If Baden Powell was alive today he’d be turning in his grave...
Thursday, 14 Apr 2011, 17:55
Visible to anyone in the world
Edited by David Smith, Thursday, 14 Apr 2011, 18:05
Yesterday my son had two friends around for the day so they could make arrangements for a scout/explorer ‘camping challenge’ they’re supposed to be doing. The idea is, they’re supposed to arrange the whole thing themselves; booking and paying for the campsite, arranging different tasks (i.e. one should be the map reader, one should put up the tents, and one should be the ‘cook’......), liaising with the scout leader to go through risk assessment and team coordination etc. Thing is, and with the best will in the world, they’re all twits. There is a fourth member of the group, who will effectively be babysitting the three twits even though they’re all the same age (well, not quite – my son is a year younger and is autistic, but apart from being very naive and vulnerable because of that naivety he’s probably the least twit-like of the three twits, iyswim), but he is away for the whole of the Easter break so can’t be involved at this stage.
I tried to get them organised for getting organised, but obviously can’t do it for them as that sort of defeats the whole object, so after telling them they needed to liaise with the scoutmaster, and showing the ‘Senior Explorer’ how to use a phone book so he could contact her, I gave them access to a PC, a notepad and pencil each and left them to it.
About two hours later they had e-mailed the scoutmaster, having lifted her e-mail addy from the last newsletter (none of them felt comfortable using a phone for anything other than texting their mates) she sent my son, to say ‘we would like to do it on the 22nd/23rd is that okay?’ knowing full well the missing-for-Easter-break scout who actually might be able to organise such an event wouldn’t be available. When I pointed that flaw out they said ‘well we could do it twice, maybe?’ and disappeared up the garden to have a bounce around on my son’s trampoline.
I had a look at their notepads, to see how they’d got to that point, and the only ‘notes’ were some cartoons one of them had drawn of the others and the words ‘Dinner for camp – Pot Noodles – 2 each.’
I am reassured in one way that despite his dx my son doesn’t seem any more lacking in common sense than other kids his age, but somewhat ironically I also find that quite shocking. I’d be the first to put my hand up and admit that at thirteen/fourteen I was daft as a brush (and would even concede there’s not been much in the way of an improvement since then!), but unless my memory is getting really selective I wasn’t THAT daft. These Twits (son excluded, ‘cos I do think in this case autism is a reasonable mitigating circumstance – though I’m not one of those parents who sees it as a ‘get out of jail free card’ for lowered expectations and wilful ignorance) really do put the ‘less’ in ‘feckless’, and if that’s the norm for fourteen year old kids these days then I for one find the implications fecking frightening!
NB: Must remember to suggest they ditch the Pot Noodles in favour of crisps and sausage rolls. I have serious doubts any one of them will pass the risk assessment for ‘Boiling Water with a Camping Gaz Ring’, and the MSG just floats to the top if you use cold.
Ahhh... just thought of something... maybe my son signed up with this lot by mistake:
If Baden Powell was alive today he’d be turning in his grave...
Yesterday my son had two friends around for the day so they could make arrangements for a scout/explorer ‘camping challenge’ they’re supposed to be doing. The idea is, they’re supposed to arrange the whole thing themselves; booking and paying for the campsite, arranging different tasks (i.e. one should be the map reader, one should put up the tents, and one should be the ‘cook’......), liaising with the scout leader to go through risk assessment and team coordination etc. Thing is, and with the best will in the world, they’re all twits. There is a fourth member of the group, who will effectively be babysitting the three twits even though they’re all the same age (well, not quite – my son is a year younger and is autistic, but apart from being very naive and vulnerable because of that naivety he’s probably the least twit-like of the three twits, iyswim), but he is away for the whole of the Easter break so can’t be involved at this stage.
I tried to get them organised for getting organised, but obviously can’t do it for them as that sort of defeats the whole object, so after telling them they needed to liaise with the scoutmaster, and showing the ‘Senior Explorer’ how to use a phone book so he could contact her, I gave them access to a PC, a notepad and pencil each and left them to it.
About two hours later they had e-mailed the scoutmaster, having lifted her e-mail addy from the last newsletter (none of them felt comfortable using a phone for anything other than texting their mates) she sent my son, to say ‘we would like to do it on the 22nd/23rd is that okay?’ knowing full well the missing-for-Easter-break scout who actually might be able to organise such an event wouldn’t be available. When I pointed that flaw out they said ‘well we could do it twice, maybe?’ and disappeared up the garden to have a bounce around on my son’s trampoline.
I had a look at their notepads, to see how they’d got to that point, and the only ‘notes’ were some cartoons one of them had drawn of the others and the words ‘Dinner for camp – Pot Noodles – 2 each.’
I am reassured in one way that despite his dx my son doesn’t seem any more lacking in common sense than other kids his age, but somewhat ironically I also find that quite shocking. I’d be the first to put my hand up and admit that at thirteen/fourteen I was daft as a brush (and would even concede there’s not been much in the way of an improvement since then!), but unless my memory is getting really selective I wasn’t THAT daft. These Twits (son excluded, ‘cos I do think in this case autism is a reasonable mitigating circumstance – though I’m not one of those parents who sees it as a ‘get out of jail free card’ for lowered expectations and wilful ignorance) really do put the ‘less’ in ‘feckless’, and if that’s the norm for fourteen year old kids these days then I for one find the implications fecking frightening!
NB: Must remember to suggest they ditch the Pot Noodles in favour of crisps and sausage rolls. I have serious doubts any one of them will pass the risk assessment for ‘Boiling Water with a Camping Gaz Ring’, and the MSG just floats to the top if you use cold.
Ahhh... just thought of something... maybe my son signed up with this lot by mistake:
http://youtu.be/FiQSVtCSK-k