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Parents who do not read communications


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My question is in reference to parents who do not use the available means of communications htat is provided by the pack leadership.

 

We put out a news letter about every 2 - 3 months, and we have built a pack webpage. I understand that there are parents that do not have web access. But I still have some that require a weekly phone call to remind them about the meeting and other events.

 

I had one call me about her son's tiger meeting wondering if they were going to have it, the first thing that I asked, was if she called the den leader, she said no. I asked why not, she said no one ever answers. Voice mail, she don't leave them. I told her about the meeting but she needed to start asking the den leader about this stuff. For her older boy, it was fine to call me.

 

How does everyone here work with parents that do not use the information that has been published. I also have issues with parents that are not doing anything for rank. I know that this is a family program but some of the families are not doing anything.

 

How do you deal with this.

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You cannot force them do read it.

 

We have a webpage, updated weekly.

We have an on line calendar

We have a Weekly Newsletter with events and up coming activities

We have weekly announcements at the weekly meetings.

We have a phone tree for up coming activities.

 

 

We still get parents that say they have no idea what the Pack is doing.

 

At the beginning of the year we provide a contact sheet with web page information.

 

Adults need to act like adult. Leave a message, I bet the leader will call back. I have parents like that, I check my missed calls and call them back. That's just me.

 

It is ashamed that come cubs must pay the price for poor parenting and lack of interest by parents.

 

We have weekly meetings unless you receive a call and/or email to the contrary. I better never receive a call like that.

 

 

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Like basementdweller said, the easiest thing to do is to have your meetings the same day, same time, every week/month/whatever. That gets hammered into their heads from Day One so it becomes second nature.

 

They also should be trained to call the den leadership first. But especially in the Tiger program, you're going to get a lot of new parents who don't understand the whole pack/den difference. ("He/she is a leader, so I'll ask them" sounds very logical to a newbie.) That just takes time and patience on both sides.

 

I'd also take another look at the presentation of your newsletter. A lot of the ones that I've seen over the years have dates and events scattered throughout, with no logical organization. (My council newsletter used to be horrible, before they scrapped it.) Make sure you have all your dates listed in one place. If a Bear parent has to read through two pages of Webelos, Bear and Tiger notes to find the one buried sentence about his son's den, he's probably going to miss it. You can also give extra newsletter/calendar copies to the den leaders for distribution and reinforcement.

 

I also don't understand people who don't leave messages, but there are quite a few of them out there.(This message has been edited by shortridge)

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If these parents don't read the newsletters or leave voice mails or send or respond to e-mails then the problem isn't yours. It is theirs! As long as the information is available to all, you have done your job.

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I recently heard a statistic...if someone visits a website 3 times, and the content hasn't changed, they won't be back. Our Unit Commish resigned 6 months ago...her name was just removed from the Council website. There's no excuse for that. Keep the content fresh. Another tip is to plan the Pack/Troop calendar at the annual planning meeting (everyone does that, right?)...then send out the calendar and post it on the website. DON'T deviate from the calendar unless ABSOLUTELY necessary. Parents and scouts (and Scouters!) these days are over-scheduled. If you hope to get on their calendar, you need to be first in line. They just announced our District Camporee will be in May instead of the second weekend in April like it has been for 20 years. Sorry, but I won't be there...my schedule is full for May....but now I have an opening in April.

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This seems to be a constant struggle for me so enjoyed reading all the posts! For Junior GS, the responsibility has been moving more and more to the girls. A troop newsletter goes out monthly directly to them. It is also attached to each parent email before each bi-weekly meeting with highlights in the body of the email. A girl is now the "registrar" for each off-site event and takes permissions slips and any fees. This has really helped them take responsibility more than anything - being asked by a friend where your stuff is! One mother said she "doesn't do deadlines" so IMHO her daughter must learn to do them instead. For drop dead deadlines, I will also send a text message reminder to the parent of any girl still missing items. They seem to receive those much sooner than email.

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The voice mail thing is great... I had a business trying to contact me - they left a voicemail that said "TAG", no number, no name, thank technology I gave them my cell number -- they didn't block their caller ID and I was able to get a hold of them - to tell them I'd be working with the adults, thanks.

 

But I do not understand trying to get information from someone and not at least letting them know who called and what they wanted to know about. It's one thing when the Scouts do this but when it's the parents it's, um, slightly upsetting.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I just started doing the following and it has helped.

 

A lot of my parents are avid text messager senders. I'm not, but I learned that I can E-Mail my messages right to their cell phones. When I do this I usally get immediate responses and even when I don't I know they get the message because I know how much they use their phones. You get their cell numbers and providers from then and then add the tel numbers to following.

 

ATT or Cingular - number@cingularme.com,

 

number@mobile.mycingular.com,

 

number@txt.att.com

 

T-Mobile - number@tmomail.com(Update: If it doesnt work, try number@tmomail.net) Thanks lex241

 

Verizon - number@vtext.com

 

Sprint - number@messaging.sprintpcs.com (Sprint PCS)

 

number@messaging.nextel.com (Nextel)

 

Alltel - number@message.alltel.com

 

Virgin Mobile - number@vmobl.com

 

Boost - number@myboostmobile.com

 

I only send brief messages this way such as; "Reminder Den Meeting this Monday" or "Please check E-Mail for important message"

 

Hope this works out for you if you try it.

 

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Joff

 

That is so Cool. I tried it with my cell phone. It works and comes across as a text message. I think that I will see what other parents can use this.

 

I like this idea. Do you know if there are any spam associated with this or is it just like using regular texts.

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As an older parent in the group with a husband who is older than I, I feel like you need to figure out the best way to communicate and with some Den's or groups you may need to do a combo.

 

I will be blunt (there's a shock) I dont like the "ring and ditch" method of communication. Those of us who have worked in large companies know there are always "CYA" folks who send out memo's that get buried and then come up with "well I emailed you about it" as an excuse.

 

There is also the concept that folks need to hear things 3 times at least to set in (my teachers used to say 3 times 3 for learning concepts.).

 

As the CC in training I am really going to work on this as in the past its been kind of a "well the info is here" instead of ongoing emails and reminders.

 

If you do a newsletter with dates, do you also email the dates? Are you sure all read? if most DONT do leaders discuss all the dates at their den meetings? Who is responsible when folks dont come - does the Den leader call? does the Cub Master ever call?

 

Personally I dont do messages on my phone. I just dont, period. I dont want to and will not learn - I am not in a job where I need it and am not going to set up just for Scouts. But I am probably almost twice as old of some of the young parents.

 

I am also always losing my newsletter. I would like to have this emailed or have the dates in an email I can refer back to.

 

 

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ScoutMomSD

 

Thats why I like this E-Mail to text message thing. I get a quick piffy reply back from some (not all). In fact I'm sending out a quick message in the nest ten minutes. I'll see how it goes.

 

Joff1965

Pack 47

Westwood, NJ

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