The Girl Scouts in Mexico are actually called Boy Scouts, according to our guide and friend Mari. We watched this group of girls during our visit to Teotihuacan, just north of Mexico City. Their dress was much more like the Boy Scouts in the US -- matching uniforms, inlcuding socks, ties, and emblems. They were quietly listening to their troop leader as he placed a compass on the ground and they all looked to the north.

I thought of the girl's troop I helped lead back home. The children in Mexico, as a rule, were much better behaved and had better manners than kids in the US. We thought it might be because the kids get so much attention in Mexico, the culture being so family-oriented.

Kids crave attention, any attention. How often I've seen kids in the US get into trouble, and receive the attention they need. "I'm here!" their actions yell. "Look at me -- I'm here, and I'm important enough for some kind of attention."

I'm sure there's some kind of tight-rope balancing act for the "right" kind of attention. Helicopter parent vs absent parent. There's no magic compass pointing parents in the right direction. Or even Scout leaders.

"What a child doesn't receive he can seldom later give." ~P.D. James, Time to Be in Earnest