You Can Lead a Horse to Water, But . . . (cont.)
This was brought home to me last evening when I attended a training session for Pack leaders regarding fall recruiting and popcorn sales. Most had never attended a roundtable and few were fully trained or even aware of the training expected of an adult in their position. Each District offers a Roundtable meeting monthly during the school year. These gatherings are designed to keep leaders up to date on Council and District resources, events, and changes within Scouting. They provide networking opportunities and usually offer breakout discussions on relevant topics for Cub Scout and Scouts BSA leaders. ALL adults associated with your Pack, Troop, Crew, Ship or Post are welcome to attend. They say you don’t know what you don’t know, but attending roundtables provides an easy way to know something and begin to discover more of what Scouting has to offer you in particular.
Training opportunities abound in Scouting. Each registered position has training modules specifically designed to help you to be the best, most informed and competent leader you can be. While a few training sessions are offered at the District or Council level in person, the vast majority are offered online at My.Scouting.org where you can set up your personal account and access so many training resources. In particular, you should be aware of a new version of Youth Protection Training (YPT) which is now called S.A.F.E. Guarding Youth. This new training program is required of every registered adult annually and replaces the former YPT training program. It is well designed and the beauty of it is that once you have completed it, the annual update is more streamlined and easier to complete. In addition, you will find so many relevant and accessible training topics available to you. They are very well designed and you can start and stop as your time permits, returning to complete them when you can. They are all available to you on your schedule! It is easy to be fully trained for the positions you hold in Scouting, even if you have no position at all and are a beginning parent new to Scouting who wants to better understand the Scouting program in order to guide your youth toward a better and more meaningful experience. So why not take a drink? You can learn more about training expectations for various positions at https://filestore.scouting.org/filestore/training/pdf/trainedleader_requirements.pdf or by visiting My.Scouting.org.
Change in Scouting is a constant. The new Safeguarding Youth program is one example. Advancement requirements are updated annually and usually announced in the winter. We have two new merit badges coming out this year and in keeping with the latest development, the merit badge books will only be released online. In fact, all of the merit badge books are now available online. Printed versions still work, but are only current as of their publication date. We have a new Scout Executive beginning his tenure next week and will most certainly experience some change in our operation as a result. Being informed is as simple as attending roundtables, talking with fellow leaders from other units, and following Scouting online and through resources such as The Guide.
Every horse gets thirsty, and most have the sense to drink when they need it. Hopefully you will also take a drink from the resource fountain and take advantage of the training and materials available to you on the Council and national websites, at roundtable meetings, and in conversation with fellow Scouters. Thank you once again for entrusting your youth to Scouting and sharing your talent and treasure, and most importantly your time. Your time spent now on preparing yourself to be an effective leader and adult participant is essential to our success.
Paul Shrode
psshrode@aol.com