...and rabid wolves at that.
Last year my daughter joined Venturers (a senior branch of scouts). My boyfriend is one of her troop leaders. I have become quite good friends with the other leader and his wife, who is also a scout leader. At the end of last year I, like a civilised person, gave Boyfriend and Leader a thank-you present and Daughter made them a thank-you card. I noticed they both seemed very surprised and delighted but thought nothing of it, until last week. That's when Leader's Wife revealed it's the first thank you present he has ever received from a parent.
These people give up hours of their own time and a considerable amount of their own money to lead these groups. They deal with teenage angst, squabbles and unreasonable parents. They give up weekends, and even their annual leave to lead camps. They do training courses at their own expense.
Between them, these three people have almost 25 years of leading scouting groups. They have had a positive influence on the lives of hundreds of children. I shudder to think of the monetary value of the time and expertise they have donated. The sum total of thank-you presents they have received, not counting my two cartons of beer?
One box of chocolates.
I am shocked and appalled beyond words. I am horrified to think that parents are so ungrateful they can let this generosity pass unnoticed. Even worse, all three took the lack of thanks for granted, shrugging and saying "If we did it for the thanks, we'd give up. We do it for the kids."
Tell me I'm not being unreasonable to think they should at least get a thank-you card at the end of the year!
