Too Many adults

[Basementdweller]

So what do you do when a troop has 33 adults and 16 boys?

 

A neighboring troop has more adults than boys on the campouts. At the camporee last fall they had 9 boys and 20 adults.

 

Do you limit the number of adults on outings???????

 

[lrsap]

Please tell me at the very least they put at least 18 of the 20 to work? No, of course not. Aren't OTHER people supposed to do the work?

 

Just curious, have you ever seen them conduct a meeting? I mean, what could they possibly have for all of them to do on a troop level?

 

 

[red feather]

33? Wow! The troop that you mentioned, are they scout led or adult led? Sounds more like a adult led scenario, but could be wrong. If the SM and CC are working together then it may, and I repeat may, be possible to have that many acitve and working adults. With the troop that I serve we usually have, on average, 15 uniformed adult leaders and 7 not uniformed (normally parents monitoring and some committee members)but have 40 or so active scouts at each meeting.

 

It has taken 4+ yrs as SM to get the involvement of the adults to 'buy in' to the scouting program and have them assume roles that allow me to be a 'scout'master not the troopmaster. The scouts are the leaders of the troop and the adults are there to facilitate the neccesary work that adults can do and allow me to work more directly with the scouts, not the admin details of the troop. With proper buy in and a scout led troop 33 adults could be done if they are an active troop. But, wow! 33

 

If they are pushing the scout led program and looking to grow then that level of adult involvement would be a great recruiting tool.

 

yis

red feather

[JerseyScout]

Been here, done this (although not quite that bad).

 

After a few ridiculous camping trips with more adults than Scouts (and these were not "busy, sit back and let the patrol system work" adults, they were "the patrol system is not effective enough" adults), some of the young guys banded together with the very old leaders and put a cap on it, because the troop was not-so-slowly dying because of it. The kids that were in the troop didn't want to go camping anymore, because it was easier to stay home with only two adults yelling at you then to go on a trip with 10 of them doing so.

 

New rule: Adults on trips = Scoutmaster and his two Assistant Scoutmasters, that's it. This was presented to and somehow approved by the Troop Committee despite heated arguments. If we needed somebody else (our attendence on trips was 4-6 boys at the time), we would ask for volunteers, doing our best to rotate so that everyone who wanted to could get on at least one trip a year.

 

This, along with some other major policy shifts, have led to more kids wanting to go trips, as well as better recruitment. So the rule is now 5-6 adults on a trip, because we need the extra hands and cars.

 

For the record, most of the "too many adults" before the rule change were almost entirely people whose Scouts had long since aged out of the troop, but kept coming to trip after trip after trip anyway. The adults that go now are the parents of our large crop of new kids. It was probably the most awkward situation I ever had to deal with as a Scout leader, but the results have proved that limiting adults was the right choice.

[OldGreyEagle]

Wow, I guess you CAN have too many role models of caring adults around to show the boys that all types of personalities can have a service attitide and not all have to be super rah rah types or highly accomplished skilled outdoorsmen.

 

Limiting adult involvement, thats what we need in the BSA today, we have enough help, we don't need you

 

Now, on the other hand, if its is an adult treking club under the thin disguise of a Boy Scout Troop, I agree, but do we know how this Troop operates before we rail against them?

[Crossramwedge]

I know if a local troop who has 30 boys and 80 adults registered. They brag about it. They say that they have every Merit Badge covered so on so forth. They brag about being a "Eagle" factory. They come right out and say that their main objective is to produce "Eagles". One of our boy's visited them. He was turned off by the way they do things. Adults totally in charge. Advancement is their main priority. But you go to "Camporee's and they never win any Ribbons or hardly place in any of the competitions. What's that tell you.

[scoutingagain]

It's one thing to have many adults registered and helping with all the positions on the committee actively filled. It's another to have a 2:1 ratio of adults to scouts on camping trips. At that point it's become a manscout troop.

 

SA

[Eagledad]

We always had a lot of adults go with us, but I guess the reason it was no big deal was because we typically camped at least 100 yards from the scouts, and we didn't feel the need to keep adults busy doing scouting stuff. We encourage them to go fishing, hiking, biking or something like that. Many just hung around the campfire reading, but the adults were not encourage to hang with the scouts. It may have turned into a camping club thing for some of the adults, but the only time our scouts might see most of the adults was during the campfire.

 

Barry

[resqman]

We don't limit adults, we only take enough to drive all the scouts attending. We usually have between 20-35 scouts attend a campout so we need 5-8 adults just to shuttle all the scouts to the event. Usually all are uniformed ASMs. Occasionally we have a parent to help with driving. They most often are deciding if they want to become active ASMs and are giving it a try.

 

All uniformed adults are fully trained in their position so tend to be familiar with the boy led plan. Newer uniformed adults are encouraged to watch before they interact. It takes a few months to get all the training.

 

If the troop is 2-1, then something is wrong.

[Basementdweller]

The troop I mentioned claims to be boy lead, but the evening we visited it looked very adult lead. They were doing tree identification, instead of a senior scout doing it one of the adults was acting as the instructor. At the camp out I witnessed the adults did most of the cooking. They are long time scouters for the most part.

 

 

With that many adults I am worried about boy lead irregardless what they say.

 

Jersey I worry about that same thing. Too many cooks in the kitchen sort of thing. Too many adults with too many messages and rules. 4 adults is enough in most cases on a camp out. Obviously the SM and the main ASM. the other two slots could be a lottery kind of thing.

 

In most cases more adults is a good thing, such as meetings and scout sunday.

 

 

 

 

[phips]

We also have many adult volunteers, nearly all of my Rover Crew, in which I was in as a youth.

 

Our adults have their own programme at camp or help where they are needed.

 

During the year our adults help with fundraising i.e. in organising our Scout Ball with sevearl hundred guests (Scouts from Austria and Germany, parents, mayor,people from our village) work on our Scout groups magazine, research the history of our unit, look after our tools or camping materials,...

 

Our adult group meets every week like Cubs, Scouts and Rovers and have its own programme.

 

Nearly all adults in our Scout group are uniformed, only a few parents in our Scout group Committee doesnt wear a uniform.

Most of our adults were Scouts in their youth.

 

[Eamonn]

"So what do you do when a troop has 33 adults and 16 boys?"

1. Get the best FOS Presentation you have and move in for the big bucks.

2.Read the long term Strategic Plan and where it talks about one million new volunteers wonder if this Troop is doing something right?

3.Say a prayer of thanks that you don't have to cook for this lot.

4.Go around camp singing "The More We Are Together, Together The Happier We Shall Be."

5. Wonder if this is some kind of plan that was hatched by their wives.

6.Sign them all up for the next Wood Badge course and order both Buffalo and Antelope Patrol flags.

7. Tell all the Scouts to hide and take bets on how long it takes the adults to notice that they are missing.

8.Buy the SM a very large adult beverage. He is a lot braver than I.

9.Sign them all up to serve on the Membership Committee.

10. Take Plenty Of No Notice.

Each Troop does it's own thing and it just isn't worth losing sleep over.

Ea.