Keeping the Scouts that sign up

[gwd-scouter]

The other night I helped with a Cub Scout roundup. The Pack involved has struggled for years to keep Scouts. The night of the recruiting, I think they signed up over 30 new Cubs. This Pack is also the only one in its area of town. Talking with one of the adult leaders (LCScouter - you out there?) it seems that every year they sign up new Cubs and parents and then never see them again.

 

I post this in the hopes that you folks could offer some suggestions on how the Pack leaders can work to keep all those new Cubs that just signed up.

[ScoutNut]

Have they called the families to ask them why?

 

The best way that I know to keep the Cubs in the Pack is to give them a good Scout program. If they are having fun, they will stay. If the Pack/den is disorganized, boring, and does not deliver the program promised, the families will go elsewhere.

 

 

 

 

[Basementdweller]

Quality program is it. MAKE IT FUN. We lost 90% of our tigers last year because the DL didn't understand that. Let the boys be boys, Lots of Games. Lots of activitys, don't let them get bored at meetings, Engage the parents, pictures, Show them Progress. The boys might not want to come one night and the parents will make him, otherwise it would be the first night of him dropping out.

[Karen_216]

You know everyone said how much fun they had at my den meetings and I asked if we needed to imporve on the den level.Everone said no. I gave kids time to run around, parents resoirces -spent hours working on parent inof and a schedule to keep them on track. We registered 8 new last year and only kept 3.

Every fmaily sited outside problems- could not make meetings, and/or pack evetns and pack meeitnfs.One the boy just wasn't into it even though he seemed like he was.Maybe Mom was asking for him to jump up and down I never had a probelm with him enjoying himslef.

They need to go to meetings and other pack and council acitivties. If the family does not make it a priority then the boys do not continue. I think most is in family attitude. I've thought long and hard on this and feel that it's not always the dena dn pack but the familyu need to commit. They sign up and expect us to entertain and delight and dont' do anything to encourage it will not work. It taeks two just like a marriage.

[Onehouraweek2]

I agree with the other posts. It needs to be a good, engaging program and you have to get the parents to buy in. Engage them and make them feel welcome as well. Get to know them and call them by name .. put them on the spot and ask for their participation in very small ways (can you help Joe lead the pledge? ... could you lead us in a prayer? and then build up to big things.) I can't tell you how many parents I've talked to over the years that say they just didn't feel welcomed ..or that the Pack was disorganized and lacked good communication .. or that the kids went to the gym and shot hoops while the parents chatted in the other room. If you really care and make sure that boys are advancing in an organized fashion - achieving instant recognition, and encouraging participation in the District events, then you will find more parents and boys will stick with it. There are too many other options out there for boys (and girls!) to stick with a boring, unorganized program.

[DeanRx]

I will echo the thoughts of those posting before me...

 

1) Fun, fun, fun

2) Organized

3) Make the parents feel welcomed / wanted

4) Recruit parental involvement in small incremental steps

 

#4 - Ask a new parent to help with one small specific task. Talk to them while you do it together (set up / tear down chairs for example)... this leads to "Hey you are great at organizing the room for the meetings, would you think about doing the seating / decorations for the blue and gold ?"....

 

One other bit of advice...

 

All new leaders (ESPECIALLY the NEW Tiger DEN LEADERS), need to be assigned a MENTOR from one of the "older" dens within the pack. Someone to bounce ideas off of, to ask questions of, to get pro's and con's from that has DONE THE JOB IN THE PAST!

 

I see far too many packs that have the CC as the main point of contact. This leads to the CC being overwhelmed with questions from new leaders AND that CC may or may not have ever served in the position of a DL. If they haven't, they can only tell the new DL what they THINK works.... IF they've lived in that role, they can speak from expirience.

 

So...

 

5) Mentor new leaders

6) Mentor new families that join mid-year. (They are at the highest risk for drop-out)

 

Oh and remember - Fun, Fun, Fun....

 

YiS,

 

DeanRx

[Cubmaster C]

Our Pack follows three guiding rules, all activities must be:

1. Fun

2. Safe

3. Age appropriate

We tell our leaders, that if rule #1 is not being met, STOP, and try something else.

 

Also at the beginning of our year, when we assemble Dens (September for us), we hold a Den Leader training night no Scouts, just new and old Den Leaders 20 questions, and how to run a Den meeting.

We used to take the new leaders, give them the Program Helps, and hope for the best, but the one hour investment has really paid off. 99% of parents who sign up have no clue about what is involved, and many try to make it much more difficult than it needs to be. We try to talk them down, give them a support group, and get them to have FUN with it (rule #1 applies to leaders as well).

 

[paldon21]

All the above recommendations are very well written. The only thing I feel I can add is to start calling the boys when they stop coming,,Don't wait,,Start with we missed your son Johnny last night and I just wanted to let you know what we did so we can keep him current with what the boys are doing, If 2 meetings go by another friendly light conversation may give you the answer you need. I have never experienced a drop out without full understanding as to why. If they went to another unit I wish them happiness and a great Scouting future. If they got involved in a sport and didn't think they could handle both, I tell them we are very used to boys arriving late due to sports games or practices, to the point of they are welcomed when they come in and understand they get a big hey bud and get right down to work.

 

If I have one that seems unwilling to tell us why, I just point out that if there was any problem that was experienced involving a leader or scout that they please enlighten me because always trying to inprove, if something has not been brought to my attention, I certainly want to know what it is so I can fix it!

 

The last idea I have for you is with my Pack, I always recruited my Scouts and leaders mostly from School nights and made a BIG habit of recruiting really outgoing individuals most importantly with my Tigers. Getting a great base of Tiger leaders, I encouraged them to grow rank with their boys and every year I sadly lost Webelo II leaders to the Troop. It was good for the troop, and the next year I started all over again. Having your Tiger parents with the boys also gives you time to get to know which parents would make additional dynamic leaders for all levels.

 

Good luck..retention is one of the hardest things to do, but with good planning and good communication, you'll do just fine.

[paldon21]

Sorry, forgot one!

TRAINING....100% Trained leadership is a goal for a reason.

These boys and parents depend on you to provide them with the best there is in Scouting. Without training they just don't get the best from any of us. I've been a Scouter for 25 years now and consider myself a lifetime learner. I wouldn't still be involved if I didn't fully support the BSA Programs.

[Novice_Cubmaster]

Sometimes, you need to look at why these scouts joined in the first place.

 

We're in the suburbs of Atlanta. Our district started offering a coupon good for a ticket to a Braves baseball game. We had a lot of kids "join" one year - but they were'nt interested in scouting, just the ticket.

 

NC

[Pack212Scouter]

We run a large pack (165 boys this year) with about 85%+ retention, one of the highest in our council. The bigest thing is to have a FUN and active program. We picked up alot of boys this year from other packs. We don't go after them, but they come to us because someone tells them about our program. Running good activities and fun Pack meetings will help out more than anything. If the boys do nothing but sit and listen then they will drop out. As Baden Powel said..."Scouting is a GAME with a purpose" (the emphasise is mine).

[mrwoolery]

Involving parents is vital. One of the best things about scouting (from a parental perspective) is that my son and I have had more focus for our fun together. Our pack is great about giving parents the opportunity to be involved.

 

One thing that can help is to have new parents leaf through the manual for a few minutes and pick one achievement they feel they are really well-suited to helping the kids with. You might find someone who is a chef, a carpenter, a thespian, a police officer, or an artist. Whatever! There's going to be something that person can look at and say "sure, I can help with this one." Then, get them to pick a night when they will want to work on it. It might be several nights. But if each parent is already committed from the start to helping the boys learn to do something, then each parent is going to feel more committed to showing up.

 

For example, there's fellow in this town who can cook almost anything you can name in a dutch oven over a campfire. Amazing guy. Give him a job of teaching kids to cook that way and he'll probably have them make a pineapple upside-down cake, a main dish, and some sides. The cake is the real show-stopper. Have the kids show up early and tell everyone the boys are going to make supper tonight, perhaps assign everyone certain ingredients to bring for it. Kids learn loads, there is at least one thing to check off in the book, the parent who led that night feels a sense of ownership in the den, and the kids can't wait to see what they do next time.

 

I'll be leading a den full of Bears next week with getting their Whittling Chip cards. As a wood carver (hobby level), I am very attached to this particular craft and want to encourage it among boys. My daughter will be present as well because I want her to learn it, too. I'm giving up my usual Tuesday plans (my wife normally takes our boy to CS) so I can do this. You bet I feel attached to the den!

 

Anyway, while it is totally vital that kids have fun, I think making the parents feel accountable to the whole den is a part of ensuring the kids will be there. Sort of the long way around to making a short point.

[perdidochas]

Have they called the families to ask them why? The best way that I know to keep the Cubs in the Pack is to give them a good Scout program. If they are having fun, they will stay. If the Pack/den is disorganized, boring, and does not deliver the program promised, the families will go elsewhere.

 

We routinely have several boys who sign up, but who never show up after school night. When I was Tiger Cub Leader, I called up a few such scouts' parents, and they all said that family things came up.

[KY_Scouter]

Although it seems counter-intuitive, "dues" is a good hook.

 

If you charge just the $6 to get you from Sept-Jan, then it is likely you will only have that scout Sept-Jan (remember...Mom & Dad pick the activities at that age...not the scout).

 

If you charge the full-year's dues:

 

$6 BSA (Sept-Jan)

+ $10 BSA re-charter (Jan-Dec)

+ $6 Boys Life (Sept-Jan)

+ $12 Boys Life re-charter (Jan-Dec)

+ Pack Operating Funds (Sept-Aug)

 

many families will want to get their moneys worth and show up a little longer...then find out they really like scouts.

 

This even works for returning families. Their fee may be a little lower since you wont have the additional Sept-Jan fees.

 

This is not an encouragement to overcharge or be insensitive to those in need, but assures you will have the financials to offer a quality program and give a financial incentive to keep coming.

 

 

 

[fleetfootedfox]

Yeah, I am worried about one of our dens. The DL lectures the boys a lot and I don't think their meetings are very fun. I think we will lose a lot of them as time progresses. There's only so much you can do though. Out of 12 set of parents last year, only one dad was willing to step up to be a leader. This year a couple more have reluctantly stepped up, but it's still a struggle. I'm afraid a lot of parents want BSA to stand for "baby-sitters of america".