Bully's

I just don't get it. At all. Yesterday I got to go participate as a parent leader at Goose's cub scout day camp. I wasn't really sure what to expect, but what I got was certainly NOT it. The first hour was a bit chaotic and felt somewhat unorganized. The project the boys were supposed to make was a compass. With a glass of water, a needle and a piece of styrofoam. First of all, what boy scout would NOT have a compass, but would have those supplies. Exactly. Anyway, it was fine, good concept lesson for the boys, learn the reason a compass works... The problem was that the activity took about 15-20 minutes less than the time that was allotted for it. One of the Mom's took action and got the boys started in a game of duck duck goose. However, lets be real, these boys are ages 8-10. Duck duck goose isn't quite as fun for them as it was when they were 3. A few of the boys started to get restless. And therefore the mischief began.

It was a group of 2 boys to begin with, then another joined a bit later. They were just insistant that they must be getting into some sort of trouble. First they were picking on susceptible boys. Tripping them "on accident" and the like. Later in the day, they moved on to name calling, and when that got boring, they just started trying to sneak away. All of the parent leaders spent the entire day watching these 3 boys like hawks to make sure that they didn't do anything irresponsible. They were consistantly put into time outs and taken out of activities, but it was obvious they just didn't care. Not so ironically they were all little angels during the archery and bb gun shooting. No one wanted to be pulled out of THAT activity.

In hindsight, one of the boys in particular should have been sent home. He seemed to be the ringleader and instigator of the problems. The other 2 boys were happy and willing to go along and take part.... and they were all very proficient at explaining away their actions and acting very innocent. I hope the leaders today had better luck with them than we did yesterday. Scouts should behave better than that.

Please help me understand. What in the world makes kids act like that? What is fun about being mean? What is fun about being taken out of activities constantly. I realize they were probably bored, but what goes on in their brains that makes them think that making fun of and hurting other people would be good entertainment? It really bothered me. Goose's personality is such that he often prefers to hang out by himself. I've worried all day yesterday and again today about these "bullies" picking him out as a fun target. So far so good... I hope it lasts.

Both days, Goose has had a great time, so I guess that is what really matters.