How much communications is enough?

[msnowman]

To those who communicate soley (or at least primarily) by internet based means (email, website, groups, etc) - how do/would you handle a family w/o internet? Strange as it may sound there are still people who, for their own reasons, choose not to have internet, computers, etc. If you send nothing home on paper than it would seem to me that these people would be left out of the group. Don't get me wrong, I love communicating via email - its my prefered method. However, the majority of families in our Pack don't use email on a regular basis (most are still stuck with dial up).

 

Yours in Scouting

Michelle

 

 

 

[Lisabob]

We faced that problem with our pack too. And in a pack it is much, much harder to rely on the boys to tell their parents the details of an event (7 year olds' attention spans and capacity for long-range planning leave a bit to be desired sometimes!). So we fell back on printed news letters that we handed out at pack and den meetings.

 

I know another pack that has a website as their primary means of communication with parents and although they face similar issues, they've been unapologetic about it. There is a large, easily accessible library in our town with a nice computer lab. They invite those families who do not own a computer or have internet access to visit the library once or twice a month. Especially for younger boys there are some arrow point/electives related to libraries too so they could even make a cub-family event out of their visits. I don't know how well this works for them, but it may be one option (depending on how rural your community is).

[Oak Tree]

Yeah, Michelle, I'm not sure what we'd do if someone told us they didn't use email...maybe we'd all stand around and shake our heads at the relic from an earlier era.

 

Yes, I realize that's a function of our location (high-speed internet readily available) and demographics (lots of I/T workers and generally high incomes). And yes, we'd actually figure something out. Probably we'd ask the den leader to make sure that they communicated with the parent. If it's just one family, it's easy enough to make that phone call. It gets harder if there are 10 or 15 families without internet. Then I suppose we might have to figure something else out. But even dial-up people can receive email regularly. And it might depend on why they say they don't have email. We're pretty unapologetic in saying that we run on email and you need to be on the list.

[John-in-KC]

1) When EagleSon joined his Troop, SM took me aside and we talked for a few cups of coffee. One of the SM's jobs is managing Scouters and non-Scouter parents.

 

2) With luck, the CC is taking "the burden from the Scoutmaster's shoulders" by doing the expectation management for Scouters who are not ASMs, as well as parents.

 

3) Scouts ARE children. Some are pre-adolescent, many are adolescent. The ideal is a 100% reliable child. The reality will vary up to 100%. How much back-up communications to parents hinges on what reality looks like in any one unit. Who does the back-up ideally is as BW describes, in reality it may look a bit different.

 

Joe... for now, make sure your Troop Committee is sharing the burden, and that your PLC and Troop Scribe are learning what their responsibilities look like.

[Its Me]

 

I send out emails as needed. Sometimes this is three in a week if we have big campout coming. Other times its one in two weeks. At PLC meeting we review what will occur between now and the next meeting and the PLC meeting and notes are published to all. Phone calls to the entire troop are very rare. Troop letters are even more rare. Its emails and verbals to the scouts and parents.

 

 

As any working leader does, I like to fix program and procedure problems when there is a need. But one irate parent who missed a single notification does not mean your whole communication program must be revised. I will say our key dates, CoH included appears on a schedule months in advance. And it would have appeared again in our PLC notes prior to the meeting.