Scouting Jobs for Parents

So, you’ve decided to become the Scout Leader for your son’s Cub Scout Den or daughter’s Girl Scout Troop. Congratulations! You are a volunteer who will truly make a difference not only for your own child, but the other scouts and their families in your troop or den. As a scout leader, there is so much to do! Who better to assist you than the families in your den or troop. However, with what tasks should we ask them to help? Use our list of scout roles for families to help you decide.

Determining Scout Role for Families

Before beginning the scouting year, think about different aspects of scouting that you will need some assistance over the year. Once you have a list brainstormed, write out a brief job description to share with the families in your group. I suggest sharing this list at your first parent meeting and asking that each family sign up to help with one role. No matter how small the role may seem, it helps a great deal throughout the year and makes a difference.

Below are many of the roles that I find myself, my co-leader, and scouting families assisting with throughout the year. In addition to these roles, we always ask families to assist with different badges that they may have some expertise. Be sure to ask about their employment or hobbies. I have ordered the roles from most important to get a volunteer to least important based on my scouting experience.

Scout Roles for Families:

We have included many different roles but have yet to need every single role on the list. Use the roles that work best for your troop or den, pack or service unit. Add other ideas and scout roles for families as you need.

Leader

Runs den or troop meetings. Also plans activities to ensure badge requirements are met, awards are earned, and scouts are able to move to the next level. Sets the yearly scouting calendar. Ensures scouts lead meetings wherever possible. Attends field trips and other large events as a chaperone. Oversees all other roles including families when possible and assists when families are unable to complete their job. (Add in any roles from below that you do not offer to the parents).

Co-Leader

Assists with running den or troop meetings. Attends field trips and other large events as a chaperone also. Helps the leader where necessary. Tracks RSVPs and has access to financial records, troop product sales, and troop/den funds. May oversee some of the scout roles for families when necessary. Takes the place of the leader as needed. (Usually fills in a few of the other roles below).

CPR/First Aid

Attends all den or troop meetings, field trips, and other large events to provide first aid care when necessary. Often times this is the leader or co-leader of the den or troop. Assists scouts with earning their first aid badges or advancements. Sometimes takes the place of the leader or co-leader depending on space limits as you always need a first aid/cpr responder for each event.

Product Sales Rep

Communicates with our council, pack/service unit, and families any information related to the product sales and selling season. Additionally, enters individual and troop orders into the system. Picks up the product from council and delivers the product to each family. Ensures each scout turns in the correct amount of money. Moreover, they coordinate, pick up and deliver rewards related to product sales.

If you have booth sales, this person can also coordinate your troops sign-up for sales. They can help set up the booth, take down the booth after the sale, store any booth supplies, and check that the inventory and money match after the booth sales. They can also assist families with signing up for booth sales.

May want to ask multiple people to help out here if you have the availability. Cub scouts has their annual popcorn sales usually in September, Girl Scouts has a fall product sale in October and Cookie sales in January – March. We prefer to have one representative per selling season when possible.

Treasurer

Collects receipts, dues and event or product sale money. They also help to write checks for events and reimburse any family member for supplies bought for the troop. In addition, they make deposits into the troop or den’s account. Further, they prepare the year end financials also. Helps keep the scouts informed of the money they have available for activities, badges, and uniforms. May make purchases for the troop or den, including troop supplies, uniforms, badges, advancements, and handbooks.

You will need a good system for your treasurer to keep track of money if multiple people handle troop funds. They will need to work with multiple people including the leader, co-leader, advancements, field trip organizer, product sales rep and possibly a few other roles if are any fees for a scrapbook, copying, and location.

Advancements

Keeps a detailed record of each scout’s attendance, progress towards badges, and visits the scout store to pick up badges that have been earned or orders to be shipped to their home. Ensures each scout receives the correct badges. If they are so inclined, they can even sew the badges onto the scout’s vests. If this person is making purchases, they will need a scout card or check book. Otherwise, set up a reimbursement plan or way for them to get a den/troop check.

This role can also include Nova Coordinator if you are a Cub Scout den. (This role could be divided into tracking progress, Nova Coordinator, and picking up badges depending on families). If you are a girl scout troop, this role might oversee the Bronze, Silver and Gold Awards. Having a separate team member for your troop to manage these awards is very helpful for leaders as they already have so much going on.

Council Rep

Attends monthly leader meetings and communicates information to the leaders. Furthermore, checks the council website and e-mails for upcoming events and important information. They may also help pick up materials from the council or service unit to deliver to the troop/den.

We suggest setting up a google doc or other shared method of communication so all information is shared among leaders and volunteers. We find it best to include all families in the communications when possible, but sometimes that isn’t feasible or desired by your families. If this is the case, your marketing person should rewrite these minutes to include anything important that families do need to know.

Field Trip Organizer

Schedules, sets up and communicates with different organizations that could host the scouts to assist them in attaining badges or other requirements. The leader or co-leader should provide a list of field trip options to support badges/advancements. The scouts can also suggest field trips and recommend these to the coordinator. Your field trip organizer can also suggest field trips, or even look through the badges for field trips they would like to set up.

Ask them to collect RSVPs and fees for events to lessen one more thing from the leaders. All money can be counted and given to the treasurer to ensure the money gets in the correct accounts and recorded on the financial sheets.

Marketing

Creates reminder notes for each meeting, sends e-mails (or other communication methods) to keep families informed, up-dates website, and monitors invites for events. They can also help recruit new scouts to your group, find ways to highlight your troops successes in the local news, and even ask the school to provide recognition for the scouts. (Often this role is performed by a leader or co-leader).

This often times becomes the point of contact for your troop for all the families since the communication comes from them. This is a job that requires a little time before every meeting and some follow up with families to answer any questions they ask or forward those questions to the co-leader and leader.

Photographer

Attends troop or den meetings to take pictures. When possible attends field trips and large events to take pictures, or collects pictures from the adults who did attend. Organizes the pictures for families too. May upload pictures to the troop or den website, when families have given permission. Works with pack or service unit to provide pictures used during recruiting. (May even want to create a scrapbook or other photo sharing option for families).

Snack

Either prepares and brings snack to each meeting or coordinates a schedule for all families to assist with bringing snack to the meetings. This person will need information on scout allergies and food preferences when they exist to ensure all snacks are appropriate for the group.

They can also assist with any meal related badges or adventures to help the scouts earn these rewards.

Copy/Printing

Makes copies for any resources needed at meetings for each scout. The leaders or scouts will need to ensure this person has plenty of time to make the necessary copies before the meeting. They can also help put together packets, materials for activities, and special materials needed for events like programs.

Encourage Families to Commit to a Role

Making a list of scout roles for families is only the first step in finding volunteers to support scouts. Now that you have your list of volunteer roles and know your families (at least a little), it’s time to start recruiting families to specific roles. We found that the best way to do this is to ask each family to sign up for something to support the scouts. This might be something small or a larger role or even sharing a role with another family, but either way all parents make a commitment to the scouting program besides dropping off their child.

To help parents make a good choice, be sure to specific what you need each role to do and the time frame of each role. Some families know that they are less busy in the summer so they are more willing to help out then. This means that the leader needs to find a job for them that can mostly be completed in the summer. Some families have daytime availability but are swamped in the evening, tailor a role for this too. Other families can only help on the weekends, there are roles for that.

My best advice for recruiting volunteers is to remind them that they can always let me know if something is becoming too much or they need more help. We are happy to lend a hand if we know in advance that more help is needed. Together we succeed so we all need to support one another.

Alternative to Scout Roles for Families

If your families really don’t want to take a specific role, you can rotate the “leader” role from meeting to meeting. Each parent chooses one meeting to run with their scout. They choose the adventure/badge, they choose when and where to host the meeting, and they gather all the materials needed. If you have a method for providing money to parents using scout funds, you can even have them buy and distribute the badges/adventure loops to the scouts. The family can also be asked to take photos (or ask someone to take photos) during the badge.

This method eliminates many of the roles above because each family will become the leader, photographer, snack representative, copy/printing, and field trip organizer for their own meeting. This puts families on the hook a few times a year for a bigger commitment but ensures that they have more time without a role too.

If First Aid is an issue for your group, you can plan a parent and scout first aid class. This would help to ensure everyone is first aid ready and certified, plus be a fun experience for families. Maybe one of the parents will realize they love being the first aid person. And if someone is busy, you’ll always have another first aid person to take their spot.

Leave us a comment and let us know if our scouting roles were helpful. Additionally, if you have other roles that we should include, let us know. We want to help making scouting as effortless as possible for leaders and families.

Hi, I’m Nicole.

Here at Creatingbutterflies we provide families with practical solutions to real life problems for everything parenting, scouting, dual language, and enjoying time outdoors. We are a family of 6 with 4 wonderful becoming bilingual children who loves scouting, camping, and hiking with their family. Mom is an educator and dad is a firefighter/paramedic.