How to get more parents in scouting!

[1st Mate]

Thanks to the folks at ScoutParents for spearheading this intiative.
Why aren't more parents involved in scouting in some way? Well it's obvious not because they dislike scouting or they would not have registered their child in it. I maintain it is because they were never properly asked.

How many times have we seen a unit leader or committee member stand in fron of a group of parents and beg for "someone" to help. They cpmplain about all the work, all the hours, the "committment" of working for "their kids" (as if their kids had some sort of disease). Ant then they ask for someone to raise their hand and volunteer to join the doom and gloom of their unit.

People stand by and watch train wrecks they do not volunteer to climb on board as it goes by!

Ever notice that good units usually have no problem recruiting adults?

Here are my opinions on how to recruit.
1) Select good leaders. Good people draw other good people like a Magnet.
2) Learn how to select good leaders, its not luck it is a specific process that can be learned and duplicated over and over.
3) Ask someone special, don't ever beg for "anybody"
4) Put people in positions where they can succeed and give them the tools to do the job. (I am happy to help you paint your house but don't expect me to bring the paint!)
5) Recognize in public and correct in private (be specific and frequent in your recognition)
6) Let people know the truth, that scouting is fun, rewarding, even life changing, but important things in life require time and training.

The biggest problem in scouting is that too many adults have forgotten its a game and that games are fun, and the more people you invite to come play the more fun it gets.

Fair Winds and Following Seas,
1st Mate

[twcrawford]

We have other units asking how we get such a large percentage (over 90%) of parents to stay at our meetings and being active in our units. This is what I pass on to them.

Most of our parents won't fill out an app or officially volunteer yet if we ask them to oversee 1 or 2 things they don't say no. We are very upfront with the fact that Scouts is a family organization that will help them mold their sons into incredible men but that it will also help their family become stronger IF they are at every meeting and outing with their son. It works. We even put it into a "new parent brochure" that we give to them at their first meeting. We learned the hard way to observe the parents for months to decide if they are are the type of people we want as Leaders prior to being asked to volunteer and we are very seldom wrong now. We also have the parents fill out a survey each year so we can see what we are doing right and what needs to be improved so the parents are kept involved at every level. At the parents' suggestion we are now going to pair each new family with a Mentor family to help them become more familiar with how Scouts works in our organization, District, Council, etc. so we have a better retention, activity level, and advancement rate. It will and does work.

I'm excited about this new Initiative and look forward to seeing it implemented.