Thursday, January 19, 2012

Help the World!

Volunteer a little would you? You don't have to let Cub Scout stuff take over your kitchen table, most likely you don't have do much of anything except lend your name and a couple of hours of your time now and then. This isn't the first time I've railed about the lack of volunteers but it really gets my goat. My son's cub scout pack has roughly 50 boys in it. On average 4-5 people do the work. Not unusual by any stretch, most things are like this. What yanks my chain is that we have been begging at every meeting for someone (anyone) to step up and be the scoutmaster and of course we have no takers. Now to my knowledge I've never actually SEEN the scoutmaster DO anything. He even admits all he does is put on his shirt and show up at pack meetings once a month and hand out the handy dandy awards I spent three days preparing (see above picture) No one wants to do it. If I step up and do it my position will be empty and honestly my position is way more work. I don't get it.

Here is my challenge to you. If your child is in an organization - church, scouts, little league or whatever your poison may be, you owe it some amount of your TIME to keep things running. The next time somebody stands up at a meeting and says "we need a volunteer for XYZ" try it. If XYZ is beyond your current capabilities speak with person after and say "I can't do XYZ, but I'd like to help somehow. Do you have a job that takes X number of hours a week I can help out with?" I can assure you that you will not be turned down. You may think that because you work it gets you out of volunteering and that's hogwash. The stay-at-home-moms I know are happy to take on the time consuming tasks (such as sorting cub scout awards) if only somebody else will take on the task of filling a committee chair or spend two hours a month balancing the checkbook. Really your kids are doing the activity too.

4 comments:

Diana of Diana Rambles said...

You are preaching to the choir, girlfriend! My daughter's (magnet) school has 520 students and we have 2 parents actively involved in PTA. I am a Kindergarten parent and I am doing SO MUCH! UGH! I was asked last week to be the Vice Prez of the middle school PTA next year. Duties sound similar to scout master. I said YES! I also lead my daughter's girl scout troop. I do all the work (I told the other parents I would) but the other parents are super when I ask for craft supply & snack donations. I am (first time) cookie mom...and VERY thankful that we only have 6 girls in the troop. A friend who has been doing scouts for a few years advised me to keep VERY detailed records on cookie sales. We are still taking orders but my notebook is complete with a ledger for cookies and our bank account. I am not teaching Sunday School this year (as my oldest got into Marching Illini and we were super busy with going the 8 home games--and getting it all figured out as freshman parents), but I do substitute and will be a regular teacher next year.

The only part of all of this is the lack of involvement in PTA! I've learned quick to try not to sweat it because I will just stress myself out and not change others.

Lin said...

I've learned that the people behind us (the parents nowadays that you are talking about) don't help a lick. With my kids, we had a ton of volunteers for things and now, you can't pay folks to help. I don't get it. What is it with parents now?

Volunteering helps the organization run well, your kid is thrilled and proud that you are there helping, you meet new people, AND it's FUN!

I hope you find more people to help. I know with our band, we try to just have fun with everything and have parent-bonding parties just so we keep the volunteering up. I swear we love band more than our kids do!

Winnie said...

Well last night one parent did step up and agree to be camp coordinator which was a relief as I had said I'd do it if nobody stepped up. No one yet has agreed to be cubmaster. Hubby said he'd take on Treasurer since the treasurer is going to resign the end of summer. I would make Hubby do scout master, however he travels so much he wouldn't be around for stuff most of the time, with treasurer he can do it at 2:00 am and send in the paperwork.

I'm going to Cub scouting for the duration though as Sonny Boy plans on staying forever (we'll see how that goes) and Igor has already made many statements about "When I'm in Cub Scouts" I see myself spending 10+ years with this pack!

David&Monica said...

Girl we have 23 boys in our den alone! talk about overworked! The boys are rowdy but great........ getting the parents to pay attention - now thats a challenge!