More Selective Recruiting

[Chippewa29]

I'm afraid that the subject of the thread has been misconstrued. I am not talking about picking and choosing potentially good Scouts from potentially bad Scouts or excluding a kid because his parents are drug addicts or he is a sickly, weak kid.

 

What I am saying is this. If a troop is going to commit its resources to working with a Scout, there should be some reciprocal commitment on their part. If a Webelo is thinking about crossing over and doesn't think he really wants to do it and isn't willing to commit himself to giving it a real chance, then why are we insisting on signing the kid up, pushing him across the bridge, putting a new neckchief on him, and making him a member of the troop? I would love every single kid that I come across to join the troop and get as much out of Scouting as I have. However, I know that some kids have no desire to even try the things that Scouts do (although I can't imagine why).

 

I've written many times about a Scout in my troop that has ADHD, OCD, and Aspbergers. As an 11 year old, he had the body of a 5 or 6 year old. I spoke with his mom many times before he joined the troop. We've definitely had our issues with this kid over the years. However, when I was talking to his mom, she told me that despite his problems, he didn't have a mean bone in his body (this was absolutely true). I also asked her if he really wanted to be a Scout. She told me that he was willing to give it a real try for a year to see if it was something he wanted to do. At that point, I said welcome aboard. After a couple of months and a couple of campouts, his mom told me he loved it and didn't need the full year to see if it was something he wanted to do. He is now 17 and a Life Scout with a decent chance to get his Eagle.

 

Did that work out? Yes, it did. However, a big thing that turned me on this was that his mom said they were commited to having him active for a year to really see if he wanted to do it. To me, he was worth recruiting because he was serious. If his mom had said that they would try it for a couple of meetings and make a decision, then I wouldn't have tried to recruit him anymore (although I still wouldn't have turned him down is he said he wanted to join.

 

At my roundtable tonight, this same discussion came up oddly enough. Another Scouter brought up the question of why we put so much effort to recruit kids that don't really want to be there (other troops in my district have the same issue). We should welcome any young man that sincerely wants to be there, but I don't feel we should beg kids (and/or their parents) to join when the interest really is not there.

[BrentAllen]

Chippewa,

I understand what you are saying - try to recruit for long-term quality, not just quantity.

 

I have gone through something similar with recruiting for our Pack. I used to try to recruit as many boys as I could, really wishing every boy would join and enjoy Scouts. The fact is some just aren't cut out for Scouts, and getting them to join is a huge waste of their time and mine. I now tell parents that if their son plays sports all year long (football, basketball, baseball) and they are going to miss over half the meetings and activities, don't sign up. They aren't going to get anything meaningful from the program.

 

I would suggest you try something like EagleInKY mentioned - let them "visit" for a few meetings and a campout before they officially join and get assigned to a patrol. Let them know once they join, they are part of a team, which is counting on him to be there. Most of us test-drive a car before we buy it. :-)

 

[SR540Beaver]

Chippewa29,

 

My son played competitive baseball instead of doing Cubs. He joined as a Webelos 1. In baseball, if you didn't show for practice or a game (unless because of vacation) you sit the bench. It was how our coach enforced participation. They were a team that depended on each other and if they expected to win, everyone had to be there and do their part everytime. I remember a whole lot of yelling at boys that went on too. Sadly, I participated in some of that.

 

Scouting is just different. With baseball, the goal is immediate. Making the play and winning the game today. Scouting is long term. Tell a kid he can't go on a campout because he isn't active and he'll probably be gone before too long. I'm with you. I want them there for every meeting, every outing, every service project, running for leadership positions and advancing thru the ranks.

 

I think the best you can do is to do some of what our troop (and others I'm sure) does. We always participate in Webelos Woods. We often hold an outdoors Pin Fair (think Merit Badge Fair) for Webelos in the district. We attend a function called Oktoberfest in the district that is a night of fun for Webelos to meet troops. We also are active in having boys help with the Cub day camps and fall family camping weekends. On top of that, we welcome Webelos Dens who want to camp with us.

 

We do hold an orientation at crossover time where we discuss with parents what our troop's philosophy is and how we run our program. Basically we tell them what our "expectations" are of the boys and parents. We don't turn anyone away and we do have boys drop out. But we do try to make them aware up front of what they are getting themselves into so there are no surprises.

 

Something else we do is to use the New Scout Patrol for the first 9 months or so that a boy crosses over. We don't integrate 4 new boys into a patrol with 4 other boys and then have them drop out or be on again off again and affect the patrol in a negative manner. We integrate them into existing patrols at the end of 9 months. By then you have pretty well lost any who are not going to stick around and again not have a negative affect on the patrols.

 

One other bit of advice, run your patrols at about 10 members instead of 6 or 8. If you only have half your boys show up, they will still have enough present to function well as a patrol.

[Beavah]

Yah, I've seen da Chippewa effect in a lot of troops, eh? Seems like attrition year 1 all happens in the first six months, and takes out a bunch of kids/families who really had no commitment to the program to start with. Might be soccer, might be bein' scared of older boys, might be not likin' mud and spiders.

 

Yeh have to show up and play if you're goin' to find out if you like Boy Scouts better than soccer, and to figure out those older boys are really friendly and cool. And it takes a few times out with the mud and the arachanids to realize how much fun they are, too.

 

Maybe you should make 'em pay 6 months worth of dues and activity fees up front, eh? That's what the sports leagues do, too.

 

[Fuzzy Bear]

I call "it" the Matt effect. As SM, I required one parent per Scout to do one big thing per year. Since this requirement was mine, I was also the enforcer. I only kept records so that I could give out Thank You's and certificates at our end of the year banquet. I didn't make sure that I had every parent do one big thing per year. My REAL motivation was to visit with each of the parents on occasion and to speak with them about their son and to ask if they could do one big thing. Some parents couldn't do one big thing but most did, many did several. If one set or individual couldn't do one big thing, then it wasn't a big thing. I always had a list of big things to do.

 

Matt was a Webelos Scout that was quiet and sensitive. He came into the Troop and stayed for a period of time. I visited with his parents and found out that his first absence was due to basketball. This brought about Rule #2. If a Scout wants to play ball, then he is still a Scout. Scouting is a year-round activity. Play ball and come back whenever you have the chance. "Matt, we want you here."

 

Matt returned after basketball. His parents couldn't do one big thing but like I said, It isn't a big thing if they didn't. It was Matt's second year when he decided that he didn't like the Patrol he was in so he was gone again. I visited with his parents and found out what was happening. He was interested in religion, so Matt became our Chaplin Aide.

 

Matt finally dropped out completely. This time I got a call from his parents to state that it was final. I suppose they didn't want another home visit with another pitiful concession. I told them to tell Matt that we would miss him and if he wanted to reconsider that he would be welcomed back. Rule #3 Home visits work. Each Scout is an individual so it takes time to make these visits. I considered it one of my main job duties.

 

Rule #4- Have a yearly planning meeting campout with the Troop Leadership. Take that Plan and involve the Troop committee in supporting it. Have a parent type the final version of the yearly plan, post it and give them out like cigars. I left out some rules on planning because the point I am making is that the yearly plan is the "business card" for the unit and should be the main reason that others want to join. It is a good one because it was always boy driven. FB

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Lisabob]

I understand the frustration that several people have expressed regarding boys who show up for a few meetings and then vanish. As often as not, there are a variety of underlying family issues and not merely competition with sports, etc.. And it is true that a very brief exposure really isn't sufficient to decide whether the program is to their liking or not.

 

But then, I've also known a few boys who spent only a brief time in the program for whatever reasons. Down the line, I've heard from them or their parents that even though they were only scouts for a little bit, the time they did put in had a large and positive impact on their lives. One kid I'm thinking of in particular joined my son's webelos den when he was in 4th grade. He'd never been involved in any social activities, had a rough home life, and pretty severe learning disabilities, very shy and not many friends. He only stayed with us for about 6 months because his family moved to some extremely rural area across the country that didn't have scouting programs available (and/or the parent lacked a social network to help him get to one). I didn't think we'd done much for this boy. But I got an email from his mom about two years after they moved. Turns out he was still talking about how much he enjoyed scouting, the experiences he'd had with us and the friends he had made in our pack. She said it was the first really positive social experience he'd had as a kid. And I helped her locate a troop in their area that would work with her to make sure he AND his brother (who had never been involved with scouts before) got to meetings and had a decent time. I've heard from them a couple of times since and he's doing well.

 

Another boy who was in our unit has severe medical problems and is frequently in the hospital. He missed more than half the meetings easily. Sadly they didn't come back after his first year because they just couldn't juggle everything (they had several other kids and again not much of a social network to draw on). But again, his parents said the time that he was in the program was the most "normal" time of his childhood and he thoroughly enjoyed it, within the limits of his ability to participate.

 

So maybe the kids who are with us only a short time don't appear to get much from the program based on our standards, but for some of them, even a little bit means a lot and may impact them down the road.

 

Having said that, the ones who cross over but clearly never intend to join, those boys, I believe we've (collective "we" including parents, leaders, DEs who are counting heads, etc.) done a dis-service to if we push them to "join." What are we saying? That being a part of something is merely a matter of having your name on the paper? Ultimately that's a waste of everyone's time and resources and doesn't do a darn thing for the boy.

 

Lisa'bob

[SSScout]

 

A boy and his dad were walking along a beach after a storm. Alot of debris had been washed up, and they would stop every so often and look at the treasures at their feet.

They came upon an area where alot of star fish had been washed up. The boy picked one up and threw it back into the ocean, then another and then another. The man shook his head and said, "you know, you can't help all of them". The boy picked up another star fish and threw it in the ocean. "Maybe so",he said, "but I can help THAT one ... and THAT one... and THAT one..."

 

 

 

YiS

[OneHour]

Chippewa29,

 

Of course there is the other side of the coin. Two years ago, we had two Webelos who do not think that they'd like boy scout. They hated cubbing and only made it through webelos kicking and screaming. I talked to them and asked them to give it a try. They did. They are currently Star scouts. It seems that what changed their minds was their first campout with the troop.

 

To me cub scouting is too long. The boys get burn out by the time the get into boy scout. Their den leaders sold it as boy scouting; as a result, most of them (and parents) think that boy scout is just another extension of the arts and crafts and it doesn't matter what you do to convince them, but this is another thread for another time.

 

In our troop we have a one-time $75 equipment fee. This in itself is an incentive to stick it through the first year. We can't make them stay nor should their parents. If they stay and they are miserable, they will pass their miseries onto other boys. They will be more rebellious.

 

The key to high retention rate is a good ole program! We are fortunate enough for the past 4 years to have an average retention rate of 70%, going from a troop of 23 to a troop of 72 registered scouts. What I noticed as well is that if the troop can make it fun for the parents (ie. keep them busied, involved, and imformed), the likelyhood of their sons to continue with scouting is much higher

 

Good luck,

 

1Hour

[campcrafter]

Howdy 1 Hour!

 

What / How is the $75 equipment fee used? Have you had people balk?

 

Also how did your ASm situtation from summer camp work out?

 

I tried PMing you but i don't think it works too well - Either my PMs don't go thru or I am being ignored

 

cc

[OneHour]

Our annual recharter is $35. That covers natl dues, ins, Boy's Life, and troop expenses such as awards, badges, and supplementing a little of the camping cost. The $75 is a one-time cost to cover for tent, cooking gear, troop gear, troop's materials for district/council activities (camporees, first aid meets, merit badge day, Scout Fair etc), troop t-shirts, and continuing paying off our trailer. The tents get abused and are being retired after 3-4 years of service. For our new scouts patrol, they get new tents and cooking gear. As you can see we don't do very well with fundraiser.

 

It's not a lot, but it's an incentive to keep going with scouting.

 

1Hour

 

[BrentAllen]

We just completed our Pack recruiting - I think it was a success. For perspective, we had 92 boys in the Pack last year after recruiting. 12 crossed over. 8 did not return (moved, lack of interest, etc...). So we had 72 returning. I expected to pick up around 25 or so new Scouts, with most being Tigers. We ended up with 54 new Scouts, including 36 Tigers, 10 Wolfs, 3 Bears, 4 Webelos I, and 1 Webelos II. 126 total. We'll see how many stick and finish the year in May. BTW, our dues are $75, which covers national registration, BL subscription, PWD car, catered B & G banquet, rank award, cross over neckerchief and Pack programs.