Tonight was The Senator's first Tiger Scout den meeting. The VP signed up to be the den leader, and invited the group to The Outpost for this first get-together. In Tiger Scouts, a parent has to attend each meeting with the Scout. So this evening, we had nine 7-year-old boys and compulsory parent(s) show up for an hour-long meeting.
When they all left 70 minutes later, I hobbled to a chair and collapsed. If someone could harness young boy energy and turn it into a fuel source, we could tell the Saudis to kiss our ass tomorrow.
Part of the trouble was that the planned half-hour nature walk in which the Scouts were to gather leaves, observe wildlife, and take in the great outdoors turned into a two minute sprint out to a clump of oak trees to snatch a fistful of leaves and beat cheeks back to the house before the mosquitoes drew more than two pints of blood.
Once inside, The VP had intended for the boys to make leaf rubbings while he cleared up some housekeeping issues with the adults. Do you know how long it takes a 7-yr-old to do a leaf rubbing? I blink slower.
Since the adults weren't finished, I found myself with nine kids bouncing off the walls. I've seen mosh pits more tranquil than the scene in my kitchen tonight. I wasn't planning on entertaining them, so I was forced to ad lib.
"Time for lemonade and cookies!" 10 minutes killed. Sugar was the last thing they needed, but I was getting scared.
"Hey! Who wants to see the dog?" 3 minutes killed.
"Let's go look at the fish." 40 seconds.
"Senator, why don't you show the guys your bedroom?" 7 minutes. 6 of which I spent trying to make sure they didn't hurt each other with impromptu weaponry.
"Outside everyone! Night-time races." 12 minutes. I could have dragged this one out longer if I had thought to make them run backwards the whole time, but I only came up with that time-waster for the last race.
"Soccer game!" 4 minutes.
When the first parent filtered out of the house to collect her Scout, I almost kissed her.
The Senator went to bed happy and exhausted. I hope the others did the same. And next time I will be better prepared. I'm sure cleaning the den leader's garage not only will expend some of that superfluous energy, but it probably counts towards a merit badge.
Posted by Cathy at October 11, 2005 11:07 PMMerit badges are for the Boy Scouts. I'm afraid your garage will have to wait a few years.
Posted by: Kevin at October 11, 2005 11:26 PMOur garage is pretty messy. They'll need to get started as Tiger Scouts.
Posted by: Cathy at October 12, 2005 07:19 AMGod bless you woman and your brave soul!
Posted by: yayaempress at October 12, 2005 12:52 PMThat's some good stuff. Perhaps you should let the mosquitos draw more blood thereby sapping their energy. It could work, right?
Posted by: Uncle Ben at October 12, 2005 06:51 PMMaybe you should have The Senator work up a science project on the relative mosquito attraction index among 7-year olds. That could keep them out of your hair for a bit.
Posted by: aelfheld at October 12, 2005 07:15 PM