Troop Life - Too Busy
| Category: | Troop Life |
|---|---|
| Notes: | For Scouts juggling sports, school, music, jobs, and Scouting, especially at the start of a school year or a sports season. This minute is about balance, not about quitting. For Scouts thinking about leaving, see before-you-quit. Part of a Troop Life series - see the other minutes in this category. |
I know a lot of you are busy. Really busy. Practice three nights a week. Games on Saturday. Homework, music lessons, a part-time job for some of you, and somewhere in there, Scouts.
That's not a bad thing. It means you're trying a lot of things and growing in a lot of directions. Scouting has never asked you to give up everything else. Some of the best Scouts I know are also athletes, musicians, and honor students.
But being busy does mean you have to make choices. You can't be everywhere at once, and you're going to miss some things. That's okay. Here are a few things that can help.
Look ahead. Get the troop calendar and your sports schedule side by side at the start of the season. Pick the campouts you really don't want to miss, and plan around them. Don't wait until Thursday to find out you have a conflict on Saturday.
Communicate. If you can't make it, tell your patrol leader early. A patrol that's counting on you to bring the stove deserves to know you won't be there.
Be all the way there when you're there. If you can only make half the meetings, make those meetings count.
And take care of yourself. If you're exhausted all the time, something has to give. It's okay to talk to your parents, your coach, or me about how to make it work. Nobody does it all alone.
Scouting will meet you where you are. Just don't let it slip off the schedule entirely.