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Scouts and paperwork can be like oil and water!
In this week’s podcast an update on our 2016 trip to Kandersteg, I’ll answer email questions about handling permission slips (get in touch and tell me how you handle paperwork and deadlines), youth leaders, and avoiding homesickness.
LINKS
Working with Homesick Scouts
Homesickness on podcast 76
Helping Homesick Scouts Recover
Kandersteg 2016
MUSIC
The Cat Came Back – Scott Bruffey
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Listen to this episode (00:22:32)
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Paperwork:
Our troop uses permission slips for each campout. Generally they are e-mailed to the troop mailing list two or three weeks before the campout, and paper copies are also available at the troop meetings. We ask that the permission slip be returned by the troop meeting before the campout. The top half of the permission slip has all the details of the campout: departure and return time and place, location and cost, and other info like special gear needed – mainly for the edification of the parents (because the Scouts are supposed to find these things out from their patrol leader, right?). The bottom half lets us know who is coming and acts as a payment tracker (cash/check/account). Departing for the campout, the slips are given to the drivers so they’ll know who they are responsible for, they’re collected and kept by the Scoutmaster during the campout, then handed back to the drivers on the way home.
What if a Scout doesn’t turn one in by the deadline but wants to camp anyway? If he shows up on Friday afternoon ready to go, we won’t say “no” (we’re not worried about collecting any money yet) but he has to make sure his patrol can accommodate him, since they will have already bought the groceries for the ones who they know are coming. It’a a lesson that’s hopefully learned about the importance of being responsible to your patrol.
If a Scout signs up and pays, but then has to back out, we’ll generally refund their money as long as it hasn’t already been issued to buy groceries or if there are other non-refundable costs like camporee registration.
This has worked for us, although we’ve discussed alternate methods like funding the program entirely from fundraising and not charging per campout or charging a nominal set amount regardless of the cost.
Regarding homesickness prevention:
Scouting Magazine published an informative article in its May 2008 issue. Here’s the link:
http://scoutingmagazine.org/issues/0805/a-nothappy.html
and some good information in an article from the University of Michigan Health System, with lots of bullet points and links:
http://www.uofmhealth.org/news/730helping-kids-avoid-homesickness
Homesickness at summer camp is common but almost never lasts very long. One of the best preventative measures is for the Scout to go on at least one or two weekend campouts without his parents before going away for a week.
To respond to Steve on homesickness,
We had an incident at our NYLT summer camp a couple of years ago that I think might help and it really came from a stroke of inner brilliance. It was the morning of day 2 of the camp and a young man came up to one of the assistant adult staff and asked if he could use the adult’s cell phone in order to call his parents to come get him because he wanted to go home. The adult was a little taken back and just stared at him for a moment wondering how to address this obvious case of homesickness. He suddenly found himself saying, “No. You are here for a reason. I know it.” The youth looked at him quizzically and asked, “Why? What reason?” The adult assistant responded with, “I don’t know. I want *you* to figure that out, and when you do, come tell me what it is.” The youth walked away looking a little dejected and the adult staff wondered where that advice came from and if he had done the right thing. In the afternoon of the next day the young man came up to the adult staff with a smile on his face and announced to him the reason that he had figured out and was congratulated on finding his reason for being there. It worked out great in allowing the youth to find out why he was there and it sure kept him busy trying to figure that reason out. Just a helpful idea that worked for us and this youth scout. Enjoy.
Merrick
I’ve never understood the purpose behind permission slips for troop activities and am interested to hear what scouters believe they “get” out of permission slips. Some things I’ve heard: 1) consent to treat in emergencies. Well…that’s already on the medical form, which should be brought to troop outings. 2)some sort of liability waiver. Good luck thinking a troop-created form will protect you from a lawsuit! 3)permission for a scout to attend an outing. I think this is implied when the scout is driven to your meeting place and dropped off for the event. So what gives? What’s the purpose?
I tend to agree with you Terry. My troop continues to use permission slips to inform parents, to assure we have an emergency contact if parents are going to be away, details like drop-off and pickup times, and so parents know how to contact us. Cell phones have made most of this redundant, but the slip is more for parents than it is for us.