Julep: To Scout Camp ... or not

 As originally planned, the Julep Family Summer Schedule had the Bear spending nine days camping with the Boy Scouts in upstate New York over the 4th of July. He and the other boys his age moved up to the "big Scouts" in March. Every year the troop takes a really cool week-long adventure to one of the many, many amazing Scout reservations around the country, and Mr. J and I were excited for the Bear to take part. 

As y'all know, Bear went to sleepaway camp for 2 weeks in North Carolina last year, and he managed the "away from home" part just fine. As an introvert, though, he was pretty tired of other people by the second half of the second week. He didn't talk to any of us for 72 hours after he got home. So I thought this nine-day trip was going to be perfect ... until I went to the mandatory parents' meeting on Monday night and realized that only one other boy from his grade was going. That boy has an older brother who is in the year ahead of Bear.

I hate for him to miss out on this trip, but as I sat in the parents meeting and thought - this won't go well. The one other kid from his grade is, if you'll pardon my French, a real lickass. He tags along after his brother and his brother is a jerk. 

There are a couple of good eggs in the class above Bear and he gets along with them well. He also gets along fine with the older boys in the troop ... just as he did earlier in June with Horse's boys out in Colorado. But since he was in kindergarten and went to summer care at St Somewhere, he's had conflict with a couple boys in particular in that grade. 

My current working theory is, those boys are mostly older brothers. They are used to bossing younger boys around, and they like to assert their authorit-ah. Well, that does not work with my kid. Bear bends the knee to nobody. He's also not socially adept enough to recognize that they are messing with him and walk away before it gets ugly.

Mr. J and I really don't want the Bear to sour on Scouts this early. So now we are re-planning the next couple of weeks. And by we, of course, I mean I.