Troop Parent/ Scout Communication Question

[RookieScouter]

I have been in scouting since 2018. Learned quite a lot with both Pack and Troop. I've also completed all training for both units. I'm currently Committee Chair of Pack and Treasurer of Troop. With our Pack I always communicate with parents which I understand is different with the Troop. Troop is a scout lead program. However, with our unit most of our scouts are new which just crossed over. There were only four active scouts before crossover who are 12-13 years old. Six other Scouts Eagled out about a year ago. 

My question, being we mainly have younger scouts who are still learning. Including the four scouts troop already had. How would you arrange communication with parents or how does your unit communicate with parents? Currently our SPL who is 13 and Scoutmaster talks to scouts about events and upcoming meetings. Many scouts do not forward information to their parents. Including my son. This gets very frustrating. Not to mention meeting plans most of the time is not announced until they are at meetings. I have corrected the problem with my son but just a few weeks ago we didn't know he would be working on fitness so he wore in crocs which many scouts do. So therefore SPL would not let him participate in that days activities. Since then I have told my son to wear walking shoes to every meeting. Scoutmaster sends out emails but not very often with details. He is a friend of mine and have told him my concerns a long with many other new parents. However, he tells us it is our scouts responsibility to forward details to us. 

Is this normal with all troops? I get it and agree this teaches them responsibility. But I also feel like parents should know whats going on so we can make sure our scouts are at events, have the materials they need, and arrive on time. I finally understand why we don't have good participation with our troop. 

[InquisitiveScouter]

I do wish we could fully put all responsibilities for stuff like this on our Scouts, and get the great results we are looking for.  But that is not reality.  I always say, "You have to remember who we are dealing with."

We use Scoutbook for communication by email.  Whenever a Scoutbook email goes out to Scouts, all parents are automatically cc'ed.

Best wishes as you pursue the goal of purely "Scout-led"

[RookieScouter]

2 minutes ago, InquisitiveScouter said:

I do wish we could fully put all responsibilities for stuff like this on our Scouts, and get the great results we are looking for.  But that is not reality.  I always say, "You have to remember who we are dealing with."

We use Scoutbook for communication by email.  Whenever a Scoutbook email goes out to Scouts, all parents are automatically cc'ed.

Best wishes as you pursue the goal of purely "Scout-led"

Thank you! Scoutbook is a great source. But many of our new scouts are not setup to receive emails due to them not having one. Most of the parents use it. But there isn't information besides keeping up with their achievements and money on acct. This is a great idea to bring to the committee. 

[InquisitiveScouter]

2 minutes ago, RookieScouter said:

Thank you! Scoutbook is a great source. But many of our new scouts are not setup to receive emails due to them not having one. Most of the parents use it. But there isn't information besides keeping up with their achievements and money on acct. This is a great idea to bring to the committee. 

We let all new Scouts and families know that Scoutbook is our primary means of communication, and that through email.

Some parents do not wish for their Scouts to have email accounts yet.  That is their prerogative.  The primary means of communication is still Scoutbook.  Whether by an email "push" of information, or a family or Scout "pulling" information from Scoutbook directly (the Scout logging on to parents' account if the Scout has no email) 

All other means of communication are "supplemental", whether verbal (as at meetings), by texts or phone calls, or word of mouth.

About five times a year, parent X will call me and say "Jimmy missed the event because we never heard about it."

To which we always respond, "Did you read your email or check Scoutbook?"  The answer is always <crickets> because "the usual suspects" expect you to hound them directly until they have gotten the information they need.

It takes both pushing and pulling information to bridge the communication gap.

We also set the expectation that PL's contact each member of their Patrol by whatever means necessary.  (Divide and conquer.)  Each Assistant Scoutmaster assigned to a Patrol mentors the PL through this.  Some PLs are good at it, and the results are obvious.  Some PLs stink at it, and the results are equally obvious.

[NDW5332]

On 5/23/2023 at 12:22 PM, InquisitiveScouter said:

About five times a year, parent X will call me and say "Jimmy missed the event because we never heard about it."

To which we always respond, "Did you read your email or check Scoutbook?"  The answer is always <crickets> because "the usual suspects" expect you to hound them directly until they have gotten the information they need.

It takes both pushing and pulling information to bridge the communication gap.

We've got a few parents that have their e-mail settings turned off for their sons' Scoutbook accounts.  One parent claims it's a security issue.  We also have a private Facebook group to communicate everything as well, but then there are plenty parents that aren't on Facebook either.

All parents are invited to the Troop meetings at the end to hear the announcements, but still, only a handful of the same parents show up.

I've also seen Scouts tell their parents picking them up after a meeting about upcoming campouts, events, etc.. and then the same parents claim they never heard anything. 

You can lead a horse to water...

 

[curious_scouter]

We do annual planning the weekend or two after school ends for the summer/following year.

We send this tentative plan to all families as soon as the PLC confirms it and Committee Chair reviews it (they are often at planning conference)

This sets the dates and tentative theme for all our outings.  We leave the meeting specifics for later monthly PLCs.  PLC meets first Thursday of the month and sets detailed meeting plans for any meeting that will happen before the next scheduled PLC.  After the PLC, the webmaster updates our troop website calendar with detailed meeting plans.

We use this template provided by Scouts BSA:
https://troopleader.scouting.org/troop-meetings/

We use Troop Web Host for our troop site.  The site allows a weekly newsletter to be scheduled.  It goes every Sunday at noon.

TWH also supports adding the calendar to your phone's google/outlook/whatever calendar.

Between the newsletter, website calendar, and phone calendars - people are usually pretty well informed about our plans.

For outings, the SM or ASM supports the PLC in completing these for each outing:
https://troopleader.scouting.org/main-event-project-planning/

Our hopeful approach to this is I assign an ASM as outing coordinator and we select a Scout In Charge, usually the SPL if they will attend.  Another Senior Scout or ASPL if not.  Those two have executive approval to set the plan in accordance with the PLC's approved high level plan.  For example:  If we are canoing and it turns out our outfitter does not have enough Canoes those two can unilaterally decide to supplement with Kayaks.  Or if our original campsite is unavailable, they can find a Plan B without being hindered by plan-by-committee.

Those plans are posted/kept on our website calendar too and go out in the weekly newsletter.  As they change, they are updated directly on the website so they are just organically included every week.

For "other" stuff I just send a periodic update as needed.

[curious_scouter]

Example of what our weekly newsletter looks like leading up to an outing.  This is last year ahead of a canoe trip. 

I put the template together and have it on Google Drive.  During PLC, the SPL and Scribe make a copy of the template and fill it out in Google Docs in real time.  After the Webmaster can literally copy/paste this into our calendar.  It makes the PLC go quickly, gives structure but the Scouts still do all the "grunt work" and it ensures we capture all the detail for both Scouts/Parents but for us as leaders to ensure we've checked all the planning boxes.

 

Here is the event logistics template as prepared.  The PLC takes first swing, then the Adult Coordinator, SM and Scout In Charge manage updates.

First link in equipment list is a link to our website article on what to bring camping, lifted almost verbatim from handbook but with some regional specifics important for our program.

[curious_scouter]

EVENT NAME
				Location(s) For Outing	TBD	Challenge Tier	Essential / Challenging / Advanced
				Departure Time & Location	TBD	Adult Coordinator	TBD
Return Time & Location	TBD	Scout In Charge	TBD
Duration	TBD	2-Up Leader Fulfilled?	NO - LEADERS NEEDED
Planning Needs	Tour Permit Required? Filed?   Meal Plan:  Patrol Menus / Troop Cooking / Eating on the road / etc. Permission Slips or Release Required? Maps / GPS / Compasses Needed? Float Plan Needed? Weather considerations?  (hazardous weather, cold weather, hot weather)
Transportation	TBD
Equipment List	[ADD LINK TO YOUR OWN TROOP's PACKING GUIDE] Troop First Aid Kit Trailer Needed? New Gear Needed?
Activity Plan	TBD.   Food For Thought: Group instruction in the AM Patrol Time in the PM  Saturday Campfire Program
Safety Plan / Medical Form Requirement	Medical Form A/B Required Insurance Forms Needed For Location / Requirements Met? Standard Safety Plan + YPT + Buddy System Safety Afloat Needed?  Who is responsible? Safe Swim Defence Needed?  Swimming Tests Required?  Who is responsible? Other special considerations for safety?
Budget	Food Fees:   Camping Fees:  Activity Fees:  ~Total Per Person:   Payment Due:  [Before Event / On Payment Schedule / After Event] By Scout Account   Note:  All budget info is a good faith estimate.  Actual fees will be applied to Scout Accounts after event.

[fred8033]

On 5/23/2023 at 9:09 AM, RookieScouter said:

Scoutmaster sends out emails but not very often with details. He is a friend of mine and have told him my concerns a long with many other new parents. However, he tells us it is our scouts responsibility to forward details to us. 

Is this normal with all troops? I get it and agree this teaches them responsibility. But I also feel like parents should know what's going on so we can make sure our scouts are at events, have the materials they need, and arrive on time. I finally understand why we don't have good participation with our troop. 

We want to succeed with most scouts.  So, ... outside scout meetings / camping / activities ... expecting the scouts to coordinate too much with parents, off-line planning is not realistic.  Schools and other orgs push communication to the parents and expect parents to push the scouts.  

IMHO, this is part of extended childhood / helicopter parenting / modern teaching.  I wish this was 1950s where we'd expect the scout to follow thru and they would.  

IMHO, scout leaders should expect scout responsibility inside scouting (meetings, camps, activities).  Responsible for cooking, participating, setting up tents, cleaning).  etc, etc. etc ...    ....   For outside coordination (home life, scheduling), we need to do like school, etc.  Send detailed information.  Keep parents informed.  Help parents help their scouts.  ... BUT, then use the inside / outside scouting as an iron curtain.  Parents can watch their scouts at inside scouting activities, but we expect scouts to be responsible for their stuff inside scouting. 

I just think it's too much of a shock to expect kids to interact with their parents and outside life differently with scouting than with everything else.

[DannyG]

Parents communicate with parents. Scouts communicate with scouts. There are announcements at the end of every troop meeting that parents may attend. A weekly email is sent from the Scoutmaster to parents with details of upcoming trips and other events. The rest is up to scouts.

If Troop PLC plans a physical fitness activity, tells all the scouts to wear sneakers to next week's meeting, and the scout fails to remember to wear the proper shoes... Then that is a hard lesson for the scout to learn, unfortunately. I wonder if the scout could participate in some partial activities in crocs: push-ups, curl-ups; but not the run? The scout motto is be prepared. I understand you want to help your young scout along, but the idea is the scouts can handle these things on their own.

[5thGenTexan]

On 5/23/2023 at 12:09 PM, RookieScouter said:

Thank you! Scoutbook is a great source. But many of our new scouts are not setup to receive emails due to them not having one. Most of the parents use it. But there isn't information besides keeping up with their achievements and money on acct. This is a great idea to bring to the committee. 

I am not sure that Scoutbook is setup to send out emails in a consistent or reliable manner.

[InquisitiveScouter]

4 minutes ago, 5thGenTexan said:

I am not sure that Scoutbook is setup to send out emails in a consistent or reliable manner.

We use it exclusively...  works great.  We have 53 Scouts.  Many do not have email addresses, by parent choice.  Parents get a copy of all emails...

[5thGenTexan]

2 minutes ago, InquisitiveScouter said:

We use it exclusively...  works great.  We have 53 Scouts.  Many do not have email addresses, by parent choice.  Parents get a copy of all emails...

Maybe its resolved, but earlier this year there were servers blocking anything from Scoutbook because it was making their SPAM filters go off.

[InquisitiveScouter]

53 minutes ago, 5thGenTexan said:

Maybe its resolved, but earlier this year there were servers blocking anything from Scoutbook because it was making their SPAM filters go off.

The only issue we had recently was that automatic reminders were not working, so emails had to be sent each and every time you wanted a notice to go out.

[BetterWithCheddar]

I'm not great on keeping track of the happenings at my son's elementary school because I usually get a dozen emails per week. I'll get some from the district, some from the school, some from his teacher, and some through an app, which I've yet to master. It's exhausting. I've yet to be overwhelmed by the variety and frequency of Scouting communications, but I'm sure it's coming. Give me a single sheet of paper each month with everything I need to know and I'm a happy camper.