Scoutmaster Minutes
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Not all Chartered Organizations like to announce their scouter appointments in advance before a vacancy occurs. Mine doesn't. People just have to wait and see. Sometimes it's an obvious choice, and sometimes it's not (if the CO is looking to make a change). -
Sometimes it depends on who's doing the asking. I was CC for the better part of 4 years for our Pack before taking over as CM for most of our final year until my son earned his AOL and crossed over. One of the hardest jobs I had as CC was to fill the open committee positions, and I had a lot more say "No" than say "Yes", but what really bugged me after the fact was that many of the parents that said no to me, said yes to my replacement. It turns out that they were all very close friends outside of Scouts, and I was an outsider to them, so it became more of a club for them and an excuse to hang out more. -
By CynicalScouter · Posted
I will tell you something I've seen put to good use in COVID times: parents as Unit Reserve Scouters. During a Zoom session you need to have 2 registered adult leaders. So, the ASM and who else? We got parents who do not want to commit or get scared at the prospect of being an ASM ("I know nothing about the woods. Too busy for IOLS or anything.") and we do not have a giant committee. My troop has recruited 3 Unit Reserve Scouters, got them YPT compliant and they now sit and listen and watch what their scouts do. PLUS it helps the burn outs. We had a parent who was a 4 year den leader in a pack. Crossed over with the son and said "Done. Done, done, done done. DONE!" and I can respect that. But we just got him to redo his YPT and made it clear we need him around for flexibility reasons. He's ok with being the second warm body for purposes of two-deep leadership. Now, in a year or so, when he's had some distance? Totally see him as a committee member. -
By CynicalScouter · Posted
My first experience: my son joined at Webelos First Year. The den leader fell ill. The Cubmaster walk up, saw I had sat in on every meeting and simply asked if I was interested and explained the situation. Of course I'll help. I think drafting (volun-told) someone into a lesser position is fine. Den Leader. Committee (which I got volun-told I was joining when we crossed over to Troop; I am NOT ASM material and I know it), etc. But SM/CM? No way, that person has got to WANT to be there. That's what struck me so often is that the SM/CM is just dumped/shoved/threatened. -
I think this is the advantage of working the patrol method in the face of contemporary youth protection requirements. If a troop with three independent patrols needs two registered 21+ year-old adults to chaperon each them when they are doing separate activities. It's unrealistic to have the SM and the same ASM at every patrol activity and meeting and troop activity and meeting plus round table and training -- even if those two adults are able to keep to themselves and maybe attend rountable online while the Flaming Arrows are refurbishing their Klondike derby sled. If you get parents to "buy in" to the troop as a federation of patrols, than a couple of those parents need to get with the program so that their child's patrol can be all it can be. It happens rarely in my troop, but there's nothing better than being able to drop in on a handful of scouts and responsible, trained, parents, do my thing, and hear that they can handle the rest of the evening. A half dozen trained adults yields a couple of really good ASMs (even if their official position for the time being is MC). Encourage a that many to onboard every year, and you have a handful of ASMs in your depth chart . Some stick around even if their child leaves the troop! Stepping up to SM for those adults is no longer a big step. This is not so true, I found, for crew advisors. Very few adults were willing to wear the co-advisor patch. From our older scouts, there's been some demand for us to restart the crew. I'm making it clear to the adults that our venturers will benefit from a younger advisor (i.e., not me), so any plans for a restart might involve a search for someone willing to cut away time from their career to assist me. Basically, I need a fellowship of young adults willing to be available for my venturers while I make sure they are fully caffeinated.
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