The Leaky Pipeline

[GopherJudy]

To use part of a line of Rick Nelson's "Garden Party" song "you can't please everyone". I think a lot of the problems isn't the Scouting program but children being over-scheduled so much so that they probably don't have a minute to go to the bathroom! The parents spend their time after work chauffering their children from 1 sports activity to another & the children are too busy to do their homework! I think the cause of this could be that the kids don't know how to entertain themselves. I know that 1 of the moms at Mark's bus stop said that she had to entertain her son constantly, he was 5 at the time, & she had a toddler to take care of too! I am lucky in that both of my children can keep themselves occupied - playing a game, reading a book, playing outside, etc. & we do play games together as a family. I think the parents are trying to re-capture their childhood through their children & have their child do every sport that comes around. Children do not have to be driven to 2 or 3 activities every single day of the week! Also, it gets very expensive & I don't know how the parents can afford it!

 

My son Mark tried T-ball, when he was around 5, for 2 years & it was not his thing, so I didn't sign him up again. Both of my kids had swimming lessons at the local Y & at the school, that was important to be able to swim so they could go in the pool at their friend's house. I even took swimming lessons too so I could learn to swim properly & maybe learn how to float! Both children are involved in Scouts & they both are in a summer bowling league on Sunday nights - my brother takes them to that. They love bowling, Mark is not into team sports where there are a lot of people on each team. The only other activity that Mark has is karate twice a week & during school Tuesday is a very busy day for me with karate, Girl Scouts & Boy Scouts. But my kids have plenty of time do to their homework.

 

I guess it's how you look at it & the way each pack or den does things. To be honest with you, I think that if a child has to choose between sports & scouts, the parent will direct them to choose sports over scouts. If the parents think that Scouting is important, than the child will too! I think that Scouting is very important, my children know this & I've explained to them they can learn so much more in Scouting & a variety of different things too. I'm sure that this is more prevalent in high school too.

 

OK, I hope that I've made sense!

 

Judy

[GopherJudy]

This might make a difference too but I'm not sure. How about when the graduating Webelos cross over to Boy Scouts? The graduating boys in my son's pack crossed over to Boy Scouts & the B&G in February or March (depends on when we get the banquet hall at Sports Plus) & the go right into their 1st troop meeting. This might make a difference as the new scouts become involved right away in the troop instead of waiting until June, as I know that some packs do & the troops are wrapping up their scout year. If the Webelos wait til June to cross over they also might miss summer camp for that year. They also might not do any Boy Scout activities until September when the troop starts the new scout season & they might loose interest because they have to wait.

 

This is just another thought that popped into my brain!

 

Judy