Angels with dirty faces?

[Eamonn]

I like kids, I enjoy the time I get to spend with them and I learn a lot from them.

Of course each and every Scout is an individual. Each has strengths and weaknesses.

For the sake of this thread, I'm going to divide them into two groups.

Group A. I'm going to call the Good Kids. I was going to call them The Preacher's Kids but I had second thoughts.

There is nothing wrong with being a good kid.

I think many of us over the years have had a few.

You know the Scout who is never late, always spic and span and has brains to burn.

The other group B. I'm going to all the not so good kids. I was going to call them little devils, but again I had second thoughts.

These are the Scouts who even when they do arrive in full uniform look like they have been through a hedge, shirt tail is hanging out and traces of whatever they ate last can still be found around their mouth.

They never really do anything that bad, but when they do are not clever enough not to get caught. Still they accept being caught as a "Fair cop".

Am I just a real odd-ball?

Of the two groups I really like working with Group B. The not so good kids more than Group A. The Good kids.

Eamonn.

[local1400]

I have an 11 year old tenderfoot I like to work with. He does everything "according to the book". He always shows up in full uniform and he reminds me of me when I was his age. We really have a great bunch of kids. We have a 15 year-old who moved to town and showed up one night having never been to scouts. He is working hard to earn his eagle.

[SR540Beaver]

Hmmmm.....I know exactly what you are talking about. I like working with them all, but I think I like group A the best. They seem to make the valuable time I give to scouting worthwhile. The whole experience is worth it, but I appreciate those who really enjoy it and appreciate what we adults do for them. Maybe we are coming at it from two different directions. I'm not thinking about which ones are spic and span or messy. I'm thinking of those thattake full advantage of scouting and those who don't. My experience is thatyour description and mine coincide with each other. It is those who look like they came thru a hedge that you can't always count on to be there rain or shine. We had one such boy and his dad who announced that they might or might not be on the December campout we had depending on the weather. Since I was the adult mentor to our boy planner for that trip, I was greatly concerned since the dad was the person doing the shopping and menu planning for the adults. As it turned out, they did leave Saturday night for "something" at church. Out troop always does a high adventure trip each year in addition to summer camp. You can almost list which kids will sign up and which ones will not. The ones who do not sign up are usually the ones who show up about every other meeting and pick and choose the campouts they attend based on weather or distance. They are usually the messy scouts.

 

There are exception to the rule on both sides though.

[baden]

Other than my son, my favorite Scout that I have had in our Troop was Tim. He had a Scout shirt and wore it at flags at summer camp and at Troop COH's. I'm sure he had a neckerchief & slide, but they were never seen. In the years he was in the Troop from age 11 to 18, he rarely missed a Troop meeting. He helped with every fundraiser. He never, NEVER, missed a campout. He went on every High Adventure trip we did including BWCA twice and Philmont. He was a lot of fun to be with. Trouble was, he didn't care a fig about advancement, and neither did his Mom. He had to be persuaded to do the BOR's for 2nd and 1st Class and never got around to his Star and potentially Life BOR's. He actually should have been an Eagle, but no amount of hectoring could make him do any advancement paperwork. He served as a Troop Guide for 3 or 4 years and was excellent with new Scouts. He was active in OA and made Brotherhood when I tricked him into it.

 

The point is, he was not one of the "Good Kids", he was a GREAT kid and a true Scout.