Monday, February 27, 2006

Setting an Example?


Saturday night Cub Scout Pack 400, of which Jonathan is a member and Mark is the leader, had its annual Blue & Gold Banquet. Blue & Gold Banquets are held every February to celebrate the anniversary of Cub Scouting. It is kind of a big deal, or at least we try to make it one. This year we had a buffet style dinner, a guest speaker, a slide show, a skit or two and then awards were given out. Parents, grandparents, cousins, friends, etcetera are invited.

I am getting to a point here. Our speaker was a representative of Friends of Scouting. Now, to be perfectly honest, he is not the most exciting speaker. Many of us heard him last year. Twice. And he is there asking for money, but we do get something out of it. Here is the problem: you could barely hear the man because of the noise in the room. Rowdy Scouts? Bratty siblings? Bad acoustics? No, none of these things were the biggest problem. The biggest issue was chatty parents! Mark now feels he owes the FOS man an apology because the parents were so badly behaved. Seriously people, how do you expect your children to learn how to behave if you do not set the proper example for them? Mark is also wondering if he needs to bring this up at the next meeting.

Thanks for letting me get this off my chest.

2 comments:

SG said...

It's hard to teach old dogs new tricks. I doubt mentioning anything to the parents would do anything other than make them mad at Mark. Having said that he might be able to subtly use this to teach the boys a lesson. Not a good situation to be in. I also know that it is hard to find an entertaining speaker these days. maybe next year you could opt for a non-speaker based program?

Antique Mommy said...

It would be the right thing to do, but probably wouldn't do anything other than cause Mark a lot of grief. I would certainly feel like saying something though. Chatting during a speech like that is rude and as you say, what a horrible example to the kids.