Scouting and Covid-19

 A couple of years ago, The Boy Scouts of America opened up their 11-18 year old troops for girl troops, and my girls wanted in.  

When we had lived in Arkansas, they had each had their own Girl Scout troop (separated by age) and my boys had a BSA troop and a cub scout den.  Needless to say, driving my 4 children to their 4 separate troops was exhausting.  The kids loved it, but there was no time to volunteer with all of the separate events going on all the time (in addition to their other activities).  

A few years ago, we moved to Texas (where ALL the jobs are, people!) and my youngest son started attending a local troop.  We weren't ready to jump in whole-hog.  Later, my oldest girl joined a Girl Scout troop - which she loved but met unpredictably and required the dreaded cookie sales.  So when news came that her troop was folding and that BSA was allowing girl troops (that could be linked to boy troops), I wanted in.  We started a girl troop in conjunction with the boy troop, so we would have just one troop to volunteer with and take kids to.  

Brilliant?  I'm still figuring that out. We started it summer of 2019, and had a really good time for about 9 months before Covid-19 hit.  The scoutmaster for the boys was an excellent leader, who set up online meetings while everything was shut down.  But once things started opening up, things got dicey.  Our supporting organization, a United Methodist Church, is primarily composed of elderly parishoners, and they've been worried about our safety.  So since this summer, we've been meeting in the church parking lot next to a busy highway with masks on.  Camping events and Courts of Honor have been cancelled last minute by our committee and the church due to concerns about Covid numbers and group gathering mandates.  Our boy scoutmaster quit recently, and with no other person willing to take his place, I've been left running both troops.  I found an HOA (home owners association) park out in the county that has agreed to have us meet there, but still have concerns about outings since the church wants us to not travel outside of a 30 minute radius and cities aren't allowing meetings over 10 people.  

I know Covid is serious. My husband just lost a brother to it.  However, for the mental well-being of our teens, they need to see other teens sometimes.  Not a lot.  Just a handful of young people, socially distanced and wearing masks outdoors. It's less risky than grocery shopping, and some of these same teens are going to public school - which isn't requiring masks, outdoor meeting, etc.  And I know that everyone else, across the globe, is having similar problems...but I'm weary, and hoping that by this summer we can get back to what I really love: spending time with my kids and their friends, in the great outdoors, together.