the target area) was hit and got upset.

 

The dad who trying to speed up the cooking process used starter fluid to speed up the fire.

 

The camp ranger who came to us wanting to know what the left handed smoke shifter looked like.

 

The parent who did not believe the jalopena peppers i was using for chili ws really hot.

 

The dad who set up his tent in a flat spot, unfortunately a run off area.

 

The dad showing off his botanical knowledge, picked poinon ivy to show to the boys.

 

The scout who brought back a stem of marijuana thinking it was Queen Annes Lace. Adults weren't sure who should admit knowledge of what mj looked like.

 

The dad who on 3 straight overnights left his chair out upwind of the fire. Learned after buying his 4th chair.

[red feather]

This forum was once described as a campfire. So come on folks, give up your stories. Please.

 

An adult seasoning a dutch oven, lifted a lid while the oven was still in the coals. having a good seal the combination of hot gasses and fire caused the lid to lift off into the dark sky with an audibe whoosh. Should of seen us leaving the campfire not knowing where the lid was coming down.

 

Lid ok. Chair not.

 

YIS

[benny]

Ok One more,

 

Cub scout father and son outing. Dad brought a metal can of charcoal lighter fluid to the outing. Used up all the fluid trying to get his fire going and then threw the can into the trash. At the end of the night decided to burn the trash. Took the same bag of trash and threw it on the fire. Recognized empty lighter fluid can in the fire and tried to pull it out. Can went off like a shotgun blast. Luckily no one got hurt and the fire extinguished itself.

[WA_Scoutmaster]

Even better - looked across the campsite to see an adult lighting a lighter at the junction of the propane tank and the propane tree because he "smelled propane and wanted to find the leak". This was done, of course, with a sizeable audience of boys. I was able to run over & extinguish the flame before the tank erupted.

[yaworski]

"Even better - looked across the campsite to see an adult lighting a lighter at the junction of the propane tank and the propane tree because he 'smelled propane and wanted to find the leak'"

 

I just read this one to my 11 year old son and his reaction was, "What? That's totally stupid." And this from a boy who used scissors to cut an electrical cord that was plugged it to "see if it could be done."