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Pass the Wine Bottle
Mar. 8th, 2019 04:27 pmThe story so far: Glitter Owl will be leaving at the end of May, with Doodles and I leading the pack between us.
Then, two days before we are due to go back after the half term break Doodles messages us to say she's been to hospital, undergoing various tests and unable to come to Brownies. Glitter Owl and I assure her we can run the evening by ourselves, with a parent helper and I suggest I run one of the Skills Builder activities, rather than just having an evening of games. Fortunately preparation isn't too much and I manage to do it whilst battling a horrendous cold.
We arrive at our new venue (remember, we're now in the sports pavilion) and get organised. Glitter Owl tells me she will happily provide cover when Doodles is away, but she feels she's a spare part when she's present. Doodles does like to do everything, which is fine by me, since I only wanted to help, but Glitter Owl, as a newly qualified leader understably wants greater involvement. So yes, major personality clash. Parent helper turns up with younger son (as is often the case, dad isn't yet home from work), and there's some question as to whether they can therefore stay. I take the executive decision that it's better to have three extra adults plus one more child than run with two adults. (I checked the guidelines later, and I was within them.) We do an activity involving emojis, which the Brownies enjoy, and then play some games.
At the weekend, we learn Doodles is still having tests, but hopefully once they've decided what the problem is they can sort it. I decide which activity we shall be doing this week. We're going to finger spell our names, using British Sign Language, so I borrow the alphabet charts from work. And then Glitter Owl's son has a bad asthma attack, which means she won't be able to bring him this week, and her husband is on lates. At my request, she contacts the District to check whether I can run the evening by myself with two parent helpers, and on being told I can, she arranges the help, saving me a lot of time and work.
The helpers (one mother, one grandmother) are great. We cope beautifully. I'm slightly more organised than last week. The girls enjoy learning to spell their names and we play more games. I decide what we shall do next week.
It has highlighted what happens when a leader wants to do everything to ensure it's done as they want. We've been forced to make decisions at the time, because the leader has always made them, with the inevitable thought of 'what if it's wrong?' even though I'm curmudgeonly enough not to care. At the same time I'm also aware that Glitter Owl and I wouldn't see eye to eye on certain matters if we were working together longterm, but at least for the moment it's working.
Then, two days before we are due to go back after the half term break Doodles messages us to say she's been to hospital, undergoing various tests and unable to come to Brownies. Glitter Owl and I assure her we can run the evening by ourselves, with a parent helper and I suggest I run one of the Skills Builder activities, rather than just having an evening of games. Fortunately preparation isn't too much and I manage to do it whilst battling a horrendous cold.
We arrive at our new venue (remember, we're now in the sports pavilion) and get organised. Glitter Owl tells me she will happily provide cover when Doodles is away, but she feels she's a spare part when she's present. Doodles does like to do everything, which is fine by me, since I only wanted to help, but Glitter Owl, as a newly qualified leader understably wants greater involvement. So yes, major personality clash. Parent helper turns up with younger son (as is often the case, dad isn't yet home from work), and there's some question as to whether they can therefore stay. I take the executive decision that it's better to have three extra adults plus one more child than run with two adults. (I checked the guidelines later, and I was within them.) We do an activity involving emojis, which the Brownies enjoy, and then play some games.
At the weekend, we learn Doodles is still having tests, but hopefully once they've decided what the problem is they can sort it. I decide which activity we shall be doing this week. We're going to finger spell our names, using British Sign Language, so I borrow the alphabet charts from work. And then Glitter Owl's son has a bad asthma attack, which means she won't be able to bring him this week, and her husband is on lates. At my request, she contacts the District to check whether I can run the evening by myself with two parent helpers, and on being told I can, she arranges the help, saving me a lot of time and work.
The helpers (one mother, one grandmother) are great. We cope beautifully. I'm slightly more organised than last week. The girls enjoy learning to spell their names and we play more games. I decide what we shall do next week.
It has highlighted what happens when a leader wants to do everything to ensure it's done as they want. We've been forced to make decisions at the time, because the leader has always made them, with the inevitable thought of 'what if it's wrong?' even though I'm curmudgeonly enough not to care. At the same time I'm also aware that Glitter Owl and I wouldn't see eye to eye on certain matters if we were working together longterm, but at least for the moment it's working.
