My son is 12 years old and is a proud Boy Scout. He works hard to keep up with his troop which is made up of kids that are already in middle school. He’s in fifth grade.
Sebastian loves going on campouts. He learns something every time he goes on a campout and he has fun with his friends. It’s also a great time for he and my husband to spend time together as my husband usually goes with him.
His Boy Scout troop is supposed to go camping in Florida in February and the Boy Scouts are really excited about it. They will be staying on the beach, visiting historical spots, and will have lots of fun..that is, if they get to go.
Most of the parents here are excited and proud that their son is a Boy Scout and we support our son’s 100% but when it comes down to it, I’m beginning to think that we don’t put enough effort into it. Just like with school, we want our kids to do well, but we don’t WANT to put much time and effort into helping out and volunteering.
There’s always grocery shopping, emails to check, organizing to do..that takes priority over volunteering, it seems. It’s sad but true, right?
The problem in this particular situation is that not enough parents are offering to drive boys to the campout which is about 5 hours away. Many of the parents drive an SUV or van and could easily fit a few extra kids in their vehicles, but for one reason or another they don’t want to, so the boys may not get to take advantage of this rare campout opportunity. Bummer!
Here’s my problem: I have a 4 year old daughter that would have to ride with us and then she and I would have to find a place to stay because we cant stay with the Boy Scouts or we would drive to Orlando to see my Dad, but he lives in Orlando, another 6 hours away. that’s just not something that I WANT to do..drive with my 4 year old for 11 hours in one day. No thank you. Does that make me a bad mom?
Wish me and my son luck.. he really wants to go on is campout!
Has the request been put out to the parents directly? Perhaps if calls are made letting parents know how critical is is to find volunteers, they will be able to find family members, spouses, etc. willing to drive. Just a thought that could maybe help if it hasn’t already been done.
I hope the kids get to go on the trip.
We are very active scout parents. My son is also in 5th grade and LOVES scouts. Our biggest problem is finding volunteers to run the activities. The pinewood derby and raingutter regatta do not run themselves! Someone has to organize that end of year pool party and service projects have to be arranged by willing parents.
It is really sad how many people want their kids to participate in these activities but aren’t willing to step up and LEAD one! How do you raise a leader without being one yourself?
Thanks for your input Diane!