From <@tcuavm.is.tcu.edu:owner-scouts-l@TCUBVM.IS.TCU.EDU> Wed Jan 14 13:35:19 1998 Return-Path: <@tcuavm.is.tcu.edu:owner-scouts-l@TCUBVM.IS.TCU.EDU> Received: from tcuavm.is.tcu.edu (TCUAVM.IS.TCU.EDU [138.237.128.148]) by cap1.CapAccess.org (8.6.12/8.6.10) with SMTP id NAA26988; Wed, 14 Jan 1998 13:35:19 -0500 Received: from TCUBVM.IS.TCU.EDU by tcuavm.is.tcu.edu (IBM VM SMTP V2R2) with BSMTP id 2101; Wed, 14 Jan 98 11:37:00 CDT Received: from TCUBVM.IS.TCU.EDU (NJE origin LISTSERV@TCUBVM) by TCUBVM.IS.TCU.EDU (LMail V1.2a/1.8a) with BSMTP id 4429; Wed, 14 Jan 1998 11:37:39 -0500 Received: from TCUBVM.IS.TCU.EDU by TCUBVM.IS.TCU.EDU (LISTSERV release 1.8b) with NJE id 1011 for SCOUTS-L@TCUBVM.IS.TCU.EDU; Wed, 14 Jan 1998 11:36:49 -0500 Received: from TCUBVM (NJE origin SMTP@TCUBVM) by TCUBVM.IS.TCU.EDU (LMail V1.2a/1.8a) with BSMTP id 1010; Tue, 13 Jan 1998 20:58:42 -0500 Received: from corn.cso.niu.edu by tcubvm.is.tcu.edu (IBM VM SMTP V2R2) with TCP; Tue, 13 Jan 98 20:56:34 CDT Received: by corn.cso.niu.edu id AA18979 (5.67a/IDA-1.5 for list scouts-l ); Tue, 13 Jan 1998 20:55:30 -0600 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Message-ID: Date: Tue, 13 Jan 1998 20:55:28 -0600 Reply-To: golden cliff Sender: Scouts-L Youth Group List From: golden cliff Subject: Re: Scoutmaster Burnout? X-To: John Pannell To: Multiple recipients of list SCOUTS-L In-Reply-To: <01ISAF9CD8UQ8WWLUQ@delphi.com> Status: RO X-Status: John, I understand. Maybe not each and every detail of your situation, but in a larger scope of it, I appreciate the general problem you face. I have suffered similarly in situations over the years. Burnout is something I fight annually, usually in the fall of the year after a hectic and busy summer. It' usually very minor and passes, but I have heard it can be fatal to the job of Scoutmaster, so it must be taken very seriously. You will no doubt receive several excellent suggestions and ideas from this list. I will contribute the following. You need to assemble you PLC and explain the problem and the potential consequences. The boys need to know things need to change. Then you must communicate this to the adults. I would offer the following as a possible course of action. Announce a short hiatus. The troop will cease functioning for 2-3 weeks. During this 2-3 week period you will be busy with a reorganization plan. The keystone of this plan will be a parent's meeting. You will need a few weeks to prepare for it. Recruit the most interested/dedicated/concerned adults within your unit/community to help you prepare for this meeting. Two props you will need are two large presentation boards, prefereably made out of plywood that stand on an easel. These will be graphic images the parents can see and understand that will dramatically illustrate what needs to be done to operate the troop. The first board is for you. Make small white cards for each and every job, procedure, program, activity, meeting, service, etc., that you perform as Scoutmaster. This should easily fill up a very large board. The adults must see and appreciate through this visually dramatic representation exactly what you are doing for their sons and how much effort, time, and heart you are putting into their program. The second board is for them. Make colorful cards with white duplicate cards for each and every office, service, task, job, etc., that a parent could do for the troop. Include essential things and elective services that would enhance the program. Consider the talents and resources of your audience. Have some cards that are one time specific tasks and others that are ongoing jobs. Some easy and fast, other more difficult and involved. Offer a variety of options. Call a meeting of all parents in your troop. If they want their son in the troop they need to attend. Invite alumni as well, they may want to pay back something to the troop in the form of time and energy. You will need adults actively promoting this event and recruiting every set of parents to attend the meeting. At this meeting include a short "large brush" explanation of the aims and benefits of Scouting. Paint a picture of the long glorious history of your individual troop and all the boys it has served. Explain the frustrations and difficulties you are currently facing and how that impacts your role as Scoutmaster. Point out the large board of white cards which demonstrate your role as a Scoutmaster. Explain that as a volunteer who deeply cares for the future of youth in your community, you gladly perform those tasks and freely donate your time for the benefit of their children. Point out the large board of colorful cards which demonstrate the need you have for their support and help. Explain to them that if the troop is to survive and prosper, both boards have to be attended to. You will do your part if they will do theirs. Ask each parent to take one or more cards from the parent's board and promise to accomplish the task written on it. Beneath the colored cards are white duplicate cards. They take the colored card and print their name on the white card which remains on the board (so you can track who volunteered for what). Hopefully by the end of the meeting the board will be mostly white cards signifying jobs being done. Those jobs not taken are "volunteered" to whatever few parents missed the meeting. If the meeting is successful, it could mean a new beginning of parental involvement. It could even become an annual event, "Commitment Night". This is just one idea. I am sure there will be many more coming from others. As for the feelings of burnout you now experience, I have a quick remedy. I prescribe one afternoon where you simply sit quietly in your home and look through old albums of Scouting photos, read old newspaper clippings or Scout stories, get a video copy of "Follow Me Boys" and watch it on your VCR 3 times. Try to remember stories about your favorite events, funniest moments, the people you most respect in Scouting, and your favorite Scouts. If you can't remember any stories, then eat some burnt eggs, raw bacon, and lumpy oatmeal, while sitting on a log in the rain. That should jog your memory. Keep Scouting, and keep thinking, "It's for the boys!" YIS, Cliff Golden Scoutmaster Troop 33; DeKalb, Illinois Three Fires Council BSA http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/9857/