Tent Assignment Problems

[CWKitchenStaffer]

We have a "Bobby" in our Troop as well. Usually, some of the kids in his patrol volunteer to share a tent with him. If he's really being awful, sometimes his brother will move in with him. I don't know if Bobby has a brother, but we've found this to be a pretty good solution, as our "Bobby" is afraid his brother will tell their mother about his behavior.

[tonyalowman]

I wanted to thank Andrew Canoe for speeking up for his child. I am also a mother of a ADHD/Autistic child and am tired of everyone not wanting to teach there children to be more understanding of other people that are not like themselves. I was also a daycare provider for 10yrs. and I will tell you that all children have their moments and don't always act the way they should. Ya'll should be helping the other children to understand, to be nice and to be more aware that not everybody has the fortune to not have any medical problems. If now is not the time to teach them, then when? When they are to old to change. Now is the perfect time to teach them to be good people.

[willysjeep]

My big thing is that once you have a lable or a syndrome for somebody it becomes much more difficult for that person to be treated normally. "Ok, Billy here has ADHD, so you have to treat him like everybody else and respect his medical condition" Kids hear "ADHD" and know there is something diferent about this kid and will never treat him the same. When it is said that Billy is a little high strung and has a short attention span, it doesn't lable Billy as having something wrong, just how he is.

 

I remember. I was "diagnosed" with ADHD when I was 7 and was medicated until 7th grade. When people get to know you before they hear ADHD it is a lot easier to make friends than when somebody explains off how you act by saying "Oh, so and so has ADHD, he's like that all the time".

 

Actually, once I was off medication, I did calm down a lot. I think the fact that it was such a big deal to my teachers gave me a stigma that was hard to shake. I also think that once I was no longer "sick" with ADHD and not being drugged that I felt a lot better about myself. It was a lot easier to make friends in highschool once I was no longer "the ADHD kid".

 

What I would probably do in your shoes is talk to the parents, mabey talk to the SPL and vent my ideas to him, and then let the PLC decide if there is anything they can do to improve the situation without making it worse. The parent camping sounds like a good idea, so mabey dropping a sugjestion or two would be appropriate.

 

Asking somebody to leave would definantly be a last resort measure for me. What I have seen in my scout troop is that we do get quite a few new scouts who just plain don't like the program and end up quitting long before we would ask them to leave. I'm not saying that anybody who doesn't fit in should leave. What I am saying is that even as an ADHD kid I had no trouble paying attention to something that I found interesting. If I didn't find it interesting then I would be off in la-la land and probably would not stick with it if there were a way out.

[Eamonn]

I am not a child health care professional.

Just a guy in Scouting. I think as a guy in Scouting it is my job to serve the Scouts placed in my care. I don't select the Scouts.

I do try to get to know each Scout as an individual and use that knowledge to deliver the program to him.

While there are some things that are not acceptable - Hurting others.

I have yet to work with a Lad that doesn't have something going for him.

While at times young people can seem to be very unkind and uncaring. It has been my experience that if a caring adult explains a problem to a group of Scouts (PLC) They will go above and beyond to find a solution and make it work. They may need help and guidance, but isn't that what being a Scoutmaster is all about?

Eamonn