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Getting adults involved making outings happen


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I posted about tent camping at a baseball game. Got me thinking - I still have the same problem of getting adults willing to help. Help with leading/co leading events. This baseball thing is like $12 for all you can eat hot dogs/hamburgs pop, the game, camping on the field and juice&krispy kreme donuts in the morning- Reasonable cost? Sure. Even with this ease of camping(and merit badge worthiness) and low physical activity(parking lot to field)no parents step up. Kids just wanto have fun but they need support from adults. I am amazed how at little league you will have 5 coaches to help for 6 weeks when in scouts cant get 2 adults to teach(for even 1 weekend) kids lessons for life...

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noname.....little league is easy you root for the boys, show up to practice a couple times a week and a game once a week.....AT the end everyone gets a nice shiney trophy.

 

 

Well boy scouting is much harder than that.....When my son ages out I will have over 12 years as an adult leader....and this is year round not merely 6 or 8 weeks once a year.

 

 

Plus in scouting you eventually will develop a deeper relationship with the scouts.....You know who they are not just the can't make the throw from third base to first.

 

mom and dad like little league for $200 bucks they get a nice new uniform, hat and bat...They sit in the stand and watch practice and then sit in the stand and watch the game...... In scouting $200 doesn't even get it started.

 

 

Being a Adult leader in boy scouting is a huge year round commitment......Camping and outings multiple weekends a month, roundtables, training, fundraising, troop meetings, angry parents, angry professionals.......Do you ever wonder why nobody wants to do it???

 

 

noname....I gotta ask, are you BS or CS???? if BS then why aren't the boys doing the work????

 

 

 

 

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BD -

 

The answer to your question (in my experience anyway), is that if you don't have adults willing to step up and go on campouts, then those same adults are not likely to be willing to step up and mentor scouts in the planning and runing of activities either.

 

If scouts haven't been mentored, they are not going to step up and do things, even if asked, becasue they dont know how, and dont have anyone to help them learn.

 

 

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There is no easy answer to this, but I have found some approaches work better than others.

 

If you stand up at a parent meeting and say "we need volunteers to go camping" everyone hopes someone else will volunteer.

 

If you walk up and say "Joe, can you go with us to xyz state park 3 weeks from now, and if you can't we probably can't go" it is much harder for Joe to say no.

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Yep, what you have is a great value for an fun event, but I have found that "great values" still will not always do it for families in my Pack. It really depends on the type of event, the day of the week of the event, and if tent camping is involved.

 

Does your event have a "ballgame only" option. In other words, just come out for the game, have some food and fellowship, and then go home. That might make it more attractive for parents that don't like to tent camp. You did not mention if you are in Cubs or Boy Scouts.

 

In my Pack, if we do tent camping, the most I could expect in attendance is 25% of scouts because most of our families do not care to camp. If Mom or Dad don't show up, then the cub scout will not show up. Some of our parents work regularly on Saturdays, so any Saturday events are out.

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Wish my troop had had this problem. We have too many parents that want ot do things with the troop to the point that some boys miss out on the events.

 

This weekend we are camping in a cabin at our local scout camp (not the cabin that caused all the problems last month and a different camp too). There are 17 kids and 7-8 adults going on the trip just over an hour from our meeting site. Last weekend we did a curling event, had 13 boys and 11 adults. If you don't sign up early for events in our troop you dont get to go.

 

Along with the other problems my troop has we seem to run a "fun with son" camping/activity program. Wish there was a way to ditch some of the parents and I as an ASM could enforce it.

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One thing to look for is to make camping experiences fun for adults. If adults lack camping skills or equipment, you need to make sure those issues are dealt with.

 

Having an experienced leader and camper invite a new parent along for a fun experience, and making it fun for new campers might be a good way to go.

 

In Cub Scouts, I emphasize making bedrolls from regular sheets, blankets and pillows. Sleeping bags really aren't needed for the Cub Scout campouts I do.

 

When explaining how to do bedrolls I relate how mountain men, soldiers and explorers used such equipment to make it an adventure, and I'll often offer a token "Mountain Man" award for those who use bedrolls. This makes using a bedroll an adventure for Cub Scouts rather than mom and dad being pressured to buy sleeping bags. I use a bedroll myself to support this kind of value.

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Basemnt- Im a leader in both cubs and scouts, I only talking about the 2 deep leadership as crazy as that sounds for the Boy Scout outings.

the Little league thing- your are right on again. The parents know we need help but I'll try being more direct as well. We got lots of gear but even cabin camping is pulling teeth. Thanks to all!

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Wow, all I can say is wow

 

Having a unit committee actually put a limit on how many adults can come on an outing? I would love to be in a position where I would be able to do that. We don't want cub leaders in boy scouts because, well they are cub leaders, we dont want to many adults around because they mess with the troop dynamincs and by the way we are as mad as hell that no adult steps up to help us old guys out

 

I think I now understand the phrase cognitive disonance

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Since I'm on the outside of the Adult equation, I'll offer this.

 

Some of us parents (especially those who were never Scouts) have no idea *what* you want, *when* you want it or *why* this time and not the others. We're not supposed to be a the Troop meetings...remember?

 

We hear "this is boy led", "boys only", "let the boys figure it out"... etc. So we parents get a big fat "Stop...Stay Away" sign.

 

The next thing we know, you need parents for committees, functions, transportation ... etc. We go "Huh? .. But you said..."

 

It beats us as to what you're doing at any given moment...hence the participation issues.

 

Oh, and by the way...your average Scout doesn't communicate diddly to his parents about anything Scout related. Half the time, I can ask my Scout what he did at the meeting 30 minutes ago, and I'll get "stuff".... or "I dunno".

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Engineer,

 

It's a fine line, and it differs troop by troop. My troop encourages all parents to stay at the meeting if they like, or they can drop off and pick up Scout (they have to come inside to do this, and we do have a whiteboard with upcoming activities on it). It's up to them. About half of our new crossover parents are there. That said, pretty much the Scouts do their own thing durign a meeting. The Troop does troop activities led by SPL, and they do patrol activities led by PL. Parents stay at a couple of tables so they can either talk among themselves, or watch the scouts. Parents should be welcomed at any activity. Parents' roles at outdoor activities should be primarily to observe (and of course drive).

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Finding rugged adults for High Adventure campouts can be much easier than for the usual 21st century monthly Webelos III (ItOLS) campouts.

 

By the way, this is where women in Scouting belong: SCUBA, Rock Climbing, Canoe Journeys, Backpacking, 50 Mile Bike Trips, Winter Snowshoe Camping, 50 Mile Horseback Expeditions (Baden-Powell's version of the Eagle Project), Rifle and Shotgun Campouts, etc.

 

Yours at 300 feet,

 

Kudu

http://kudu.net

 

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