My daughter recently joined a girl scout troop and is enjoying the camaraderie and activities. My concern comes from the first email sent by the group leader. Like a lot of people her signature is generated automatically and has her work info on it. It turns out her job is to psychically communicate with angels. So she tells people about which angels are assisting or protecting them. When I asked about it, she said she only does that part time, and the other part she does UFO research.
Now I’m a bit concerned. Will she teach my daughter this ridiculous woo? Would you mind someone like this working with your child on a regular basis.
To me this is truly not much different than finding out that one of my child’s teachers is Catholic or Muslim or believes in horoscopes.
Our children are regularly exposed to people with beliefs that you and I might consider wacko with little to no ill effect. I would just be sure to speak openly with your daughter about what is is that the scout leader believes, give her your reasoning for not believing in such things and let her make her own call.
If the daughter keeps coming back with tales of being asked to participate in, um, angel conjuring?, then I’d probably find a different activity for her.
My son goes to a school with a kid who has a mom that is a medium. Yes, that’s her official job. She’s been on Oprah and everything. They have a huge house and two nannies. Their whole house is weird. If she gives you the weirdos, duck out.
On the other hand, I have a friend who is married to a medium. She’s on TV, too, but they’re 10x more normal. I’d trust her around my kid.
I’d pull my daughter, or volunteer to be a troop leader, or place her in another troop. I know there are a lot of dumbasses in the world, and I can’t keep my kid away from all of them, but I’d do my damnedest to keep her away from those I could, especially if they are in a position of power with low oversight, such as this. I also complain about teachers who bring up garbage like that in class, but since they aren’t supposed to, it’s rarely a problem.
I don’t think you’d be a bad parent if you left her in or anything, but I hate that kind of shit, and I couldn’t stand it. Obviously, YMMV.
The main thing for me would be getting a feel for whether they’re just a bit batty, or a con artist.
Batty, probably OK, con artist, not so much. But if your daughter is enjoying it, Id just keep it as a warning flag pending further info rather than taking action.
You’re asuming that she’s teaching her beliefs to the kids. I don’t think the organization would accept that anymore than they would a troop leader teaching kids about any type of religion or paranormal hobbies. If you have concerns, seek out the leadership in your area and ask them about it. Keep i mind that the girl scouts teaches diversity and acceptance of people who seem different. I see no problem with this woman leading a troop as long as she’s not trying to push those beliefs on the kids. If you’re really that cncerned about it, the responsible thing would be to ask the woman about it and share your discomfort. If you don’t get a response that satisfies you, seek assistance from someone higher up.
While that is theoretically true, I ask you, honestly, in practice, to play the odds here. Who is likelier to be a complete loon; a person who goes to Mass every Sunday, or someone who claims to talk to angels and aliens? I know where my money is.
Yes, objectively, CAtholicism isn’t really any less nutty than thinking aliens talk to you. However, in the real world, 99% of Catholics treat their faith as an abstraction and a ritual and it really has nothing to do with their day to day lives. Someone who claims to talk to “angels” and space aliens is either insane or a thief.
