Helping Out

Ways you can Help

The most important aspect of parent involvement is the encouragement you give to your child. The boys and girls who get the most out of scouting are those who put the most into it. All children have times when they need a gentle push, and certainly times when they need some help. This is where you come in.

If your child wants to do some test-passing or earn a badge, please go through the requirements and check that he or she has the knowledge needed and that all aspects of the test are covered. If your child hasn’t done anything for a while, you may need to offer some extra encouragement to get started. The pride on their faces when they come to the front of the parade to receive their badges makes the effort well worthwhile.

Scouting is a voluntary organisation, and we do rely heavily on parent support.

The support given will depend on the individual circumstances of each family. Areas in which regular help is needed are:

• Parent Roster: There are some programs when the Leaders can do with an extra pair of hands, eyes and ears. If we call for a little extra help, it is good to know that there are parents willing to assist.
• Transport: Occasionally transporting the children to various activities included in our program.
• Cleaning/Maintenance of the Scout Hall: It is important that the place in which our children gather be maintained in a clean hygienic fashion.
• Fundraising: So as to keep fees under control as a group we may run a couple of fund raising events through the year, and it is expected that all families will be involved.
• Volunteer Camp Staff: On some activities we need and appreciate the help of parents with transport, cooking, running activities, first aid. Everybody has a great time getting involved.
• Joining the Parent Support Group: This is not an onerous task – the really hard work of building the Scout Hall and providing major resources has already been done by past committees. It really only involves helping to manage and maintain the resources of our Group as well as the occasional social activity.
• Becoming a uniformed Leader: Leadership is not for everyone, but if it interests you, please speak to any one of the Leaders. They will tell you that they get just as much fun out of it as the kids, and a very real sense of achievement as well as doing something worthwhile for our youth and the community.

"Scouts is NOT a baby sitting club, your participation is vital to its existence".

We have a number of vacant roles at Air Scouts and a summary of the roles can be downloaded below. Some of them are specific to a section (e.g. Cubs) but some roles support Air Scouts Canberra at a Group level. You can be involved as a Leader, Trainee, Helper, or Supporter.