My boys belong to a church-sponsored Boy Scouts of America troop. It has been a good experience for them. We have an upcoming camp out, and once again Whirlwind is declaring loudly he doesn’t want to go. He does this just about every scout camp out. Somehow we convince him to go and often he comes home having had a good time. He complains when we go the the local state park to meet up with friends from church. I drag him there and then he never wants to leave.
I try to gently remind him that he said and did the same thing the last time we _____, and he still had a good time. Sometimes I resort to all-out bribery/mild coercion (no electronic gadgets if he chooses to stay home). Sometimes I lose my temper and tell him it doesn’t matter if he doesn’t want to go–we’re going.
He’s a teenager now, so everything has become “stupid” to him. I want to roll my eyes right back at him and tell him he’s being childish, but I know that will just cause problems. (Did I ever give my own parents attitude? I do remember being a bit obnoxious when I was in eighth grade, but I don’t remember it being this bad). He’s a very different personality than Firstborn, so I’m having to develop new parenting skills. I’m looking for ways to motivate him and not have the drama every time we need to engage him in an activity.
This camp out is an important one. Both he and his brother need to accomplish several things on it so they can earn their First Class rank. He is more vocal than ever that he doesn’t want to go, but he really needs to. I hope it goes well.