Dealing with Parents

I see posts on many GS groups leaders asking questions on how to deal with parents.

Sometimes it is parents who expect to be treated like they pay you to do this, you owe them something, you should make exceptions for them, or you should do it their way. These are just examples of comments I see often.

I find you must be straight forward with parents from the start.

1. Have a parent manual with leader contact info, fees, rules, expectations and FAQ answered, edit this portion each year if you find you are getting a question asked that is not in the last version.

2. Remind parents at your parent meeting and at EVERY ceremony that you (and co-leaders) are volunteers and that you also have jobs, kids, husbands, church, sports, etc.

3. Do not cater to demanding parents. If they want it done "their way" then they can go start their own troop and you can give her info to do so. Sometimes this alone will chill them out.

4. When you give a deadline, stick to it. Even good excuses only work once, if a parent is perpetually late for deadlines then their daughter will just miss a few things. Harsh but the parent needs to learn you will not make exceptions for them. It will also make the daughter pay more attention and remind them next time after she missed something fun.

5. Do not feel guilty for asking a parent to find a new troop. If someone is that rude or back stabbing then you can give her info to move to a troop that is "better suited to her needs". Not all personalities will mesh and sometimes that parent (or bratty girl) just need to go somewhere else.

6. You are a volunteer!