To run a cub scout camp

I am a GG leader and have helped run Brownie camps so similar age. I stick to two nights, any more and you have either the girls who are reluctant or the parents (plus it’s personally too much time for me and to ask my volunteers to take out of their lives). I think if you stick to two nights and are able to reduce the price, you will find uptake much higher. Especially if you are able to accommodate single-night stays for anyone anxious - these can be a good investment as it gives the kids and parents confidence to come longer next time.

I would focus on shorter camps but more frequently as those are much more accessible. You will get some parents and kids gung-ho for a longer experience, but it rules out a lot of people from the get-go.

I think we have to remember too that these are children who have gone through Covid - it’s just a different scene post-2020, I think. A lot of kids now have never even stayed with a relative, so a week-long camp is a big ask. I’d work at making them accessible for as many as possible.

We do a lot of camps through scouts, and previously cubs. The max duration has been 2 nights away. Even the school residential is only 3 nights. A week is just too long unfortunately, maybe for older scouts it could be ok.

Rose tinted glasses for sure. I have very fond memories of my childhood camps in a farmer's field away from anything. Collecting water from the farm and being skirt in to "duties" so managing the wood collection, cooking, the emptying of the elsan loos in to the toilet pit......

But just generally having a blast! We would get taken swimming mid week to wash off summer of the mud and pong!

Last year we went to a very rural site with no mobile signal. I loved it. My cubs loved it. The scouts were dropping like flies. If they didn't pull out last minute they were begging us to call parents to have them picked up after the first night. I think they couldn't survive without their phones.

They have no idea how lucky they are. This is the stuff idyllic childhood memories are made of.

To answer your question: you are not being unreasonable, though I’d probably reduce the length of the trip to 3 or 4 nights to see if that improves uptake.

Well clearly he wouldn't be the only trained person on camp. Scouting has strict procedures and he would have to submit a nights away notification detailing the membership number of every leader attending, who is first aider etc and the approving lead volunteer would need to verify that everybody had completed basic training including safety and safeguarding and that there were enough first aiders with the appropriate level qualification for the location and activities and that if undertaking any adventurous activities that they had the right permits.

Plus a risk assessment needs to be completed, submitted and approved.

Cub camp here is about £100 for two nights. My son goes to done but not others. He finds the free time difficult and prefers it structured.

My husband is a scout leader and like you, is finding it hard to get enough signed up to the annual week camp for similar reasons / excuses. Likewise, as a brownie & guide leader I've found a weekend is all I can get them to sign up to and even then it's not easy. Kids seem soft these days compared to 10 years ago. A weekend doesn't feel long enough either, as soon as they're in the swing of it, they're packing to go home.

For comparison I offered Wings to my guides (cost £450, plus parents provide travel), week long event and the Guides were all full of excuses about how it wasn't for them. I'm still going - it's going to be a blast!

Keep going. The kids that do engage, even with just the weekly meetings, will get a lot of of it.

Here brownies camp for 1 night and guides for 3. I think it is too long.

My siblings cried on every sleep over at that age.

Moved abroad on a gap year and has rarely been back!

I don't think being reticent to do a full week away at 8 means anything for the uni years!!

Way too long for 8-10 year olds. We did 2 nights (Friday after school until Sunday afternoon) when I was a brownie, we did a couple of 7 days camps when we were at guides, but I'm not sure we would have coped with a week at 8. Not just from a homesick and can't cope away from home angle, but camp was intense, full on, very busy, with lots of activities, and I don't think I would have had the stamina at 8 years old to sustain that for a week!

Fellow cub leader here. We only do 2 nights now, we find that quite apart from leaders not being able to get the time off work for longer camps (we use our annual leave for our families!) parents just don't seem to want to send kids for any longer. Scouts too.

It's a shame but if you get the balance right then you can still have a great time. I would get the parents together and actually ask what they want. Do a survey monkey or something with options.

I usually do a sleepover for 1 night indoors in autumn or winter, often joint with beavers which appeals to my younger cubs and then alternate in the summer, one year the crazy county festival/jamboree style camp and the next year a 2 night back to basics style camp with a hike, fires and pioneering. Often joint with the scouts so means the cubs get to know them and it eases transition for my older ones.

During the year we do a couple of the district or county competitions and do an activity day and a hike. So not overnights but good opportunities to try something new and put skills to the test.

My dc have all been Beavers, Cubs, Scouts and Explorers. So I am not new to this.

A week is too long for cubs.

£200 is too much.

For working families, esp if they have more than one child, then the summer holidays are a painful dance of balancing childcare and working commitments.

Having just one child away for a week is not always a blessing but an added hassle. You have to get them there and back, sometimes during work hours. The childcare you use may not keep their space or need a block booking. The others kids may not want to drive there and back to drop off and pick up.

DC may have other commitments or things they don't want to miss for a week.

There will be family events like holidays, weekends away, weddings and meet ups in the holidays.

I don't want my kids coming home so sleep deprived and filthy they are then ruined for the following week too.

So many reasons.

Agree it’s a duration issue - for ours it was 2 night camps for cubs and only longer when they went up to scouts

I pulled my son out of Cubs because in 2 years they only had one 2 night camp. Yours sounds great!

We don’t, despite me being the Group Treasurer, because a week means DS missing cricket fixtures that he’s desperate to play in. I suspect that’s a big change from 25 years ago…most of his friends have summer sports or music things.

Please keep doing camps. They are so important for kids. They learn about independence and loads of other great stuff. I keep signing my kids up to them and they always get cancelled at the last minute and it is such a shame.

Poacher is only £300!

You should plan a 2 night camp at that age.

Drop off Friday afternoon/after school. Pick up Sunday just before lunch.

My son goes scouts and it's amazing. However, at cubs they only did 1-2 nights of camping. 1 week is too long for that age.

Also, cubs are fairly young. Id have thought no more than 3 nights away?