August 17, 2021

[NO. 675 – 20TH YEAR OF HELPING SCOUTS, SCOUTERS, & PARENTS]

April to August is a pretty long break, and I apologize to all my loyal readers. As best as we can figure out, my “WORDPRESS” account was somehow corrupted. I wasn’t able to fix it, despite many intermittent attempts. Yes, I did sit back and relax from publishing for a bit. But I sure didn’t think it would take till now to get back up and running again. Here’s a HUGE THANKS to Paul Wolf (our advancement maven and guru) for getting me out of the mess I was in!

Here we go again! I sure hope this works!!!

Dear Andy,

Before the Covid world we’re in, our parents used to drop their kids off before our monthly Pack meetings and then pick them up when the meeting ended; few ever stayed around during these meetings. We’re going to start up again in September, first with outdoor meetings. Later in the year we’ll see if we can go indoors safely. But what about the drop-off/pick-up? We’ve had lots of time to read up on how a pack should operate (we were all brand-new leaders right before Covid hit, and “inherited” what had been done before). Our leaders’ manuals say the parents should stick around, but a lot of our Cubs have brothers or sisters who need looking-after, or at least that’s what these parents are telling us. Any ideas? (Bob O’Linck, CM, Montana Skies Council)

Sounds like you’ve got a BSA means “Baby Sitters Anonymous” situation. I’m guessing that your parents (and former leaders) didn’t know that monthly meetings are where their sons and daughters get to perform, lead songs and skits, and get awards like Wolf and Bear and Arrow Points and stuff. Or maybe your predecessors were the “stars” of the show. Or maybe you were the kind of pack that hires a magician or snake charmer or clown to entertain the Cubs each month. All of which means the Cubs were just sitting like lumps and watching instead of being the show itself! Consider reversing things. Make the Cubs the stars and you leaders sit back and enjoy their show…along with their parents and brothers and sisters!

Dear Andy,
Instead of indoor troop meetings, we’ve concentrated on outdoor events for our patrols. But when we have camp-outs at nearby lakes, it kills us that we can’t have a troop swim! Yes, several of our adults are trained in Safe Swim Defense. But none of them has BSA Life Guard or YMCA certification. We do have two Scouts who earned BSA Life Guard at camp two years ago, so they’re still “current.” But since they’re under 21, they can’t be supervisors. Can we invite a SSD-trained, BSA Life Guard adult from another troop to come with us, so that we’re covered? (Irv G. Ranch, Land O’ Lakes Council, MN)
Sure you can do that, and that’s a great idea. But you actually don’t have to. So long as your adult supervisor is SSD-trained, and you have Scouts with BSA Life Guard, you’re covered for a troop swim. That’s because your registered adult supervises (SSD Point 1) and the Scouts are the lifeguards (SSD Point 4). Happy trails…and lakes!

Dear Andy,
We just lost our Cubmaster; she moved away. She was really great with the kids, and she’ll be tough to replace. I’ve spoken with our parents, but they seem afraid of all the work involved. Any suggestions? (Norman Lake, Mecklenburg County, NC)
Cubmaster was one of the best jobs I ever had in Scouting. As some wag once said, “Den Leaders do all of the work and get none of the glory, but Cubmasters do none of the work and get all of the glory!” Now that’s not entirely true—the Cubmaster is, after all, the “patrol leader” of the Den Leaders who form the “patrol.” But, like a good patrol leader, the Cubmaster’s primary responsibility is to delegate…to the Den Leaders. The Cubmaster is also responsible for the content of the monthly Pack meetings, while the Den Leaders meet with and prepare their Cub Scout dens. And it’s the Cubs themselves who get to perform, while the Cubmaster is the “Emcee” or “Ringmaster” for the night!
If you present it this way, any parent with even a modest flair for “crowd management” would be crazy to not grab the Cubmaster slot!

Dear Andy,
I’m a Unit Commissioner and I really like my job and my units’ leaders. But a couple of my units doesn’t like it when I drop by unannounced. They think I’m a “spy” for the council. Of course, I’m hardly that. I drop by as a friend would. Is there any way I can change their point-of-view? (Glen Watkins, Hudson Valley Council, NY)
Maybe dropping in unannounced really isn’t such a cool idea. I know this is depicted a lot in family-type TV shows, but in real life? Well, not so much.
Would you do that to a friend? Probably unlikely. You’d call first to see if they’re home and if it’s a good time, and then you’d probably bring something to show your friendship—maybe that tool you borrowed last spring or some just-baked cookies, right?
Well, your units’ leaders like to be treated the same way. So do it! Call first. And maybe if it’s not convenient, respect that. Then, when you do go, bring something. It can be actual cookies, or maybe a flyer about the upcoming Camporee, or news about a Roundtable or a training event! That’s what a true “friend-of-the-unit” would do. I’ll bet you can do it, too!

Dear Andy,
At a National Jamboree, I happened to notice some odd-looking beaded “necklaces” around some Scouters’ and Scouts’ necks. They all had claws at the bottom. They didn’t seem to be “OA.” What was I looking at? Thanks! (Lynn Guinee, SM, Los Angeles Area Council, CA)
You spotted members of The Tribe of MIC-O-SAY! (Check the Internet—there are websites that explain more than I’ll do here.) MIC-O-SAY, founded in 1925, is—like the Order of the Arrow (est. 1915)—an “honor camper fraternity.” It began in the St. Joseph Council, Missouri, and spread over the years to further councils in the Missouri-Kansas area. MIC-O-SAY was created by a locally famous Scouter and Scout Executive H. Roe (“Chief”) Bartle, to “reinforce the principles of the Scout Oath and Law, and foster continued participation in Scouting—especially camping.” The “coup beads” and claws you saw represent advancement through the levels of MIC-O-SAY commitment.

Dear Andy,
When Webelos Scouts join our Scouts BSA troop, that’s great, but we’re having trouble getting their parents involved in the troop, too. They think they should “drop-and-run” when it’s troop meeting time, and we never see their faces! We need help, but how can we do this when all we ever see are the tail lights of parents’ cars? Help! (Ward Montgomery, Chicago Area Council, IL)
I had the same problem when I was Scoutmaster. The Committee Chair and I decided to try holding a “new parent orientation meeting,” with light refreshments. We, along with my assistants and her committee members personally called (way better than a “broadcast email”!) each new parent, describe what we’re doing for them, invite them, and get a commitment that they’d attend (we didn’t settle for “maybe” or “if nothing else comes up”).
Once there, our Committee Chair explained how all parents whose daughter is in the troop needed to have a “job” in order to support our girls and their troop. On the cork-board behind us, we had pinned a bunch of index cards, each with a different job and description on it (e.g., Outing Drivers—Transport patrols to or from outings, Treasurer—Keep the troop books and pay all bills approved by the CC, Advancement Coordinator—Keep records of Scout rank advancement and merit badges earned, and purchase awards for courts of honor,…etc.)
We explained that every family should take at least one card (we recorded who took what) and that any “leftover” cards would be “assigned.” Probably because they thought this was an ongoing “tradition,” everybody took a card.
(BTW once the Committee Chair finished her explanation, there was an awkward silence among the parents and, at first, nobody moved. That’s when I—as planned—added, “Right now, the first people to pick their job has a bunch of great choices; but if, at the end, there are cards left up here and also uncommitted parents, we’ll just assign the rest. As we had hoped, the parents wised up fast and made bee-lines for the cork-board!)
Stay safe, stay healthy, and stay positive!

Happy Scouting!
Andy
(AskAndyBSA@Yahoo.com)

[No. 675 8/17/2021 Copyright © 2021 Andy McCommish]