Scout Parents

Podcast Episode (00:37:32): Download MP3 Listen to Scoutmaster Podcast 233 | Sponsored By ScoutmasterCG.com Backers Working with the patrol leaders’s council is a Scoutmaster’s single greatest responsibility… …listen in to a recording of my patrol leader’s council at camp this summer. I answer emails about motivating older Scouts, dealing with interference from parents, and helping define Scout camping for new parents. Join me in Kandersteg next summer! Details Here....

Sponsored By ScoutmasterCG.com Backers Parent’s spend a lot of time preparing Scouts for summer camp, but have they prepared themselves? Do parents know what goes on at camp? This week I offer some advice directed at parents (especially of younger Scouts) that will help make the experience for them and their Scouts a positive one. There’s also a Scoutmaster’s minute o about the ninth point of the Scout law along with your messages in the mailbag....

This infographic explains three things Scout parents can do to help Scouts with their gear (and save a Scoutmaster’s sanity). Put your Scout’s Name and Troop number on everything. If they are attending an event with dozens or hundreds of other Scouts and misplace a piece of clothing or gear there’s a much better chance it will find its way back to them if it is clearly marked with their full name and Troop number....

The author’s 5-year-old son, Gideon, playing at the Land playground in North Wales. (Hanna Rosin) In her Atlantic Monthly article, The Overprotected Kid, Hanna Rosin writes: It’s hard to absorb how much childhood norms have shifted in just one generation. Actions that would have been considered paranoid in the ’70s—walking third-graders to school, forbidding your kid to play ball in the street, going down the slide with your child in your lap—are now routine....

Before the ceremony a couple of weeks ago I asked the Eagle candidates and their parents to step into a side room for a minute. I hand each family a velvet covered box. “We’ll have mom practice pinning the Eagle medal on their son’s left pocket flap first” I announce. Three moms pick up an Eagle medal and pin it on their son. “It’s not as easy as it looks, is it?...

If you are headed off to camp this summer it’s likely you will be working with one or more homesick Scouts. Understanding, preventing and treating homesickness ought to be approached like administering first aid for any other illness or injury. Homesickness is not imaginary, it’s not an indication of weakness or lack of character, it’s not a symptom of bad parenting or bad leadership and, thankfully, it’s reasonably easy to prevent....

It takes a few years but that gawky 11-year-old becomes a responsible young man when Scout parents cooperate with the process. I received this email from a Scout parent: I am new to the Boy Scout Program and I am not getting answers to questions . For instance my son is to bring a blue card to a merit badge event for the counselor to sign. I got a blue card from the Scoutmaster....

Scouting with your son, being the parent of a Scout and a Scouter at the same time, can be one of the most enriching and memorable times you’ll spend together. Naturally there will be some difficult times but we can avoid letting them derail the experiences for ourselves and our sons if we prepare for them. Characteristics that make a good parent and a good Scouter are similar but we are not going to impose the same expectations or authority we have for our own children on our Scouts....

When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years. Attributed to Mark Twain* I have watched many fathers wince as their sons publicly shunned them and sons wince as their fathers publicly acknowledged them. The ‘Twain Effect’ is immediately recognizable to those parents who have been through it....

Frank Maynard is a blogging troop committee chairman, he recently published this excellent article outlining how to work with Scout parents; Parents who aren’t as involved in Scouting as you are sometimes don’t understand the program as well, and can see a unit working normally as being dysfunctional. Friction can also develop among parents, or even between boys, and the people “in charge” are looked to for a solution. “Why isn’t my Jimmy getting to Second Class any faster?...

(Historic fiction inspired by comments on this post – have you ever had a call like this?) After a weekend camping trip a twelve year-old Scout throws his pack into the trunk and gets in the car. His parent asks, “So, what did you do this weekend? Did you get a lot of work done? Was it fun?” He rubs his eyes, “It was great, we cooked a lot and then we ate, and we played some games and walked around,” he yawns, “Mostly we cooked stuff and cleaned up and kind of sat around the fire....

Most Scout parents are supportive, encouraging and make a positive contribution to their son’s experience in Scouting. If you volunteer long enough you will eventually run into Scout parent problems. Some are minor irritations, some are very upsetting. Questions and challenges from parents usually come from honest misunderstandings. When parents raise concerns it can feel like a personal attack. Remember they aren’t trying to be mean, they are acting in the best interest of their child the best way they can....

There’s a danger in going too far with the whole ‘kids these days’ thing. Each successive generation is pretty sure the next one is headed to hell in a hand basket. Your great-great grandparents were convinced that your great grandparents were running full tilt off the cliff of immorality and dissipation – so let’s have some perspective. There are trends and practices in parenting that repeat themselves over and over again and ‘spoiling’ children is one of them....

Your son returns from Scout summer camp more capable and mature than the boy you knew one short week ago. Outside the normal support structure of his family, away from the solitary distractions of modernity, a Scout must take care of himself and cooperate with his peers. He does all this in a supportive environment that permits failure without compromising safety. He’ll be challenged to expand his abilities, to accept and offer help, and to function cooperatively in everyday tasks....

In recent years parents seem increasingly reluctant to allow their children to do things for themselves – to be ‘free range kids’. It makes me wonder if some parents have written activities like Scouting off as too dangerous, too unsupervised or less valuable than more controlled, conducted and packaged experiences for their children. We are barraged by irrational fears and constantly told to worry about what our kids do, what they see, who they talk to, where they g0....

Podcast Episode: Listen on Apple Podcasts IN THIS PODCASTInterview with author of Free Range Kids and ‘World’s Worst Mom’ Lenore Skenazy. Lenore has a great story to tell about her sons, and how valuable the Scouting experience have been for them. LINKS IN THIS PODCASTShout Out!Lenore’s Blog Buy Free Range Kids on Amazon My review of Free Range Kids | KEEP IN TOUCHContact Clarke GreenCall and leave a voice mail comment or question at (484) 734-0002 Subscribe to the podcast on iTunesFollow us on FACEBOOK – TWITTER | Past editions of the show are available at the PODCAST ARCHIVE |

Scout parents are usually less prepared for summer camp than their Scouts. Parents of Scouts headed to camp (especially for the first time) are going to be anxious; they may find the experience more difficult than their Scouts will. It’s fair to expect Scout parents may feel uncomfortable turning over full-time care of their child, especially to Scouters they may have just gotten to know. They may worry about their Scout’s diet at camp, who will be looking after daily concerns like clean clothes or taking a shower, and how their Scout is getting along....

Parents (especially mothers in my experience) are the family scheduler; keeper of the family calendar and maker of schedules. We need a direct, accessible and detailed line of communication with parents (again, in my experience, especially mothers) if we expect to have Scouts attending outings and meetings. Shouldn’t the Scouts themselves be responsible for this? Shouldn’t they know their own schedule and make plans accordingly? In the best of all possible worlds I would like to see that happen but it’s not likely the way that most of the families we serve conduct business....

I received this question from a reader; I’m a assistant scoutmaster and was recently contacted by a dad of a scout that after one year is still at Scout rank. It seems that his dad is looking for shortcuts, as many other scouts have bypassed him and our recently added Webelos are already achieving their Scout rank. Specifically dad asks: “Can I use a requirement for one merit badge to fulfill some requirements for others?...

A question from a Facebook fan: My son just bridged over into Boy Scouts from Webelos. I feel he is losing interest, he keeps saying he doesn’t want to go to the meetings or camp. My son and I have been active in cub scouts since he was a tiger. How should I help get him and keep him motivated? There’s usually an adjustment period for any big change like this....