Troop 5, Wilmette, il

Boy Scouts of America

Trailblazers: Roles for Adults

For the scouts, scouting is a game, a place to have fun. For parents and other adults, scouting is “a game with a purpose,” where the scouts grow in character, citizenship and fitness. A parent’s first responsibility is to support and encourage his or her son, to understand what goals the son is trying to accomplish, to help the son fit activities into the family calendar, and so on.

 

 

Assistant Scoutmasters (ASMs), under the leadership of the Scoutmaster, work directly with the scouts. They attend meetings and campouts. They encourage advancement and participation. They coach and mentor scouts on leadership and goal setting. They help the scouts reflect on experiences. They communicate with patrol parents. ASMs don’t need to be great outdoorsmen (or women); most scouting skills are taught by other scouts. Ideally, each patrol will have 2 or 3 ASMs. Typically, those ASMs are parents of boys in the patrol. In Troop 5, we have existing ASMs work with all new ASMs to help them understand and feel comfortable in the role. BSA also offers some excellent ASM-specific training.

 

 

The Parent Committee is the troop’s board of directors which supports troop operations. Committee members do many “behind the scenes” tasks: watching finances, managing equipment, tracking advancement, keeping records, organizing courts of honor, providing boards of review, handling campout logistics, publishing the newsletter, gathering new scout paperwork, running out Pancake Breakfast, and much, much more.

 

Merit Badge counselor is another role for many adults. Merit badges help scouts broaden their interests and gain experience and confidence in working with adults. A scout must earn at least 21 merit badges on his trail to Eagle. The troop needs to offer a good selection of merit badges each year, which is only possible if we have sufficient counselors. Generally, you are qualified to be a counselor in any topic in which you have an interest -- there are no proficiency tests you need to pass.

 

 

Boy Scout troops are run entirely by volunteers and this is no different for Troop 5. The volunteers are almost exclusively parents of the scouts, executing a well designed experiential program for their sons. Some troops require every parent to take a job. Troop 5 does not. However, experience shows that scouts do better and get more from the program when a parent shows an interest in scouting by being involved. Experience also shows that parents who get involved and participate in activities have a great time themselves, and make many friends along the way.

 

Have you thought about how you can help? We can’t do it without you!