Leaders Without Kids In The Troop

[pargolf44067 57]

I would agree that it would be pretty hard to go to a troop where they don't know you, so I give all those who have done that a tremendous amount of credit.  Obviously, you guys have a true love of scouting!

[Gone 435]

We have a 30-something (no wife or kids) interested in joining our crew. There is apprehension. He's new to town (small town) and people always suspect the worst. I am sure there will be a background check by the CO.

[LeCastor 641]

I would agree that it would be pretty hard to go to a troop where they don't know you, so I give all those who have done that a tremendous amount of credit.  Obviously, you guys have a true love of scouting!

 

I did it and I don't think it was very hard at all.     As I said a few days ago, if you lead by example and show that you live by the Scout Oath and Scout Law, know your Scouting skills, and perhaps mention your Scouting history from time to time, you should haven't a problem.  I took the youth protection training, jumped into SM-specific, IOLS, and registered for Wood Badge all within a year.  The Scouts didn't care one lick that I had no kids, but they could tell right away that I had been as Scout because my actions showed it.  All the parents immediately put their full trust in me, including letting me drive a van-load of Scouts to a council-wide camporee after only knowing me for a month.  

 

It wasn't until several years later that the owner of that van--and the one who asked me to drive it, a committee member--admitted she looked at me sideways only once when I first showed up.  She said she could just tell that I was there for the Scouts.  

 

I don't think I brought any "new ideas" to the table.  After all, Scouting is deeply rooted in some ideas that don't change much.  Patrol Method?  Oath and Law? Reason for advancement?  I might have taken a few steps to give the Scouts a little more authority than they were used to prior to my becoming Scoutmaster.  But, by and large, I just stepped in and plopped my camp chair down, grabbed my coffee cup, and asked the SPL to go to work.  At first he had a lot of questions but he settled into it quite nicely.  

[Stosh 3452]

So, let me get this straight.  Everyone is guilty until proven innocent.  That's what the background checks are for.  Small town suspicious?  Naw, we all are.

 

So, my brother is 7 years younger than I am.  I got back into scouting when my boy was Tiger aged.  His boy was way too young yet, but he wanted to get involved with scouting anyway.  I told him to go down to the council office in his area and just volunteer.  They're always looking for volunteers.  He went down filled out the application and was basically told, "don't call us, we'll call you."  They horsed around for about 3-4 months with that one.  This was the days before background checks.  He put me as a reference and I got a call about 4 months after he applied.  I guess they figured it was okay after calling his boss where he worked.  The word of a Warden from the Federal Bureau of Prisons must carry some weight.  He confirmed my brother was above board and a good Correctional Officer for the prison.

 

Seriously people!  The only person I have ever been involved with that didn't pass a background check was the parent of one of my boys.  With that track record, maybe I don't want parents involved and should always recruit from the outside.

 

Even with 40+ years working with kids, when a troop was struggling and I volunteered to take the SM position and get them back on their feet, they said no and let the troop fold.  That's when I went out and started a new troop in virtually the same neighborhood.  I see it as a good thing, I didn't need the baggage that the leaders of the other troop would have carried along with them.

[Eagle69 46]

Single male, never married, 38 years as a Registered Scouter 28 as Scoutmaster.  The topic never came up and there wasn't ever anybody hanging around saying they wanted my job.  I was recruited from another Troop to become SM and I was the ripe young age of  27.   All of my Scoutmasters as a youth had been my dad's age so I wasn't sure about taking the job.

[Stosh 3452]

One dynamic that hasn't come up in this discussion is the positive aspects of no-kids scouters.  TIME!  If my boy is going on an outing, I'm going to be going too.  However, if my boy is going to be doing XXXX activity on Camporee weekend, I'm going to have to choose between the two.  Other scouters will fill in for me.  The Mrs. has planned a family event and didn't check my Scout calendar, etc.

 

The single Scouter doesn't have these problems to the same extent.  

 

It was soon after my son dropped out of scouting that my Ex filed on me.  That allowed me a pretty open calendar of scouting opportunities which lasted about 15 years.  This time around I married an outdoors woman and it's still pretty much open.  Turned 64, got laid off from my job so now my calendar's completely opened.  (Seriously, the first thing that crossed my mind when HR was telling me my position was being terminated was now I can spend all summer at summer camp, not just one week!)

[perdidochas 658]

I believe there was a thread here a few years back about a troop that had a strict policy against leaders without children in the troop.  Scouts could not stay on when they turned 18.  Very sad.

 

I can't imagine a much better adult leader than a young man who grew up in the Troop.  I know we've had good luck with young sailors (Pensacola is a Navy town) who were Eagles, who choose to help us as ASMs in their spare time.  Boys interact with them differently than they do parents. We also have (well, soon had) a retiree from up North with a lot of Scouting experience who helped us out.  Boys interact with him differently than they do parents.  There are a lot of different kinds of adult associations that are good for Scouts. We should be encouraging them all. 

[NJCubScouter 1389]

I think different trends develop in different troops, or maybe in different areas.  In my troop almost all of the currently active adult leaders (including committee members) became leaders when our sons were in the troop, and usually as soon as they joined, because we were Cub Scout leaders before that.  Of that group, the majority (including myself) have sons who have aged out of the troop and are no longer involved.  That includes our current SM, "lead" ASM, CC and advancement chair.  The other leaders' sons are still in the troop.  The two exceptions are Scouts who just made Eagle, turned 18 and registered as ASM's.  However, my experience with other 18-year-old ASM's is that once they start college, they generally disappear.  (As I did when I was an 18-year-old ASM, and I was not involved in Scouting again until I became a Tiger Parent or whatever they call it, and then a Den Leader for my son's Bear den.)  We have no leaders who just "showed up" on our doorstep.  I think there were a couple of instances when friends of leaders expressed interest in becoming involved, but they never really did.  I think in one case it was a young parent with preschool children, in the other case it was someone with grown children.  But since they were "known" to at least one established leader in the troop, I don't think there would have been any suspicion.  I do think that if someone showed up with no connection to the troop at all, there might be some questions.  But in more than 15 years of being a leader (both pack and troop), I have never seen it happen.

 

(Just to amend that slightly, when I first joined the troop there was a committee member and Eagle advisor who had no children and was unmarried, and was around 45 years old when I knew him.  Other than him being an Eagle Scout, I don't really know where he "came from", that is, whether he had been in the same troop as a youth and stayed on, or was in Scouting elsewhere and moved to this area, or what.  He left before I really got to know him very well.)

Edited April 14, 2015 by NJCubScouter

[mattman578 117]

If they wont let you help out in that troop come hear and help me with mine

[scoutldr 726]

We live in a military town, and during my years of unit scouting, had a few occasions where young men would just show up at our door on meeting night, saying they had seen the scouts in uniform outside and wanted to "become involved".  Sad to say, but my YP training kicked in, and the threat alarms were going off.  I mean, what 20 something young male doesn't have something better to do with his evenings and weekends.  We were polite...offered him an adult app and explained that references and background would be checked thoroughly.  He never came back.  I did take a CPR course here at work (miltary hospital) and the young Hospital Corpsman instructor asked me why I needed the training,...I told him, "for scouts" and he divulged that he was an Eagle Scout from Arkansas, so I invited him to my troop and we had a great relationship until he got transferred.  He taught all the first aid and CPR stuff, and went to summer camp with us.  Even managed to find some cases of MRE's for us.  Great guy.  Doing my due diligence, however, I did email the SE at his home council and asked for a "reference check" just to make sure he was who he said he was.  Never got a reply.  SEs must be real busy.

[Sentinel947 1205]

  I mean, what 20 something young male doesn't have something better to do with his evenings and weekends.  

Me. Define better? 

[LeCastor 641]

We live in a military town, and during my years of unit scouting, had a few occasions where young men would just show up at our door on meeting night, saying they had seen the scouts in uniform outside and wanted to "become involved".  Sad to say, but my YP training kicked in, and the threat alarms were going off.  I mean, what 20 something young male doesn't have something better to do with his evenings and weekends.  We were polite...offered him an adult app and explained that references and background would be checked thoroughly.  He never came back.  I did take a CPR course here at work (miltary hospital) and the young Hospital Corpsman instructor asked me why I needed the training,...I told him, "for scouts" and he divulged that he was an Eagle Scout from Arkansas, so I invited him to my troop and we had a great relationship until he got transferred.  He taught all the first aid and CPR stuff, and went to summer camp with us.  Even managed to find some cases of MRE's for us.  Great guy.  Doing my due diligence, however, I did email the SE at his home council and asked for a "reference check" just to make sure he was who he said he was.  Never got a reply.  SEs must be real busy.

 

I went to a Sierra Club open house in my community and offered my services as a river guide for local youth, explaining that I was a Scoutmaster and had experience leading youth in the outdoors.  The presenter spent so much time telling me about the background check and looking at me sideways that I said "fuhgettaboutit" and walked away never to pursue it further.  What a turn-off!  

[scoutldr 726]

LOL.  Present company excepted.  In this town, "better" usually involves motorcycles, beer and girls.  Not necessarily in that order.

[perdidochas 658]

We live in a military town, and during my years of unit scouting, had a few occasions where young men would just show up at our door on meeting night, saying they had seen the scouts in uniform outside and wanted to "become involved".  Sad to say, but my YP training kicked in, and the threat alarms were going off.  I mean, what 20 something young male doesn't have something better to do with his evenings and weekends.  We were polite...offered him an adult app and explained that references and background would be checked thoroughly.  He never came back.  I did take a CPR course here at work (miltary hospital) and the young Hospital Corpsman instructor asked me why I needed the training,...I told him, "for scouts" and he divulged that he was an Eagle Scout from Arkansas, so I invited him to my troop and we had a great relationship until he got transferred.  He taught all the first aid and CPR stuff, and went to summer camp with us.  Even managed to find some cases of MRE's for us.  Great guy.  Doing my due diligence, however, I did email the SE at his home council and asked for a "reference check" just to make sure he was who he said he was.  Never got a reply.  SEs must be real busy.

 

Well, while we've never had them just show up, we have military guys that have volunteered--but generally, they get our info from the Council or the Charter Organization.  We do make them do the adult form, and have had a few that didnt' return. Have had two that we saw quite a bit (but since this is primarily a training base, we only get them for a year or so). They have been a positive influence to the boys--good for them to see a young adult spending their free time volunteering. 

 

My threat alarms didn't go up with these guys, but, as with any adult that I haven't known for years, I made sure they were following YP carefully. 

Edited April 17, 2015 by perdidochas

[Gone 435]

We live in a military town, and during my years of unit scouting, had a few occasions where young men would just show up at our door on meeting night, saying they had seen the scouts in uniform outside and wanted to "become involved".  Sad to say, but my YP training kicked in, and the threat alarms were going off.  I mean, what 20 something young male doesn't have something better to do with his evenings and weekends.  

 

Just had a similar situation. Unmarried 20- or 30-something wanting to help out. Sad to say it but my first thoughts were around YPT. Doing a background check now. $100 spent now may save more down the road. I feel bad for assuming this but I suspect this the reality of the times in which we live.