Ideas for a parents meeting

[Buffalo Skipper 13]

In 2 weeks, our troop is having a parent's meeting in lieu of a committee meeting. The purpose is to engage the parents and involve them more in our troop. I am looking for some ideas to present to the parents. As a former Cub Scout leader, I had lots of little tools to use on School Night (roundup, or whatever you call it where you are). These things like the adding machine tape timeline, which are great for recruiting Den Leaders, but not very effective at inspiring Boy Scout parents to become involved.

 

I came up with the start of one for the parents:

Scouts come to on average, 3 of 4 meetings a month. Most patrols will meet once a month for one hour. Our weekly meetings last one hour and thirty minutes, so at most, if he attends every meeting each month, he spends roughly 7 hours a month with meetings. By comparison, we spend close to 45 hours each month camping. Thats a little over 85% of the monthly time spent out camping over meetings. How much more do you think your son learns while camping with the troop? How much less does he get out of scouting if he only attends half the campouts?

 

Its not perfect yet, but it is a start.

 

What "tools" do you use to fire up parents to become involved supporting the troop program?

[boomerscout 35]

pass out pledge cards

they listen real good after that

[dg98adams 18]

A short example of the "Patrol method" to show the parents this is not Webelos III.