Notes from 2016 new parent meeting; could be useful for 2017 new parent meeting? Agenda: Troop 1 Parent Meeting May 2nd, 2016, 6:30-8:00 Minnehaha United Methodist Church, ______ Room
1. Welcome and Introductions – David Martin 2. Troop Adult Leadership and Volunteer Opportunities – Mark Haase 3. Transition from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts – Corey Needleman 4. Advancement and Parent Support – Michael Hartford 5. Finances – Brad Neuhauser 6. Communications – Peter Edstrom  I think we maybe should go buy name tags. I can pick some up at Office Max. We had them at the Blue and gold to Great affect. I think 100 are like $7. It's a nice way for people to get to know each other. Reflecting upon last night, I'd suggest we get name tags for future courts of honor and other events there are parents, committee and adult leaders helping at. My anecdotal observations and penchant for pop-social science lead me to believe people are more inclined to introduce themselves and be social with a name tag on because they lose the veil of anonymity. I like the idea of introductions at the beginning with a brief description of each position (≈ 1 sentence). I 'd suggest we mention there are some holes adult leadership positions at the committee level, but describe those in a little more detail later in the meeting. Then we can continue to plant the "volunteering" seed as we all talk that the troop is, in fact, a volunteer run organization and that if we don't step up to help these boys with doing the adult work, nobody else will. Later in the meeting, maybe have a card or half sheet of paper with an available job, its description, estimated hours, and see if we can pass them out. We really need an advancement chair. Though they don't really have to play fetch as Ruth does that. They just have to stay on top of scout book, etc. We might want to open this meeting up to all parents and just explain the focus is for new-to-troop parents. All are welcome - especially those that have questions about the way the troop works. We might even send an evite or something to all parents so we know what to plan for. I'm tailoring stuff from this link - there is a printable PDF. I think maybe watching the previously sent video (at the end - and maybe even with the troop), would be a powerful part of our discussion. Its the best demonstration of the patrol method that I've seen. I'm also incorporating stuff from here: http://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2014/11/20/difference-between-cub-scouts-and-boy-scouts/ And some stuff from here: http://scoutmastercg.com/category/scout-parents/From Michael Hartford: On advancement, I'm cribbing heavily from a recent series of Scoutmaster CG podcasts, and will have a short handout on the mechanics of rank and merit badge advancement. Advancement can be a tricky topic--it's a method, not an aim, but it's much more visible from the outside than the patrol method. Letting Scouts advance at their own pace, while also keeping an eye out for Scouts who aren't advancing as a sign of some trouble, is a tricky balance: some Scouts genuinely struggle with it and need encouragement and special attention to avoid frustration, while others are perfectly happy to have fun coasting along at Tenderfoot until they suddenly explode with a flurry of interest. From Brad Neuhauser (maybe needs to be updated to reflect "New Way" changes to funding?) https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BGnF06SpXea69v8rd5OjoJC6rrWoGZ7l7Z2jGmUSMss/edit?usp=drive_web |
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