My son crossed over to Boy Scouts recently and I am hoping that it will be a positive experience for him but I am worried about things like camping and hiking when he is dealing with sensory issues causing him to always be too hot or too cold, too tired, feet hurt, etc. We will have to explain to a new group of scout leaders that although he looks normal, he has motor dyspraxia and might have difficulty with some physical activities the rest of the scouts have no trouble with, but he is also very bright and sensitive.
I am not sure how to prepare my son for the physical activities that are required in scouts. We do try to spend time on activities to increase his endurance but it is hard to convince him to work past the pain. He seems to be more sensitive than the average kid to pain from muscle aches and it is hard to convince him to just keep going anyway. I worry that he will get a bad headache while he is camping and he won't be able to take anything for it until it is too late and he will be miserable. I have lived with migraines since I was a child and I can't imagine having one while camping out.
Although he doesn't refuse to do new physical activities, I can see that it causes him some anxiety, especially when he has to do it in front of others. He knows that he might be teased about being weak and some people might not think he is doing his best when he is and that is something he will just have to deal with.
I think because of his issues it probably won't be as fun for him as it seems to be for most of the other boys who have no physical issues. I wonder if staying in scouts would help him build self confidence or if his self esteem would suffer.
Should I encourage my twice exceptional son to stay in scouts?
