Captn C and myself were blessed with some quality clients today who left me exasperated and feeling like a grumpy old man. Let me elaborate...

Afternoon Goatchurch trip. I arrive a little late and CC is kitting up group.  I get 5 girls and CC has about 6 boys plus leader. He goes to Pierre's. Now bear in mind they have all caved in Goaters that very morning, so after introductions I say to group "we'll go back to GC and do a different route, and find some new places". Fair enough.
They are all 13 yrs old.
On the way, two of them ask "where is it"?
By the time we get there, two other's helmets were slipping off and I get "howz iss F****g fing fit, mista?" I explain once, with demo, and other girl watches, hopefully.
30 minutes later same scenario with the light switches.
30 minutes later both the above happen again. And again.
You get the idea, I won't bore you with other classics like "issdarkinnit" or "oi gotta sit on my ass", but what really did it for me was when they missed the turning ("go down there, take the first left then wait in the chamber"). How hard can it be to go forwards, turn Left then sit and wait?

As I said to CC afterwards, Listening skills 0/10, mouthiness and whingeing 10/10.

Are these the people who could look after me when I'm old and infirm?

Or am I just a grumpy git?

I'm a teacher ... I could add lots more such stories, but it's more than my job's worth!

The youth of today ... or maybe we should blame the teachers  :-\ :-\ ??

You should have just given them a can of White Lightning each and put a black bag over their heads, they would not have known the difference....

Burt said:

Are these the people who could look after me when I'm old and infirm?

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They'll grow up, and improve out of all recognition.

I found some of my old school books the other day. I was shocked at how ignorant I was - not at all as I remembered me 

Grumpy git. Deffo. 

What were you like at their age ? I bet (when you were with a group on an event of some kind) you relied on the "teachers" (or others) to sort out any problems (because you weren't listening properly at the time) and I bet you always followed the lead of the person in front of you even if they did something wrong ....

Soooooooo ..... yes of course they will whinge about the same thing, fail to listen to instructions and miss a turning because the one in front of them missed it as he was too busy complaining to see it as he passed !

Normal behaviour for them (and I guess all of us at that age  )

Grumpy old man? - yes but well justified 

Ian

I suggest you find another job if you find it so disagreeable! but hey, maybe you'll not take any notice of what I'm saying 'cause you're not 'bothered' ...

grumpy old men? definitely  :tease:

Fantastic - every reply makes me laugh -mainly at myself!

How long before Bubba shit- cans this topic?

We take kids of this age all the time and on the whole the kids are pretty good (probably cos their Scouts), but every now and then once in a blue moon.... we get em pretty much as you described it does make you wonder!

I'm sure I wasn't that bad at 13...I at least waited until 16 before claiming ignorance...

A spectrum has two ends. How about a report of a trip with children from the other end of the spectrum?

Peter Burgess said:

A spectrum has two ends. How about a report of a trip with children from the other end of the spectrum?

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I took a kid into Goatchurch once. He was fine.

Doesn't make such good reading does it? 

Downer said:

I took a kid into Goatchurch once. He was fine.

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An appropriate place to take a kid.

Burt said:

Are these the people who could look after me when I'm old and infirm?

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When you are old and infirm, and placed in a nursing home, you can get your own back by asking the girls, who by then will be caring for you

"howz iss F****g fing fit, missy?"

when confronted with any kind of "appliance" required to ease your comfort.

Burt you took me caving for the first time around that age (down Goatchurch) and I'm still doing it and now working on caves academically so perhaps it's not all bad.  Having said that I've given up my youth work with Brizzle kids cause it was driving me nuts 

I was recently on a caving trip with scouts (and their scout masters) and after the trip I resolved that I would never become a scout master or ever work with children in any similar vein. As much as they enjoyed it, I would hate to have be the one who "controlled" them  :blink:

I think there is a familiar ring in every response in this thread 

Ian

Downer said:

Peter Burgess said:

A spectrum has two ends. How about a report of a trip with children from the other end of the spectrum?

Click to expand...

I took a kid into Goatchurch once. He was fine.

Doesn't make such good reading does it? 

Click to expand...

Your'e both absolutely right. There are a vast number of trips done where the groups are wonderful which go unreported. Just like the last time you read in a newspaper "White, middle class kid does well at school". Regardless of what we feel at the end of the day, the kids will have had an unforgettable experience - sadly the ones who stick in the mind are usually the more challenging!

We take Scouts about 10 times a year and like I said earlier rarely do we get complete pains...A lot of them are well behaved, do as there told, ask good questions and take a genuine interest in the caves and caving and enjoy themselves.  I have noted though the instructors do seem to have some sort of hold over the children that the some of the scout leaders don't.  You get good and bad scout leaders, the trick is to hold there interest and not give the scouts chance to get distracted..

Peter Burgess said:

Downer said:

I took a kid into Goatchurch once. He was fine.

Click to expand...

An appropriate place to take a kid.

Click to expand...

Oh yes, very good 

Wearing its Sunday best, one hopes.

Burt said:

Downer said:

Peter Burgess said:

A spectrum has two ends. How about a report of a trip with children from the other end of the spectrum?

Click to expand...

I took a kid into Goatchurch once. He was fine.

Doesn't make such good reading does it? 

Click to expand...

Your'e both absolutely right. There are a vast number of trips done where the groups are wonderful which go unreported. Just like the last time you read in a newspaper "White, middle class kid does well at school". Regardless of what we feel at the end of the day, the kids will have had an unforgettable experience - sadly the ones who stick in the mind are usually the more challenging!

Click to expand...

I suppose the best groups are those that come up to you afterwards and genuinely express thanks for a good trip, or even write to you later. How often does that happen?