NotSheep

Not really calamities - George survived Cub Camp. Or Cub Camp survived George. Not sure which

Scratchy and I couldn’t agree on who was going to go and collect him (we both wanted to :-D) so in the end the whole family went. We also couldn’t actually wait to get going, so we ended up going out and trying to kill time Eventually it was close enough to collection time that we headed in the right direction - though we still arrived 25 minutes early

He got into an fight with another boy on Saturday - well, I say it was a fight, what I mean is that somehow they ended up annoying one another enough that George “flicked him a little bit” at which point the other boy went to tell Akela. George did say last night that really, it would have been better if he had gone to Akela rather than flicking the other Cub.

He has a big scratch across his eye which he acquired during a forest walk - someone pushed a branch aside and it sprang back and hit George in the face. But overall, injuries are minor and he seems to have made it through without any meltdowns.

We brought some stuff back to the Scout Hall, because they’d run out of space in the trailer. Unfortunately we couldn’t squeeze any more people into the car, but us taking stuff meant that people who’d put back seats down in their cars were able to put them back up and so that made the necessary seats available. A friend (hi K) once said that my car does a very good impression of a white van

After leaving everything at the Scout Hall, we stopped for ice-cream before heading back for dinner (who says dessert has to come after dinner? ;-)) During dinner George made up for Cub Camp, and had the mother of all meltdowns. Eventually, after much holding and talking calmly and reassuring, he sat with me and sobbed for a few minutes before deciding to eat some leftovers, which he did calmly and cheerfully. Sometimes this is very hard work *sigh*

After dinner I told him to take a bath, mostly because he was sweaty and I figured he’d sleep better if he felt fresh. He did that and went to bed without a murmur.

I’m really not sure he was quite ready for Cub Camp, to be honest - I’ve a feeling it was pretty challenging for him. But I didn’t want to stop him from going either - partly because I thought it might build his confidence in himself, partly because I knew he’d have fun too, and partly because I’m a coward and didn’t want to be the Nasty Mum Who Wouldn’t Let Him Go. This was all so much easier with Barney; although I missed him just as much, he was a bit older the first time he went, but also they’re just two very different people. I knew Barney would find the first full day of Camp hard because he’d be tired after the first night - there’s a predictable pattern to Friday-Sunday Camps: on Friday evening everyone’s excited and nobody falls asleep until very late (and then, about 17 minutes after the last Cub falls asleep, the first one to wake gets up), on Saturday they are all tired but keep busy, on Saturday night getting them to sleep is very little bother ;-), and on Sunday morning they all just get up and float about, still tired but no longer tired enough to be cross and grumpy. But with Barney, I was confident that he’d cope okay; I wasn’t so sure about George, and I suspect it pushed him right to his limits. I’d probably have camped with them if I hadn’t had Toby - because you have to know which buttons to press with George sometimes, and I’m generally the only one who can do that reliably (and even I don’t always manage on a bad day). Scratchy couldn’t go with them because he isn’t warranted yet, but I’m working on him on that. He doesn’t want to commit to being a “full-time” Leader - taking a group every week - but he really doesn’t need to, because spare Leaders are useful too - especially if they’re the kind that love camping and canoeing and all the kinds of things that Scouts do! I think if he hasn’t agreed to apply by September, Akela and I will have to do something about it - perhaps hold him down and tickle him until he agrees to sign