To run a cub scout camp

Is that normal for Scouting? I’ve never heard of parent volunteers in girl guiding. DD’s unit has 3 Owls, although one just had a baby so not sure she’s doing a lot at the moment, and they seem to manage camps and trips fine. Think they might draw on resources from the guiding group above and get some help from Rangers girls as needed but never ever from parents. I don’t think I’d feel very comfortable with that, they could be anyone and it also stops it being properly independent.

Tbh I think a lot of GG and scouts' groups are closing in near future because of lack of qualified leaders.

Quite often the children expect you to be a teacher.
One day I said something like "at my job as a.... " and children said " oh, aren't this your job?". Okay we need a chat.

I have never had a Christmas card or anything. Never thought of it.

Parents are more and more demanding. It's now and not next meeting if they want something "will you please sort!". And children are harder work than 10 years ago.

As said I have scaled back engagement but still run weekly meetings. I have a job, other hobbies and family and I want to do some of the 'grown up things' like courses, jamborees and international work.

I am anxious about the thought of leaving some of our parents to run a base, they look so frightened of a large group of children it's comical.

I'll put my hands up and say that's fair. My boys are late 20s now but did beavers and cubs 20 years ago. I did the usual parent rota and went on a cub camp. I used to find it terrifying. I guess my boys were compliant and well behaved, I had no experience of children who were defiant, didn't listen, argued or were downright rude and disrespectful. It was an eye opener in many ways, these other kids were the ones at school with mine and I learnt a new respect for people who work with children.

Absolutely. It's not about cards and presents. But a message saying 'thanks for all your hard work, my child had a brilliant time' goes a long way. As does parents stepping up and volunteering an hour a term to help with sessions where we need more adults, such as fire building, trips to park etc.

Rather than the parent who went crazy at me in front of the other parents because her daughter lost her uniform hoodie 'how do you expect me to trust you with my child when you can't even keep track of her jumper, are you stupid or something'. It scared a number of the children, including my own child. They were asked to find someone else to bring their child or find an alternative unit.

Although the number of parents who think we actually get paid is crazy!

Why did Beavers need to come with a parent? One of the main reasons for camp is to develop independence.

I do Rainbows camp (ages 5-7) and we have never had a parent on a residential- partly for above reason, and partly because they would all have to be DBS'd for a residential which is a faff for 1 night.

‘Parents are being precious’ isn’t a solution, it doesn’t help you. What do parents want? Ask them.

Personally I think a week is too long at that age, two nights would be great.

I’d be very concerned about your relying on parent volunteers rather than proper leaders. You say they’re only going to keep an eye on their own child. They’ll be an interfering liability and you’ll spend half your time trying to manage them - meaning no-one has proper oversight of the children.

Proper leaders plus rogue parents - maybe but I’d still be concerned about the distraction, biases and incompetence they’d introduce. It would put me off sending my child.

my son is a beaver and his camps are 1-2 nights, he’s been once so far. I was nervous for him to go but I really wanted him to build independence and resilience. He was nervous but he was also excited.
it was challenging for him but he enjoyed it and wants to go again. They did a big hike, climbing, camp fire and crafts. He got about 3 minutes sleep!

i think a lot of parents molly coddle. I have been thinking that a lot recently for different reasons.

that said, I wonder if you ran a little question and answer session for parents and kids about the camps before hand that included how various risks are managed that might help?

thank you for giving up your time to provide this experience for the kids

I think that's harsh. I'm sure it's not about the Christmas cards per se. I think it's perfectly reasonable to want a little bit of appreciation from parents for your efforts. It doesn't feel great when you are giving it your all and parents treat you as a paid (but cheap) childminding service to use or abuse as they feel fit.

A week is just two long.
My children wouldn't have interested in that at all.
2 nights max was enough for them for these type of camps that we went on.
They missed home comforts...clearly my children are soft, as am I.
2 nights was more than enough for me!

Squirrels leader here. My eldest has been through beavers, cubs and now is in scouts.

I think a week is too long for cubs. Our cubs do weekends max and then a week for the scouts. So I think some of the resistance will be the length.

Also the ethos of your group and the parents and their reason for wanting kids in scouts might play a part, as well as for some parents coordinating childcare for multiple children in the summer hols along side work.

By ethos of group I mean what do beavers do and what do scouts do, are you generally a really outdoorsy group.

We switched groups when ny eldest was a cub because it wasn’t outdoorsy enough. They did a lot at the hut and very little outdoors and few camps. Current group lost of camping throughout the year and for scouts a week every summer.

At my eldest’s school, in year 4 they do a 3 night residential. To a place like PGL, some parents followed the coach to its destination, put Apple tags in kids backpacks and stayed in a travel lodge local to where they are. All documented on the class WhatsApp. This was just 3 or 4 parents in a class of 30. But this shocked me.

And by why parents have put into scouting, in a previous group I was a leader at, some parents were happy for their kids to do the weekly meetings but nothing else. For some that was sports dominated the weekend.

My husband was a scout leader for 10 years. Beavers and then cubs as well as group scout leader. They ran a joint camp for beavers/cubs/scouts every year (beavers needed to come with a parent). They were extremely popular and the vast majority of the kids took part. However, they were only 1-2 nights, very nearby and very cheap.

I think that at that age, a week away camping without parents is a long time. You need to do shorter camps for this age, then longer camps at scouts. My daugther did a week with guides I think. Or maybe 5 days-ish?

Absolutely. In Girlguiding we ask that they have the uniform polo shirt and hoodie (and have 2nd hand options for £1 for anyone who struggles to buy) so they are nore easily identified when out on trips. There are uniform trousers available, some chose to wear, some don't.

I would do a big crack down on phones. If you are a big group it won't be helping you. Get tough about it and say to parents, repeat offenders will be asked to leave. You will be amazed at how the parents will squeal but actually you will just lose the ones who don't want to engage anyway. It will make your life easier.

Big groups are particularly hard to manage so on that one I feel your pain. And yes parents do freak out at the prospect of being tasked to do something, but thrown in the deep end they don't have a lot of choice but to do it. You quickly work out which parents can be trusted with more complex tasks and which ones can't. I don't particularly like doing it, but if it's infrequently it's not too bad as it's at least fair.

Our group operates a system where parents HAVE to volunteer at least per cycle except in exceptional circumstances. It also means the parents don't take it for granted quite so much and it enables more activities.

What games do they like? They should be rewards at the end of the night if you have a little time rather than main activities. Again it's about carrot and stick. Give them incentive to engage.

I think your head has gone down and it's about you finding a way to relove doing scouting. You will get there, it just requires a bit of a refresh I suspect.

If you get 80% attendance for a weekend sleepover at the clubhouse and over 50% for weekend camping that should tell you something. I’d put your own principles about ‘proper camping’ aside and focus on what the kids actually want. An activity weekend with a bunkhouse would probably mean a great turn out, everyone has a wonderful time and hours aren’t lost to putting up tents.
Oh and do the type of trousers they wear really matter, so long as they’re appropriate for being active? Brownies have leggings as their uniform and don’t seem held back by a lack of pockets… It’s also gone out of fashion to wear the sash. Things do change, it’s why the uniform has a refresh every so often.
And you’ve been amazing to volunteer for so long but if your heart isn’t in it anymore then equally it’s fine to stop. Don’t feel guilted into continuing if what the kids want these days is just not what you want to be doing with your spare time.

Don't expect the parents to think twice about it. For most parents a scout/GG camp is just another holiday camp.

Firstly, thank you for volunteering your time to such a good cause.
My kids have been cubs/ scouts for many years.
I think it's absolutely the cost and the length of time.
Our cubs have 2 nights away twice a year, costing £25/£30 - they do get a grant to help with costs, It's ALWAYS full capacity.
Scouts do a 4 night stay, but no where near £200 - most people could not afford that.
Most 8/10 year olds would not be comfortable staying so long away from home.
Don't let it disheartened you, just reduce the time.

Why are you doing the same activities ten times? Therein lies issues. The kids will be repeating things they've already done. You are bored too, which isn't helping. If you are going through the motions the kids will feel it. Likewise if you are enjoying yourself, the kids will.

Re fires. You can do fires, you just need to work slightly differently. If you don't have enough people who can do them, you do a rotation week were there's multi bases that the parents CAN manage and you do the fire base. You do it across two weeks if necessary.

There are lots of ways to do things a bit differently or to engage better. I think one of the traps some of the other groups across our district have is precisely because they are just doing the same stuff. You need to do Scout stuff for 2026 though.

If you do interesting stuff, the parents are more willing to help out even if they aren't full on leaders. Our rule is actually to engage the adults too because that just helps the kids as well.

Talk to scout leaders in other groups for new ideas. There will be things you can do to get yourself out of the rut you are in.

But trousers are optional in UK?

If your children can't handle a scarf why add another item? Why bother?

Our girls do quite well wearing uniforms but we don't ask for trousers.

Same her as a GG leader. My family is a mix of GG and scouts and no one has ask us to pay for trousers.

Being a GG or scout isn't cheap in gear, camps and trips so I seen no reasons to add more costs.

I was a Beaver leader for 7 years. When I left we told the kids I had been a leader for their whole lives 😀. I went on longer Scout camps as a child, but was very glad we only did one overnight. That was tiring enough for me!