I have been a cubscout & Webelo den leader and assistant scoutmaster for a scout troop. There is no doubt that there is a certain amount of "baby sitters of america" out there in both organizations. Yes, we leaders get agrivated at times when it becomes very obvious. There are also a lot of dedicated parents that contribute time to those organizations to help make them work.

However, there is another group out there that believe that the program helps their kids, but are just not outdoors type of people. Our advancement chair is very active, but has never camped with the troop. I was involved with a summer camp situation where a youth, who had never gotton homesick on a weekend camp, that was a complete basket case by mid week of summer camp. The parents are good people that believed in the scouting program. Kids get homesick. Not every parent likes to camp. A lot of parents believe that this program works to instill good values and leadership in young men.

Please do not slam the dad for trying to get his son involved without knowing the "rest of the story". I would bet there is not a parent on this forum that has not had to bribe their kid to do something that the parent knew would be good for the kid, but the kid just didn't see it in the same light.

Possibly this was a baby sitting case, but maybe not. I can't tell from the news reports.