Scoutmasters, Do your Scout Parents really know....

[Gunny2862]

Do your Scout Parents really know....everything that is required for their sons to have a program? Is your committee fully staffed? Are they trained? Do you have enough Assistant Scoutmasters? Is there enough parental involvement for outings?

 

If so, how did you get it to be that way?

 

If not, have you communicated your needs? Do you know what your needs are?

 

I have a Energizer Bunny CC, even so, he can't do it all and gets the help he needs. He is also our former SM and knows what I need from his POV when he wore the hat. Our Committee seems to get things done but isn't and as far as I know has never been fully staffed. I know I still complete some portions of committee member functions. We occasionally are wondering if we have enough seatbelts (trying to get out of the city) for outings.

 

I have one untrained ASM(1 child in program), the trained CC, and another trained Former SM that we work through for the adults on 90% of outings. Our Cubmaster(2 children in our program, one still in Cubs) who is a Scout parent also comes along sometimes in the place of one of the others. 21 Scouts registered. Only very rarely are we graced on an outing by a parent not mentioned above.

 

Am I working with what most of you are or is my situation significantly better or worse than the norm?

 

Constructive remarks only please. Derogoteurs may find the issues and politics forum, Thank you.

[Bob White]

Do your Scout Parents really know....everything that is required for their sons to have a program? Yes

Is your committee fully staffed? Yes

Are they trained? Yes

Do you have enough Assistant Scoutmasters? (Mates) Yes

Is there enough parental involvement for outings? None required (that's why you have enough assistants.)

 

We got the way through a focus on good communications and fun.

 

 

(This message has been edited by Bob White)

[FScouter]

MY parents are dead.

[Gunny2862]

FScouter, I am sorry for your loss. I just lost my Dad, this year, too. Hope you are doing okay.

[Gunny2862]

Moderator

 

Can we delete posts 3,4 and 5 in this thread,please?

They seem to be killing the thread.

 

I'd really like some input on this...

[ASM162]

Do your Scout Parents really know....everything that is required for their sons to have a program?

For the most part, I would say No. When a new scout wants to join our Troop, the SM and CC will sit down with the parents and explain how the Troop functions. A request will then go out as to have them come on board as a committee member or ASM. This mostly falls on deaf ears. The response typically is "Let me see how things go, and I'll get back to you." The impression that I get is one of, "Hey, the Troop is being run OK, I'll just sit back and let you guys and gals do your thing."

 

Is your committee fully staffed? Are they trained?

No, we do not have a fully staffed committee. This is due to several reasons:

 

1). One of the ASM's stores all of the Troop equipment. I know that the CO is supposed to do this, but they are limited in space. Therefore, this ASM takes on the additional duty of Equipment coordinator.

 

2). The SM has a running list of the registered vehicles of each Family in the troop. This includes the requied insurance info and the no. of belts, Driver's license no., etc. The outings are divided among the (5) ASM's of the Troop. So whoever is the lead adult for a particular outing, is also responsible for filling out the tour permit, and doing the legwork to reserve sites, obtain permits, plan the itinerary, etc. We do not have an outings coordinator.

 

3). We do not have a registered Chaplain in the Troop. The Troop Chaplain's Aide is responsible for any religious duties.

 

4). We do have a Committee Chair, Secretary, a treasurer, and an advancement chairperson on our committee. There are also presently (2) at-large committee members.

 

5). All committee members are trained and the SM and 3 of 5 ASM's are fully trained. (including YPT). I wish that we could get all of the ASM's trained, but conflicting work schedules and training dates come into play, and that is why we have two guys still to be trained.

 

This seems to work for us in the present configuration. It is not ideal, but the adult leadership that is involved is very driven to help the troop provide a decent program.

 

Do you have enough Assistant Scoutmasters? Is there enough parental involvement for outings?

We have never had to worry about enough ASM's for an outing. Usually 3 of the 5 ASM's plus the SM are on every trip and/or outing. There is a standing invitation to all of the parents, that they are welcome to join us on any and all outings. Typically, we have only one taker who goes with the Troop on just about every outing. So far, 2-Deep leadership has not been a problem.

 

If so, how did you get it to be that way?

This is the way that it has been for several years now.(I know that is not a good reason. ) There have been some personality clashes that have caused some parents to not bother with becoming a committee member or ASM. Some only want to come and help with a COH, and not be bothered with anything else. As an ASM, I would really like to see each parent have some sort of "job" within the Troop.

 

If not, have you communicated your needs? Do you know what your needs are?

Yes, the needs of the Troop have been communicated to every parent, and usually at least once a month in the newsletter.

I think that we have a good handle on what our needs are. I believe that we are adequately expressing the needs of the Troop to the parents. We have discussed getting an Outdoor Activities Coordinator and an Equipment Coordinator, to help take some of the burden off of the shoulders of the SM and ASM's. We'll see if we can recruit any of the new parents who are joing our Troop now.

 

[Lisabob]

Do your Scout Parents really know....everything that is required for their sons to have a program?

I'd say no. About half of our scouts have parents who are not registered leaders, plus a few who are registered but are seldom present for whatever reason. These parents by and large probably do not understand what goes into making a successful program.

 

 

Is your committee fully staffed? Are they trained?

We actually have a reasonable sized committee but some jobs are over-burdened. And there are a few smaller committee positions that seem to go unstaffed on a regular basis.

As for training - maybe a third of the committee has completed the online troop committee challenge. Most of the rest seem utterly uninterested. And as our "live" district committee training has a (deservedly) bad rap, people aren't willing to attend. Our committee chair has not made committee training a priority either.

 

Do you have enough Assistant Scoutmasters? Is there enough parental involvement for outings?

Yes and No. In the three years my son has been in the troop they've never canceled or even come close to canceling and outing for want of adult leadership and at one point about two years ago we had almost as many registered ASMs+committee members as scouts. However, most of our ASMs, our SM, and our Committee Chair have boys who are close to aging out of the troop or already have done so. We have good parental involvement among our younger scouts' families, but there were a couple of years where the troop had a rough patch with recruiting and retention, with the result that now, there are older adult leaders who are looking to move on, and younger adult leaders who are new-ish to the troop, but not a lot of folks in the middle to bridge the gap. This is a little bit worrisome.

 

If so, how did you get it to be that way?

One reason we joined the troop was because they already had a solid group of adult leaders, as compared to another troop where when we visited, I got asked to be the committee chair out of the blue (yikes! I thought, what are we getting into here? At the time I didn't feel remotely qualified to take on that role). We're lucky to have a handful of adults who are committed not just to their own kids, but to the troop and the program. They've been instrumental in bringing along other newer leaders.

 

 

If not, have you communicated your needs? Do you know what your needs are?

Well we try. With 20 new scouts last month we'll be reminding all their parents that everybody here is a volunteer. Our committee chair tends to stress that boys whose parents are involved stick with scouting longer. A former SM hits on the notion that he can mentor and teach everybody else's kids, but he still needs some other adults to help do the same for his son. I tend to point out where there are small, specific, tasks that won't scare new parents off. But recruiting isn't my strongest skill and I don't especially like prevailing upon people. I'm much better at explaining how things work and hoping they find it sufficiently interesting or fun to want to get involved on their own power.

 

Realistically, if we get about 1/2 of the families in each year's cohort to become actively involved as registered leaders, I think we'd be able to maintain things at the present level just fine.

 

Hope this helps a bit Gunny.

[John-in-KC]

Gunny,

 

Lisa probably describes something close to the norm. I won't go into the causes.

 

The fix is more a challenge, because Scouting at the adult level is volunteerism, pure and simple. One thing I've not tried, but may have some merit, is an adults only cookout some evening, as the weather warms. Put a little bit of a stick on it, but a lot of carrot.

 

At the cookout and dinner, talk about why Scouters are needed.

 

I think I'd also invite folks from your chartered partner to the fray as well.

 

Finally, since I know where you live/work, visit with your Student Life folk ... see how they can leverage the young adults in your area.

 

Lisa, come to think about it, that may be an option for you and your District as well, in populating more than one unit

 

I'd appreciate feedback on the idea ... maybe I have my head where the sun does not shine...

[Lisabob]

John I am not sure what you mean exactly with the ref. to populating more than one unit. Clarification please?

[Hiromi]

A very timely post for me. I just got back from training this weekend. It was very enlightening. The trainers were Scoutmasters from a new local troop. They were very young, positive, and helpful (And they were in good shape too- all mountain climbers with a climbing themed troop!). The training videos were helpful as well- though the black Scoutmaster was a way better actor than the white scoutmaster.

 

I immediately got on the horn with nearly all my scout parents and told them abou the changes to the unit. I am getting my committees lined up and have asked my parents to consider being ASMs and Assistant Cub masters.

 

The Boy Scouts have formed their patrol and are getting ready to have their own meetings on a different day then the Cub Scouts. Denning will be on a voluntary basis for the Boy Scouts.

 

The other areas troops have been very helpful to me, and have invited me to sit in on the District meeting. They have also invited my troop to join their troops in upcoming camp outs to see how other troops function.

 

To address your question- I felt like calling out for help after these last two weeks (I went in for two MRIs because of extreme sciatic pain). (It made me wonder if FireKat might have made a voodoo doll of me!) But there is nothing like not being able to get around without excruciating pain to get you thinking about getting other adults to help out and to fall back on the Boy Scout system!

 

Anyway, the phone calls went great. Lots of parents were happy I called and about 90 percent of them said that they would be wiling to serve on the committee and a few said that they wouldn't mind assisting on outings. My assistant cub master the has committed to being at the after school cub scouting program as well. (I only had den mothers before helping out).

 

So I can appreciate you concern about the involvement of the families. I am at a place where I want to get the families as committed as I can. I want them to buy into the program and I want them to understand what the Boy Scout program is.

 

I have to say that I think that Bob White was probably right about training. After hearing from other scoutmasters about how they lead boy run troops, I feel much more confident and sold on the concept.

 

And congratulations to LisaBob on her troops increased enrollment. You certainly must be doing something right.

 

Communicating yours needs are important. Knowing what your needs are - that was the hard one for me. Getting injured and losing older boys and getting trained helped me to see the light.

 

God Bless Boy Scouts, and God Bless Baden Powell for the patrol method!

 

Pappy

(This message has been edited by Pappy)

[gwd-scouter]

"Do your Scout Parents really know....everything that is required for their sons to have a program?"

- Most of our parents do. There are a couple that seem to think we volunteers have all sorts of leisure time that they do not, but thankfully that's only a couple.

 

"Is your committee fully staffed? Are they trained? Do you have enough Assistant Scoutmasters? Is there enough parental involvement for outings?"

 

Our Committee is fully staffed and trained. We have three fully-trained ASMs and one newly registered who is finishing training this weekend (OLS). We also have three former adult leaders from our Troop on our Committee that help conduct our BORs. So, we have at least enough adult leadership for our needs as we are a small Troop. Because of our Committee and ASMs, I've noticed I have a lot more time for mentoring and training those Scouts in leadership positions.

 

We got our adult leadership fully trained because I kept reminding folks of the training dates and I guess they finally figured out that I expected a lot from the boys, a lot from myself, and a lot from them too. Gotta say, we have a fantastic bunch of leaders now.

 

The other parents in our Troop that are not registered leaders are asked to help out with one or two things a year and, so far, with the exception of the couple I mentioned above, everyone has been willing to help and has followed through.

 

Gunny, I have found it more cumbersome than it's worth to have tag along parents at campouts. They usually do not fully understand the program and could cause disruption if your troop is boy-led, which can come across as chaotic to the untrained eye.

 

The best way to communicate your need for help to your Scout parents is to ask someone directly to help with a specific task. General pleas for help usually go unanswered.

 

[John-in-KC]

Lisa,

 

I was thinking in terms of your District Membership Chair hat, not your Troop hat. Leveraging college students, if there are unit serving vacancies in your District, might help with some of those.

 

Does that make more sense?

 

Thanks for the feedback

 

John

[Gunny2862]

Thanks for the input!

 

Anyone else want to chime in?

 

[Lisabob]

Thanks for clarification John.

 

gwd - yes, it can certainly be tricky to take untrained parents along on camp outs. On the other hand, you may find they get a lot more excited seeing the outdoor program in action, than they do watching a weekly troop meeting. Not to mention, they might finish the weekend with greater respect for their boys and for the other (trained) adults! Still, the care and feeding of untrained parents is a dicey business.

[Bob White]

Whenever I have had a parent along on an activity we explain ahead of time that there only responsibility is to relax and enjoy watching their child grow. They are told ahead of time thay they are not to offer help uless asked. (and our scouts know to ask a parent LAST.)

 

We recommend they bring a chair, a book, a camera, and a coffee cup.