Working With Millenials

[walk in the woods]

Another take on millennial participation, http://blogs.voanews.com/tedlandphairsamerica/2012/08/30/join-the-club-please/. I thought the short paragraph about individualism was interesting.

 

To LeCastor's questions, how did we deal with the dynamic? Well, frankly, we failed.

[JasonG172]

Some of the things I've noticed:

* Younger adults are less willing to give their time and/or money to Scouting

* What's in it for me?

* Why should I?

* Lack of commitment and tendency to back out at the last minute

LeCastor

 

Man you hit the nail RIGHT on the head, its amazing to me. My dad was involved in every sport I was a part of, my mom was hauling my sister to her cheer and gymnastic competitions. Today its a freaking chore to get them to a meeting! LAZY LAZY LAZY I pull my hair out

 

[TAHAWK]

Use of the apx 109,000,000 acres of federally-designated "wilderness" and "primitive" camping and hiking areas areas increased six-fold between 1964 and 1996 and twelve-fold from 1956-1996..

 

In almost all wilderness, a large majority of the visitors are family groups, sometimes also with friends. A half to a third of the groups in most areas studied include children under 16. The next most common type are small groups of friends. Organization-sponsored groups range from almost none in some areas to about a tenth in others.

 

The USDA reports the increasing trend of national forest visitors from 560 million in 1980 to 860 million in 1996, and the role of outdoor recreation activities including wilderness or other primitive area visits in U.S. national forests. This trend of visiting wilderness areas will likely to increase in the coming years.

 

participation monitoring has demonstrated that wilderness area use is increasing faser than outdoor recreation use in general."

 

Maybe we are just not getting our "share."

[Rick_in_CA]

Another take on millennial participation' date=' http://blogs.voanews.com/tedlandphairsamerica/2012/08/30/join-the-club-please/. I thought the short paragraph about individualism was interesting. [/quote']

 

An interesting article. Thanks for sharing it DC!

 

[Sentinel947]

LeCastor, as a college age millennial, if you asked me to help start a Cub Scout pack, as much as I love Scouting, I'm not sure I'd agree to that.

 

I have noticed among my friends I volunteer more than most of them.

[Rick_in_CA]

 

Man you hit the nail RIGHT on the head, its amazing to me. My dad was involved in every sport I was a part of, my mom was hauling my sister to her cheer and gymnastic competitions. Today its a freaking chore to get them to a meeting! LAZY LAZY LAZY I pull my hair out

 

I don't think it's because they are lazy, I think it's because they are overwhelmed. The kids are overscheduled, their parents have to chauffeur them around everywhere, and they have to work over 40 hours a week to stay ahead. Plus the middle class is getting hammered, and everyone is stressed out about getting their kids into a good college and somehow paying for it. So every activity is put through the "how will this look on a college application?" filter. Everyone is working harder for less (unless you are a hedge fund manager). People that do have jobs feel much less secure in them, and are working longer hours so they don't get picked in the next layoff; which leads to more stress. Want your kid to play a sport in high school? Better get them in a competitive peewee league early. Want them to play more than one sport in high school? Unacceptable! Everything requires a 100% commitment. Everyone thinks they are fighting over an every shrinking pie. So everything is more competitive. More stress.

 

When I was a kid, my parents were involved in my activities. My mom was a den mother, my dad was a ASM and CM of my boy scout troop. Plus my dad was a leader in with Indian Guides when I and my brother were active. My dad worked as a civil engineer for Caltrans. So we didn't have a lot of money (it's why the family started camping for our vacations, because it was cheep), but we got by. But my dad got four weeks vacation a year (he was senior enough) an my mom didn't have to work (she returned to part time work when we were older). I got myself too many of the scout meetings, little league etc. on my own by walking or riding my bike. Yes we had multiple activities, but it wasn't hard to juggle.

 

Things are much harder and more stressful now. So instead of yelling LAZY LAZY LAZY, try to understand it's more complex than that.

[walk in the woods]

Uae of the apx 109,000,000 acres of federally-designated "wilderness" and "primitive" camping and hiking areas areas increased six-fold between 1964 and 1996 and twelve-fold from 1956-1996..

 

 

Maybe we are just not getting our "share."

 

Maybe, but I think our outdoor model doesn't fit with the National Forest Service use model. BWCA parties are limited to 4 canoes with no more than 9 people, parties can't follow each other, etc. So each patrol in a troop could be a travel party, assuming you can get two leaders for each patrol and no more 7 youth. Our travel group was split 6/3 and frankly I'd have preferred a smaller group. I was day- hiking down at Mammoth Cave a few years ago in their backcountry side. The camp sites were limited to two tents and 4 or 6 people, I don't recall the exact limitations. The sites I visited would have been crowded with that population. The model doesn't bode well for even mid-sized units.

[TAHAWK]

 

Maybe, but I think our outdoor model doesn't fit with the National Forest Service use model. BWCA parties are limited to 4 canoes with no more than 9 people, parties can't follow each other, etc. So each patrol in a troop could be a travel party, assuming you can get two leaders for each patrol and no more 7 youth. Our travel group was split 6/3 and frankly I'd have preferred a smaller group. I was day- hiking down at Mammoth Cave a few years ago in their backcountry side. The camp sites were limited to two tents and 4 or 6 people, I don't recall the exact limitations. The sites I visited would have been crowded with that population. The model doesn't bode well for even mid-sized units.

 

 

Leave No Trace.

 

Patrol Method

 

Average "troop" in our district is < 10 active Scouts.

[qwazse]

Leave No Trace.

 

Patrol Method

 

Average "troop" in our district is < 10 active Scouts.

 

Nine boys, two adult leaders ... already double the average load for a wilderness area site. Use three sites. Split the patrol, four at one site, five at the other, adults at the next.

 

Works for me. But how would the forest service even know that that's an "organized group"?

 

More to the OP, when you talk your young adults about starting a unit, what is the picture in their head? Smiles on a half dozen kids faces? Or hours locked horns with adults (like maybe during their last board of review)? How many former SPL/JASM's actually had a seat on the troop committee to even know what one would be like? How many of them did you allow to hang with the adults after lights-out around the evening campfire while the old fogies pulled out their evening cigars?

 

Meanwhile at church, capable teens are on the deacon's board. Collecting the offering. Counting change with the treasurer. Raising support for their mission(s). Taking the pulpit twice a year. One young fellow (former scout) ran for councilman at age 18. He told me that his political career has been the highlight of the past six years (over college, the work world, etc ...). He might have gained a sense of rights and responsibilities from those couple of years in his troop, but he learned to work the crowd, hand out leaflets, and canvass a neighborhood from many years ushering on Sunday mornings.

 

Not saying every churchman is cub-master material. Just saying that the room full of Eagles is not the first place to look.

[LeCastor]

 

Just saying that the room full of Eagles is not the first place to look.

 

Q, thanks for your thoughts but I think you're missing the forest for the trees. The "room full of Eagles" was an example, not the original thought of my post.

[qwazse]

Sorry, didn't mean to harp on just that. I just wanted to say that the confidence to step forward as a unit leader is found in folks who are routinely volunteering in a way that they have practiced people skills, can see the need for what you are proposing, and are willing to step away from their current charity to take up this new mantle.

 

Church was my example of the kind of charity that generates these sorts of leaders. Fire halls, veterans' posts, and service fraternities are another example.

 

Rick has a point. The economy drives 30-somethings away from all of that. But the standard of living (and sometimes a negative view of organizations in general) also has these folks investing a lot of time in non-essentials.

[Rick_in_CA]

As for service clubs, one of the things that the article doesn't mention much is that historically they are not friendly to women. Rotary, Kiwanis and Lions didn't allow women until the 1980s (and did that kicking and screaming), and even though women are allowed in these clubs, they don't always receive a nice welcome. The Shriners still don't allow women I believe. And this perceived unfriendliness towards women (which by now might be mostly unfounded) hurts recruiting.

[perdidochas]

As we transition into a period where 20- and 30-somethings are becoming parents and are approached regarding registering their children in Scouting or who are asked to become adult volunteers in Scouting, we begin to see the dynamics of this newer generation coming to the forefront and it ruffles some feathers. Admittedly, I'm in my late-30s now and what I hear from some 20-somethings really irks me.

 

Some of the things I've noticed:

 

* Younger adults are less willing to give their time and/or money to Scouting

* What's in it for me?

* Why should I?

* Lack of commitment and tendency to back out at the last minute

 

It's going to become much harder to recruit new blood if this "me" attitude prevails. Scouting isn't about the "me" so much as the "help other people at all times" thing.

 

How have you all dealt with this dynamic?

 

LeCastor

 

Most of our BSA parents are still Gen Xers. We have a few that are Boomers. Haven't yet had millenial parents yet.

[SSScout]

The world is different.

I served as the tempo SM at summer camp. Scout (13, First Class, PL) comes to me and asks if I would please sign a note attesting to the idea that he knew his CPR skills for his Emergency Preparedness MB class. I asked why, he said he had forgotten to bring the CPR card (a prerequisite for the MB) from the class he took before camp. I said I would review the CPR stuff with him, go get your ScoutHandbook. He said he didn't bring it with him to camp. EPrep MBBooklet? Nope. Then go borrow a ScoutHB from one of his buds. He returned with the book and we sat down. OK, I said, turn to the CPR section. He couldn't find it, it wasn't listed in the table of contents. Ok, turn to the index. What's that? He said he had never used an index. I flipped to the index, mmmmmm, CPR, page ... and there you are. Scout was impressed (!). We went over the CPR skills, he was good to go with them, and I gave him a note after extracting a promise he would attend the CPR class in camp later in the week.

 

Index? Our Troop Scribe sent out emails about the past Troop meeting . Labeled them "Troop XYZ Minuets" Well, I thought, FINALLY our Scouts are learning some etiquette and social graces.....

[beardad]

 

Most of our BSA parents are still Gen Xers. We have a few that are Boomers. Haven't yet had millenial parents yet.

 

Yeah Most Millenials are still youth in the troops. I think we are getting Millenials confused with us Gen X'ers.(maybe some Gen Y's) We as a group are the ones that don't want to get involved. There is a study I read recently. I don't remember where, Where some company's are having trouble finding managers among Gen X'ers because we don't to be out front leading, and are content to just go along for the ride. That is not everybody of course, but about as general as you can get.