PARENT RESPONSIBILITIES

      Troop 396 is blessed with a lot of adult involvement, but even with so many pairs of eyes it is hard to keep on top of every Scout’s individual situation.  Parents must help the Troop as only they can, by monitoring their son’s accomplishments, desires, likes, and dislikes and communicating them to the leaders.  While fulfilling the boy’s needs, every Scout Troop wants to be what its members want it to be.  We are no different.  Without parental support, we can achieve only partial success.

     Dues are $10 per month, payable at the first meeting of the month.  Timely payment is important to our operation.  When a boy has funds in his account the dues will be automatically withdrawn by the treasurer.  It is the philosophy of the Boy Scouts and this Troop that a boy should pay his own way as much as possible so we offer several fundraising opportunities throughout the year to enable him.  Whether the parents want to support fundraising efforts or subsidize their son’s participation with direct contributions is a personal choice, but they must ensure that dues are paid on time.

    There are situations where the expense of Scouting may limit or prohibit a boy's continued participation in Scouting, despite the opportunities provided him to pay his own way.  There are programs of financial assistance, which are not necessarily tied to need, available to Scouts.  Often these programs have no applicants and go unused.  If you feel that you would like to take advantage of these opportunities, ask one of the adult leaders.  They would be eager to help and all such matters would be handled privately.

    The adult leaders need to be made aware of any medicine or drugs that a Scout is taking on any trip.  In many cases, the leaders handle the medicine themselves.  As a minimum, medicine should be brought to the attention of the leaders so they at least know what it looks like and know that a boy is taking it.  This can be very important in the event of a medical emergency.  All medications should be placed in a Zip Loc bag with written instructions.

    The troop attends a summer camp each year. Traditionally Troop 396 goes to camp for one week in July.  The cost is about $200 per Scout, which includes meals.  This expense can be offset by the Scout’s participation in fund raising events throughout the year. Summer camp is not only a great deal of fun; it offers the Scout a chance to earn merit badges and to complete certain other requirements for advancement in rank.  It is very beneficial for Scouts to attend, particularly in the first year.  It is not unusual for first-year boys to come away with their Tenderfoot badge, a good deal of the Second Class requirements, and a jump start on First Class, all within one week.  Summer camp is important and parents should encourage their son’s attendance.

    The older Scouts, the adult Scouters, and the Merit Badge Counselors do the testing and approval of requirements, not the parents.  Even the Scoutmaster and Assistant Scoutmasters do not test and approve the efforts of their own children (the exception is a registered merit badge counselor working with their son).  But the parents need to play a central role if their Scout is to get the most fun and benefit of Scouting by:

   ·   Learning about the requirements.

·   Reading the handbook.

·   Counseling and encouraging their son’s advancement.

·   Helping their son to fit Scouting in with his other interests.

·   Reminding their Scout to bring his handbook to every meeting and camping trip and reviewing with him requirements not yet completed before a campout.

·   Familiarizing themselves with our administrative procedures for advancement and helping boys to cope.  If the ‘system’ is confusing or causing a Scout difficulty, parents should direct his efforts or step in and contact the Troop.  The Scoutmaster and Assistant Scoutmasters are willing to discuss problems at any time.

     If you’ve read the section about Scout responsibility you know that we expect much from the boys.  One of those expectations is that they will pass important information to their parents.  This is not a seamless process, so we supplement it to some extent with electronic mail.  Still, the best way for parents to keep up, and thereby be able to help their sons, is to come in at the end of the Troop meetings for the closing announcements and to look over the bulletin boards.  That is the only certain method.  

   It takes a lot of adults to run a Troop.  There are so many roles that practically anyone, with any ability, or any amount of time, can find a place to help.  Some jobs require effort for only a few months, then stop until the following year.  Others may be year-round.  With enough help everyone’s load is small and volunteers may expect to invest about an hour a week in Scouting.  More information can be found in the “Want Ads” in a later chapter.

   Scout meetings and trips are for the Scouts.  We always welcome parents to attend, but siblings are invited only to specific events.