Re: "spirited kids" in group settings

In article <zO2dnUPifcNBKPbeRVn-vA@xxxxxxxxxxxx>, bizby40 says...
>
>All these posts about difficult children and the challenges their
>parents face in public (and I've been there done that some
>with my daughter, though not to the extent that some of you
>have) got me thinking that this would be a good place to ask
>a question.
>
>Our Wolf Den has 8 boys, 2 of them are rather "spirited."
>By that I mean they have trouble sitting still or being quiet,
>and they don't take direction well. DH came home quite
>frustrated from the last den meeting because these two
>boys (who are naturally best friends) disrupted the meeting
>to the extent that it was difficult for the other boys to
>participate, and for the leader (we trade off running meetings,
>so this was not the den leader, just that meeting's leader)
>to run the meeting.
>
>I don't know the families well enough to know if either of
>the boys has been diagnosed as, or is under suspicion of
>ADHD, but I know that they are troublesome in school
>as well. And I had to deal with one of them for 4 straight
>days at Cub Scout camp (again without a parent present)
>and it was a real challenge.
>
>In the Tiger year there is a requirement that each boy have
>an adult present. That is no longer a requirement in the
>Wolf year, but we all do still stay, except for the parents
>of these two boys.
>
>What should we do?

BTDT - others who have posted are right. Two things:

1. At that age (all through Cub Scouts, really), the meeting has to be
constantly moving. Always action all the time. (Wanna know why I was the
assistant Cub leader and the Cub leader was a woman who grew up in a family of
six or seven kids?? Yeah, that's why. I did not even know where to start
getting things out of control, she'd come in and get things moving with a look
and a command and a bunch of shiny googly-eyed things to make or whatever the
heck it would be that week!)

2. Never mind the requirements. Ask the parents of the disruptive boys to have a
parent present. In my Den, we were had two especially disruptive and
disorganized boys - we were lucky enough that *both* disruptive boys (one I
think with Asperger's) had parents who *knew* they'd need to be present.

The other thing to consider is - it was quite an education to me how crazy kids
*are* at this age - gave me a real reality check as to what I found exasperating
about my own son's behavior those days. When it comes to some things, they're
*all* like that. Why the meeting has to have action action action from the
first moment of arrival.

Maybe some of the stuff you're seeing as actually in the normal range.

It was exhausting being a Den co-Leader :)

Banty

.

Loading