Scoutmaster Podcast 119

And now to you, Scoutmaster. Hey, we were out camping last week. There was a fire ban. We had to use our propane stoves And we hadn't used them in a long time.

I was setting ours up and there was a mouse inside it actually And it ran off. I would have hit it, but by the time I got the chance he was out of range. Think about it, You'll get it. Hey, this is podcast 119. Hey,

Welcome back to the Scoutmaster Podcast. This is Clarke Green.

So let's take a look in the mailbag here. Shane wrote in to say I just wanted to say I'm a huge fan of your blog- I mean, you will scout myself but receive this honor about six years ago- And I'm looking to find a way back into participating with other Scouts.

Well, great, Shane, Thanks for being in touch. Thanks for the kind words. BA Scouter said this about podcast 118.. He said: starting a troop from scratch. That's me. I'm living the dream.

It's a lot of work and some frustration, And it requires a lot of patience, to be sure, but it's also a huge amount of enjoyment. My on the job satisfaction rating is just off the scale. I wish my real world career was as satisfying and rewarding, Having faith that the program works is really important. Your faith will be challenged many times but the program just works when you follow the patrol method and the train them, trust them and let them lead model well. I'm glad to hear that.

I'm glad to hear that's working well for you. And yeah, living the dream. There you go. Assistant Scoutmaster Dave in Lake Forest, California, had this to say about a post that we put on this week about Tom taking a hike. Tom Gillard from down in Tolahoma, Tennessee, sent a little story in about one of the challenges of being a scout leader.

Yeah, Did you read it? We'll get over to scoutmastercgcom and look for Tom takes a hike. But anyway, excellent story from the field, Keep them coming. It's very encouraging to hear feedback of others facing and succeeding through the same struggles and questions.

Do you have a question? Do you have a struggle? Send us a message and you can do that by writing to scoutmastercg at Verizonnet or go over to scoutmastercgcom. There's other ways. You can keep in touch and we'll talk about that towards the end of the podcast.

So in scoutmastership, in seven minutes or less, we're going to talk a little bit about some volunteer questions- How do you recruit volunteers and things like that, And I've got a couple of questions and answers from the past week that I think you might find helpful. So that's going to take care of this whole podcast.

So let's get started, shall we

Scoutmastership in seven minutes or less. So there was a post on the blog last week about volunteers and the apparent lack of volunteers sometime, And what followed was a lot of interesting comments and a little bit of a discussion thread in the comments, And that's where things really happen when people start talking back and forth. Let's go over what I put up real quick, because I've often heard about the difficulty of recruiting adult help from other scouts. When we sit down around the campfire and it's just us scouts, we get a little complaining sometimes.

How many times have you heard things like we're the only ones who will do this and we can't get anybody else to help. And all of these other parents- how can they be so irresponsible?

Well, you know, like anybody who volunteers for something, you love the work and you're always bothered by the fact, slightly, that we do it all. I mean that's pretty understandable, isn't it? I mean, especially if you're dedicated and really sold on the work, you're going to have a little bit of resentment about people who aren't, And that's that's fine, Just as long as you don't let that resentment color everything else that you do.

That's important, And here's what I mean. If we stand up in front of a group of parents and we plead for help and we get a little whiny and resentful about things, that's not going to be all that attractive. I'm not going to be attracted to an appeal like that. I'm going to be rather resistant to an appeal like that.

Now, we've never really lacked for volunteers in our troops. Sometimes we seem to have almost too many. We tell every income family that we'd welcome their help, and we do understand that schedules and commitments can be kind of tight. And when folks do volunteer we make it clear we understand they'll do what they can do when they can do it.

Are some more dedicated than others? Do some shoulder a bit more burden than others?

Yeah, well, that's to be expected. We do have a lot of fun though.

I mean we have a great time working together and I think this really does serve as an attractant for other people to join in. So if your appeals for help aren't having positive results, think about the way you're appealing or not appealing, You know, is that resentment creeping into that? Maybe you've convinced yourself that nobody really cares and no one will. People can sense that and it may be your attitude that keeps them away. Bill Daniel contributed in the comments section for that post and this is really great. He says: when new families join, we tell them one to pick their level of contribution, whether it's going to be once a year, once a month, once a week or once a day.

I mean they can sign up for whatever they want. Number two: I love this. It's a guilt-free troop. We're not going to make you feel guilty and we're not going to whine and carry on. It's a guilt-free troop.

Hey, you say yes or no when we ask if you can help and there are no explanations or excuses needed or wanted. You know guilt-free. I really like that, Bill, Great, great idea.

And number three: if we ever lack what we need, we just don't do whatever it is. You know we've not lacked for volunteers, though Sometimes we have those scheduling problems and we have to adapt to those And sometimes, if we don't have the volunteers, oh well And that's.

You know that at first sounds a little harsh, but it's a very good attitude. Bill says: as a leader. I've learned the hard way that imputing motives to others is what leads to resentments or misunderstandings.

So rather than imagining a parent thinks we're a babysitting service, I ask a few questions and that usually reveals a lot. That's very wise, very, very wise.

Don't impute motives to others without you know knowing. Don't jump to a conclusion without knowing something about what they're dealing with. Lastly, sometimes you want to just let everybody know about a specific need. Sometimes you're pleasantly surprised by who volunteers, but often you don't end up with volunteers unless you have a direct invitation to an individual. And I agree, And that's been the experience of a lot of people and that was reflected in some of the other comments. Larry Geiger says that we do things very similarly.

My committee chair and I tell new folks that we'll take care of everything they don't want to do, And then we ask: what would you like to do? That's a great take, Larry. That's great.

He says what gets? That gets them thinking about the things they like.

I mean, do they like to go camping and hiking? Are they more interested in managing money and helping out administratively? He said the secret here is that folks doing what they like to do tend to stay in the position longer, And when you have people staying in their volunteer positions longer, the less turnover you have, and the less turnover you have, the more volunteers you will get. Stability breeds stability. A unit that's constantly stirred by politics and people coming and going is not a place people tend to stay. A very stable Scoutmaster and committee chair will go long ways to promote longevity and stability in the other volunteers.

It may take a little while to engender that kind of stability in a scout troop, but it will work ultimately. And Larry adds: he says you know, by the way, I'm a little old fashioned, but we eat well. Make sure you feed your volunteers well. That's right, I definitely agree.

They should eat well on camping trips and there should be, you know, some good stuff going on at courts of honor and things, Absolutely. Michael Smith added to the conversation by asking this. He says I'm in an urban area with busy parents who weren't really exposed to Boy Scouts or the outdoors as a youth And the aren't sold on the value scouting brings to their son. This is why they don't volunteer. They don't understand what's in it for them and their son.

Now, most of the recruiting materials I see target boys and little is aimed at adults. What is in it for volunteers?

What is in it for parents? You know, this was my reply to Michael. I said that when your boys 10 or 11, you don't understand what's about to happen. There's no way that you understand this until you've gone through it. And what's about to happen is that his task is going to be to differentiate himself from his family and his parents. He'll be looking for boundaries.

It's not tragic and awful but, boy, I'll tell you, it can be very challenging for most parents. If you're involved in scouting with your son, you'll maintain a connection that other parents aren't necessarily going to have. You'll see him working and playing with his friends from a perspective few parents of joy.

You'll have the other adults and scouting to help you through rough spots And your son will respect and listen to them long after he's not quite so interested in listening to you. Remember the NASA moon missions. If you go back that far, there was a point at which the spacecraft would end up on the dark side of the moon and go out of radio contact for three or four hours And it was a nail biting and nervous. And that's what happens with our kids, boys or girls. There's this part of adolescence where their job is to do for themselves and kind of separate themselves from their family a bit and start to make their own way in the world And they kind of go out of communication. And we kind of bite our nails and we hope that sometime soon we'll be able to talk to them again.

It's a little frustrating to try to explain this to people who haven't been through this process. You really can't know what I'm talking about, But I can guarantee you this: the years you spend in scouting with your son cement some common points of reference and experiences that you'll always share. You'll get to spend time together, but without being in each other's way. That is a rare opportunity through these adolescent years. It really is.

So there are just some thoughts about volunteers and part of the conversation associated with that article at ScoutmasterCGcom. Go, take a look. Lack of volunteers is the name of the article. Check it out. Read the rest of the comments there. This is Bob Mazzucchi, scout executive of the Boy Scouts, And you're listening to my buddy, Clarke Green on the Scoutmaster podcast And he is doing a fantastic job.

You are always on the beat boy, beat boy. Yeah, You are always on the beat boy, beat boy. Yeah, You are always on the beat boy, beat boy. I'll hang it in the street boy, street boy. We re-dancing to the beat boy, beat boy. Yeah, Feel my favorite all-time Boy Scout.

Feel my favorite all-time Boy Scout. Write me a letter, send it by name Email, that is folks.

And here's an answer to one of your emails. So a couple of quick questions that came into the email inbox this week. Stephen Jensen says this: our troop is mostly a car camping troop, But we're broadening our horizons a bit into backpacking. I have lots of excited scouts and nervous parents.

Yep, okay, understood. He said it came to my attention that one of my new scouts has a pretty severe asthma problem And he could need a nebulizer if it gets bad. This hike, although short, will be at a high altitude.

What's your experience with asthmatic boys? I know this is something that seems to be getting more prevalent.

How would you handle it? Thanks, Clark. Always an amazing podcast, truly a work of public service, Stephen Jensen.

Well, thank you, Stephen, for the kind words. You know what. This is pretty easy, And I would say that this advice applies to any medical condition.

You always go to the parents and the doctor Describing the trip and the likely conditions And then you ask for their approval. You're not a professional And neither are the parents really.

So if there's a substantial doubt about something like that, You want to find out and you want to find out authoritatively From somebody who is a professional, who's a doctor, Who knows about such things, whether or not this is advisable. Now you talk about at altitude.

Well, altitude concerns really only start to kick in around 7,000 feet. You definitely need to be concerned about the way everybody is going to react And not just somebody with asthma. You definitely want to familiarize yourself with hiking at altitude. Like I said, from my experience and my knowledge, 7,000 feet is kind of the point where you need to be concerned. Not a lot of concerns for us here out east Because we don't have too many places that are 7,000 feet above sea level.

So the other thing I'd add just for good measure Is that a short hike and easy going And all the other elements set up for easy success Is really important to anybody going on their first backpacking trip. You don't want them to endure an ordeal. You want them to have a really good time and be ready to go out and do more.

So thanks, Stephen, again for being in touch. I had this note from Tom Brewer Said. I just wanted to repeat what I've already said. I'm still enjoying and learning from the podcast. Keep up the good work.

And Tom is way up there in Canada And he asked this question: How do you handle new leaders who don't have the necessary camping skills? I've got one that can barely put up a tent.

Do you screen for that? Do you train them yourself?

I mean, how do you manage this? Well, there's a couple different ways to do that. First of all, getting that outdoor training for scout leaders. That's always important.

The other thing is Is that when there are instruction times for scouts, You want to grab that new volunteer adult by the elbow And say: this is something that you need to know. So you need to pay very close attention to what's going on here And let him be trained right along with the scouts, Although I like older scouts to be the instructors For the majority of the time. Every once in a while, when you have somebody who's very new, You might want them to instruct the skill that they need to learn.

That's a little counterintuitive, But sometimes it works very well Because usually adults that volunteer for scouting, They have a desire to help out And to teach and instruct different skills. And so, scout handbook, Here you go. New volunteer next week I would like you to instruct the scouts on putting up tents, Choosing campsites. And when they look at you and they say I know nothing about that, Say hey, it's all in the scout handbook. Stay 15 minutes ahead of the scouts And you'll be in good shape. But that has worked.

That has worked as well. We have a first-year camper program at our summer camp That goes through a lot of those very basic scout skills In a week's time And sending a new volunteer to help With that particular thing Can also be a real eye-opener for them.

So there's direct and indirect approaches to that