SUCCESSFUL WELCOMING (Scouts & Guides of France)

Laura Montosa Martin
Laura Montosa Martin • 10 March 2022

This resource has been created by Scouts & Guides of France.

The first moments of the welcoming are crucial to a successful meeting. Here you will find concrete and practical ideas as well as a ready-made game.

You can suggest a sponsor for each guest. This can be the friend they invited or another child in the unit. Giving the name of each godfather the name of his godson and vice versa before the beginning of the weekend allows to create a link, an expectation. You can notably rely on the role of the 3rd years in the branch pedagogy. The pairs will of course be in the same life team, in the same tent.


Welcoming the family
First of all, we reassure the parents, explain our project and scouting, tell them what we will do during these two days and give them the booklet "Parents' Questions" (available on sgdf.fr). While some leaders are already looking after the children, a leader and other members of the group team take the time to welcome them, offer a coffee and get to know them.
Certains parents seront peut-être ravis de profiter de ce week-end pour découvrir le scoutisme. N’hésite donc pas à leur proposer de participer à tout ou partie du week-end. Cela peut aussi être l’occasion de leur donner envie de s’impliquer dans la vie du groupe. Pense à prévoir des moments spécifiques pour qu'ils puissent discuter entre eux et avec les autres adultes du groupe.
 

Giving the scarf
The scarf is a symbol of belonging to the big family of scouting and guiding. Even if it's only for a weekend, you enter the "imaginary" scout and guide world. Participating for a whole weekend in a scouting adventure is not easy for a newcomer. So give him from the beginning all the means so that he can be integrated into the group, for example by seeing a scarf for the guests.We built a place to sleep, we slept in a tent, we were in nature, we made a fire, we learned what a compass is for... Take the opportunity to make the children talk about what they have experienced well or
not so well. Now it's up to you if you want to carry the message... You take this bracelet around your wrist. wrist, it will help you to remember all the moments lived and shared together, until our next adventure, and to tell around you what you did this weekend.

Preparing the meeting
Prior to the weekend, each master's degree will take the time to prepare the children and youth of the unit. During the Discovery Weekend, their mission is to be attentive to the guests so that they feel welcome, and even expected. Ask them what their impressions were of the first weekend campout they experienced.

The bracelet
To be given to each participant at the reception or at the end of the Discovery Weekend: The bracelet can be a sign of welcome at the beginning of the weekend or be given as an invitation. It can also be a souvenir gift given at the end of the weekend. The closing time is an opportunity to talk about its meaning. At the end of the weekend, it is good to remember all that we have experienced together. And so that you can keep a trace of your passage in the Scouts and Guides of France, we offer you this bracelet. Use the images on the bracelet to talk about the experience.

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