Loved Cub Scouts / kind of hating BSA
Hi All,
My daughter started Cub Scouts in 1st grade and recently bridged to BSA. She loved scouts: the little games, the skills, the cooking, the camping. It was mostly fun with a little lesson.
Sadly BSA feels more like a chore to her and I. It feels like the parents are way more involved than they are supposed to be, and the merit badge requirements for most of these meetings are mind numbingly, boring for my daughter.
I was under the impression that in the older troop, the scouts would be way more independent. But now I’m finding myself having to go on the hikes with the kids. I just feel like my daughter won’t bond with the girls if these parents are all here on the hike with them. I thought that they were mostly going to be independently hiking with two leaders and for the most part, the other parents wouldn’t be involved.
Also, aside from this one hike that we were forced to go on with the kids, all the meetings are very merit batch based. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of fun and interaction. It just seems more like a class where they are listening to somebody go on and on about the ins and outs of the particular topic. My daughter has complained that she is so tired of sitting there and having to listen to all of the information with nothing to do, but just sit there.
I’m not trying to say that I don’t enjoy hiking or being involved with my daughter, of course. But I thought that this stage of Scouting would be more about teaching independence, about doing things on your own making mistakes, learning skills and still enjoying fun activities in the meeting. But with parents here, how can they make mistakes? How can they bond with other peers when the parents are there listening and hovering?
Is this normal, or did I sign her up for an “Eagle Factory”?