More Emoting Over Girl Scouts
May. 22nd, 2006 05:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
daidoji_giseiMy troop won't be having its regular meeting this week; our Service Unit is having its Bridging Ceremony tonight and our troop is supposed to attend and do the flag detail. I'm hoping enough of them show up to make an adequate color guard.
There's only one regular meeting after this week, and then summer vacation starts. I'm so burned out that it's hard to say who's looking forward to this more--me or the girls. It's never a good thing to have low expectations of teenagers, and it's even worse to let them know that you have low expectations, and I've been displaying too much of both this last month. I have the fear that I have begun to contribute to the troop's problems, but when actually dealing with them I can't drag up the energy to stop myself. One more meeting to go.
Linda claims that we went through this the last time we had this age group, but I didn't notice it--and that once they get a little older they'll think that I'm interesting and cool. It's possible that I didn't notice it last time; I was in grad school and we had three leaders and I didn't spend as much time with them then as now. I don't believe that they'll ever find me interesting, and I don't believe the last group thought I was interesting either. And at any rate I'm perfectly willing to settle for them acting civil to their leaders and--more importantly--to each other. I'm a grown-up, I don't expect for teenagers to think I'm interesting.
At dinner after last week's meeting Linda told me that Pinball Girl announced before I got there that she wanted to continue in Scouts next year. Pinball Girl has severe problems interacting socially with the other girls and is in desperate need of the kinds of activities Girl Scouts offers, so this is a victory. She's also been the main driver of the chaos and infighting that's made several other girls drop out this year--which makes it a pyrric victory. One could argue that the other girls need Scouts less, but I'm not comfortable with making judgments like that. The calculus of hearts is multivariable and has no right answers.
There's only one regular meeting after this week, and then summer vacation starts. I'm so burned out that it's hard to say who's looking forward to this more--me or the girls. It's never a good thing to have low expectations of teenagers, and it's even worse to let them know that you have low expectations, and I've been displaying too much of both this last month. I have the fear that I have begun to contribute to the troop's problems, but when actually dealing with them I can't drag up the energy to stop myself. One more meeting to go.
Linda claims that we went through this the last time we had this age group, but I didn't notice it--and that once they get a little older they'll think that I'm interesting and cool. It's possible that I didn't notice it last time; I was in grad school and we had three leaders and I didn't spend as much time with them then as now. I don't believe that they'll ever find me interesting, and I don't believe the last group thought I was interesting either. And at any rate I'm perfectly willing to settle for them acting civil to their leaders and--more importantly--to each other. I'm a grown-up, I don't expect for teenagers to think I'm interesting.
At dinner after last week's meeting Linda told me that Pinball Girl announced before I got there that she wanted to continue in Scouts next year. Pinball Girl has severe problems interacting socially with the other girls and is in desperate need of the kinds of activities Girl Scouts offers, so this is a victory. She's also been the main driver of the chaos and infighting that's made several other girls drop out this year--which makes it a pyrric victory. One could argue that the other girls need Scouts less, but I'm not comfortable with making judgments like that. The calculus of hearts is multivariable and has no right answers.
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Date: 2006-05-22 11:02 pm (UTC)The calculus of hearts is multivariable and has no right answers.
... is an frickin' gorgeous phrase. *sneakily attempts to slide sentence up her sleeve and smuggle it away*
And man, that is one pyrric victory. *sigh* Hope you have a good summer vacation and get to recharge your batteries somewhat - it sounds like you need it.
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