Why is beavers so late?

I'm a Brownie leader and I run my Brownie unit at a time that suits me and my family. End of. If you want your daughter to attend and can manage the time, then great. If you can't manage that time or day, then bad luck. The same applies to Scouting groups. I don't give a moments thought to needs of parents, working or otherwise. Their lives and convenience aren't my problem.

As it happens I run my Brownie unit from 5pm to 6.30pm at the moment. It is at that time purely because it fits in with another activity which my own daughter does. Next year, she won't be doing that activity and I think we'll change the time of Brownies to later in the evening because it will suit me better.

When DS was that age, his Beavers ran from 6-7.15pm and he managed just fine.

Cubs from 7 to 8:30, monday as well. impossible for working parents (as kids need to go to breakfast club), but maybe that’s intended? working parents don’t make good volunteers so doing clubs late is a good way to ensure you only get parents who work parttime at most

I find this a very odd statement. I would think that for many working parents, a later time such as this is better, not worse. Of course I get that it may affect those who have to get up very early for breakfast club, but for every one of those, there will be some that can't get there for an earlier start time due to work commitments. It certainly works better for volunteers who work. Many of my cub leaders would struggle to get there before our start time of 6.30pm.

Don’t know why people are so upset? if scouts/beavers prefer non-working parents , they are perfectly entitled to (none of our leaders work). Its a volunteer lef activity, so fair enough to prefer parents with a lot if time/flexibility

I think people are getting upset at your suggestion that scouts leaders don't also hold down full time jobs! We have a total of 19 leaders across our scout group, and with the exception of one (who does not work due to disability), we all have full time jobs. One of our cub leaders has two jobs. I think this is perfectly normal, I know of very few leaders in the wider district who don't work, unless retired. Nowhere does scouts ever suggest that they'd prefer non-working parents. In fact, most of the time, we go out of our way to accommodate the needs of working parents, as we all know how tricky this can be - most of us have been there/done that/are still doing it.

That's normal time for Beavers. Our Squirrels group runs from 5-6, Beavers from 6-7, Cubs from 6.30-8 and Scouts 7.30-9.15 (on different nights!).

@HauntedPencil agreed there are two local to me one at 6 the other 6.30. Not a chance I could get my kids collected from different places home fed and back out for 6.00 I struggle for 6.30.

Lots of kids would miss out if they were too early also leaders need time to finish work too.

My children went on days I work, stay at home parents very rare here and busy with a waiting list. It needs to be a bit later to allow for people to get kids from childcare and feed them and send them back out, so it's a no win situation for some people.

Luckily ours is 5-6:15. (From age 6) on a Friday.

cubs next term is 7-8 on a weekday though, which will feel very late! Understand why though I guess.

ps op he doesn’t need a bath after beavers.
we always do “express bedtime”
after beavers/cubs etc. so they are in bed within half an hour of getting home.

Sorry some people have been a bit stroppy at you OP! My 5 yr old dd does Rainbows 5-6pm so yes your timings for Beavers do seem quite late, more similar to Brownies here who are aged 7-10yrs and do 6.15-7.30pm. My 5 year old could manage that just about, but gets up at 7.30am so a different situation! I can see why you would be a bit concerned if they have to be up at 6am. You could try it out and have an early night the next night.

Ours is 6pm-7pm. It's fine for DS. He usually goes to bed around 8.30-9pm, and is up at 7am. He eats a meal before we go, and another snack after the session. We have a very quick shower those nights instead of a bath.

If people are getting upset to the point that they'd be rude, simply because I asked about whether other people's beaver clubs also run at the same time, and for advice on whether their children coped with it OK, then they are being over sensitive.

1. People aren't being rude
2. you didn't start a thread asking if other people's dc cope with their dc going to beavers, you started a thread literally saying "Why is Beavers so late"

I didn't criticise anyone. I didn't say it was wrong. I'm simply trying to gauge whether it would be OK for a child who gets up at 6, and if other people do the same with their kids.

Many people reply to the title question.
It reads like a criticism.
I don't know how often you are on MN, but there are, unfortunately too many people who do start threads criticising people who give up their time to run things like Scouts / Guides / PTA things / Sports Teams.

There's one running tonight about being asked to wash the kit for the team their dc plays for once a season, just as an example.

That's why volunteers get fed up.

Ours is 5.30 till 6.30 and thags a push for me with a full time job and 3 kids of my own

It's one day a week OP. Let him do it. He will have a blast, and meet other children outside school. Beavers is great fun.

I do find “6am is too early to wake up” or if just doesn’t work, funny.

I’m three kids deep and haven’t found a way to keep them asleep when they naturally wake up. Even if I put them to bed at 11pm, they’d still all be up at 6am, cranky, and falling asleep in the car etc. I myself naturally wake at 6.30. Is that wrong?

how do you force your kids to stay asleep in the mornings?

I think everyone has different "normals"
7pm would be far too early to go to bed for both our 5yr and 2.5yr old! And 6am far too early to regularly get up. (Although the toddler gets up at 6.15am twice a week for childcare reasons). DS does swimming and Karate, 7pm finish but regularly runs over so home at 7.30, snack, chat, story bedtime around 8.15pm.

Don’t know why people are so upset? if scouts/beavers prefer non-working parents , they are perfectly entitled to (none of our leaders work). Its a volunteer lef activity, so fair enough to prefer parents with a lot if time/flexibility.
Going to bed after 9 and waking up at 6:30 (breakfast club from 7:30) just doesn’t work for many children of working parents. So we do other activities and leave cubs /beavers to parents with more time. Fair enough.

Skip the bath on beavers nights; it's not necessary. Just straight into bed when he gets home.

7 is a pretty early bedtime. My 5 year old twin DC go down at 20:30 and are up at 6.

I don't think this is late.

Its perfect for us (our beavers is slightly later than yours). It means we can work, have a normal dinner for our child, and then she goes in the lul between dinner and bed.

She's home by 7.30, straight up to bed, no bath and is in bed all done by her usual bedtime of 7.45/8.

If it doesn't work for you, swap to a different activity.

Whilst I appreciate you feel some people are being aggy, can you see why it may bother people that you didn't even consider the needs of the volunteers? Have you considered volunteering there to support them?

Cubs from 7 to 8:30, monday as well. impossible for working parents (as kids need to go to breakfast club)

Why would that be impossible?

Children don't go to cubs until they are 8, at which point they are perfectly capable of staying up until 9pm and then getting up for breakfast club. It's actually better for working parents because picking up, getting them into uniform and getting to Beavers by 6pm is tight after work.

Both DH & I work full time and we manage to make it work (Monday night at 6-7 for us) Just! It's hard and we spend a lot of time getting the logistics right (we have a 15yo who needs to be at his activity 25mins drive from beavers at 6.30 so I just feel like I'm going round in circles on a Monday)
Thankfully I don't have a big commute and can pick up from after school club, throw a very quick dinner down them and get them out the door
Our section only uses parent volunteers for trips and special activities so we concentrate on helping with those, which is just about doable. The leaders are fantastic and I've no qualms about helping them when necessary.
However the 15yo went through from Beavers to Explorers & young leaders and we felt it was worth the effort as he got s much from it so we are doing it all again with our youngest. It's easier as they get older but the timings get later so not for every child.

Agreed it’s late but it’s still worth it for the activities. My boy is the same, he would be up at 6am no matter what time he went to bed.

We just make an effort to feed him dinner before he goes. It ends at 7.15, we are home by 7.18 and he’s in bed maybe 7.30 which is only half-ish hour later than usual. He usually falls straight asleep on beavers nights.

impossible for working parents (as kids need to go to breakfast club), but maybe that’s intended? working parents don’t make good volunteers so doing clubs late is a good way to ensure you only get parents who work parttime at most.

eh ?
That makes no sense at all.

How does "kids needing to go to breakfast club" make it impossible for working parents ?
How have you concluded that 'working parents don't make good volunteers' ?
Why do you think that only parents that work part time at most volunteer ?

That's not the case at all. None of those statements are true.