el_diablo

There is an element that I've not seen discussed. We are thinking of issuing "Old Goat" or similar patrol patches to the adults who help with campouts, as a humorous (and somewhat unofficial) way of recognizing and thanking them at our Courts-of-Honor. I say somewhat, since the patrol patch is a part of the scouts' uniform. In our troop, the adults function as a separate food group at campouts (just as the youth patrols do), and we adults keep our distance. We are not "playing" at being a patrol. By awarding these patches, we think it might be a friendly and welcoming way of including them into the "club" of adult helpers, showing to all that it can be fun and friendly at campouts as adults. We hope this might help to retain existing helpers, and also to recruit new parents into helping, since many are in attendance only at COH's. Since the health of a troop depends so much on adult participation, and it is always a struggle to get adult involvement, we thought this might work as a slight incentive to gain adult help. Have any others had success with this approach? Thanks!