Adult vs. Youth Responsibilities

[Chippewa29]

I'm trying to shift more of our troop responsibilities from the adults to the Scouts. Recently, as in the past, our committee chair handed out permission slips for our next two outings. It had most of the information filled in and said to return the payment to the troop secretary by a certain date. Usually, the permission slips get handed out at committee meetings (to the parents) and the money is collected by the committee secretary or treasurer, with the Scouts not being involved at all. When I was a Scout, the Scoutmaster always handed out the permission slips to us and we went home, got our parents to sign them and give us money to turn in (usually our patrol leader) at the assigned date.

 

When I've mentioned things like that in the past, some of the parents say that if we gave the permission slips to the Scouts, the slip would never make it home and the parents would never know what was going on.

 

What do other troops do as far as administrative functions in regards to whether the adults or Scouts can handle them?

[evmori]

Our permission slips are on our web site & they are updated for each trip. It is the responsibility of the Scout to get one & complete it & turn it it to his PL.

 

It's tough getting the Scouts to take responsibility for themselves if mom & dad have been doing it for a long time. You need to stick with it & realize it will take some time to turn around. DON'T BACK DOWN!

 

Ed Mori

Scoutmaster

Troop 1

1 Peter 4:10

[ASM7]

Chip

 

I could see giving permission slips to a parent of a Cub Scout, but not the parent of a Boy Scout. After missing a trip, the scout will learn responsibility and get the little details handled. Our slips are two part. The first sheet is info for the parent, like emergency phone numbers and location to keep on the fridge. The second sheet is the actual permission slip that is turned in. It also has space for any new medical info that we might need.

The scouts do lose them, so we make a lot of extra copies and hand them out weeks in advance. I wish we had a website (planning), but some of our scouts don't have that capability anyway.

If the parent doesn't get the slip, have them ask their son where it is. Responsibility is part of the program we teach.

 

Doug

[hops_scout]

Our troop is mainly run by the scouts not the leaders. Each month, though, one of the parents makes a newsletter and mails it to each scouts family. It includes permission slips. We are planning to go to the internet, also. We have recently made a website which is no where near done and we are planning to go to email instead of "snail mail".

[eagle90]

Our permission slips are passed out at the end of our troop meeting directly to the scouts. If a scout is absent, I mail them a slip. They are collected at a subsequent troop meeting. Boys 11 and up should start to take some responsibility for themselves. If our troop newsletter happens to be coming out at the same time, the slip is put in the same envelope as the newsletter.

[OldGreyEagle]

I understand where you all are comming from, Boy Scouts should be responsible for themselves. I just have a few questions.

 

Lets say you have a scout who is, for lack of a better term "disorganized" may he is ADD, maybe he isnt. And he hasnt been on a troop outing for months and is falling behind in advancements because he isnt making events because he keeps forgetting/losing the permission slip. When do you step in, or do you ever?

[LauraT7]

We don't always use permission slips - we probably should....

 

but when we do, we collect them at the time of the campout and have some extras there as well - We always meet at the church, and the parents drive, so we can catch at least one parent to sign if someone "forgot"

 

We also have a website, & slips are posted there, but less than half our boys are 'connected'.

 

Those of us who have ADD boys know to ask our boys for their permission slips, newsletters, etc. if a boy can't be responsible, his parents must be.

[eisely]

We distribute hard copies of permission slips at meetings, include them in an electronic newsletter, and put them up on a troop web site. We also have them available at the time of departure. We usually get these back from the boys on a timely basis. Rarely do we hand out permission slips directly to parents.

[Eagledad]

>>When do you step in, or do you ever?

[eagle90]

We usually have our permission slips due back two weeks before the event. That way we can do advanced planning and if anyone did forget their slip they still have time to get it to my house in the next day or so.

[red feather]

We mail the slips out each month and have spares at the departure site. This is with the understanding that is no spare seat belts are available the scout cannot go unless the parent takes the scout and picks him up at the campsite. Seems to have cut down the 'lost' slips.

 

yis

[ozemu]

We hand the notes to the Scouts. The parents always get them - not one miss ever that I know of. Everybody knows the routine and parents are on the job asking for notes I guess. We also put out a quarterley program and that reminds parents to ask.

 

If a Scout is missing they are supposed to contact their PL or myself for what they missed - or warning that they are not attending. I have a small enough Troop to know which ones to contact because it is unreasonable to expect those Scouts or parents to manage themselves. You know - marriage problems, exam stress etc.

 

Recently some newer Scouts / parents are not contacting me if they miss a meeting - tough luck for them - they find out next time they show up. If it keeps happening I'll be worried though.

[Quixote]

We have a senior scout assigned to each campout responsible for things such as finding out camping fees, etc. and preparing a permission slip / information sheet for the campout.

 

If the permission slip isn't prepared in a timely manner, the responsible scout get's reprimanded by the SPL - the scouts give the permission slips to the other scouts and collect them and give them to the outdoor chairman who keeps the files.

 

If a scout fails to turn in the signed permission slip when due, he is not allowed on the trip unless there are extenuating circumstances.

 

It's a little harsh, but the prior SM had even cancelled trips if the permission slips weren't handed out on time - something i don't agree with.

[KoreaScouter]

Our Advancement chair prints the TroopMaster permission slips and sends them to the appropriate troop meeting with her son, a Life Scout in our troop and ASPL. They give them to the PLs, who give them to the Scouts or call those who weren't there to get one. If a Scout shows without one, I have extras and mom/dad signs right there...I try to make it a little dramatic, too, so it's a significant event he may not repeat.

 

I try not to make it too complicated or too much of a "minefield" for a Scout. It's real easy to win a game of "stump the dummy" with them, but I don't think it serves any purpose other than to confirm that an adolescent boy can be a knucklehead.

 

I, for one, believe that Scouting is a lot more complicated now than it was when I was a Scout. Call me a softie, but I try to recall what it was like to be a boy, and always remember that when I'm dealing with them.

 

KS