Does anyone volunteer with children? Starting to think it's not for me.

[Pinkkahori]

I am involved in a club for 8-12 year olds. I used to enjoy it but increasingly I'm finding it difficult to cope with their behaviour, particularly the younger ones.
They agreed to a code of conduct but it makes no difference.
It is supposed to be fun but these days I seem to be constantly telling someone off.
For example tonight a child opened a fire exit door he shouldn't have. I told him not to do it. The minute I turned my back he did it again. I told him to move away from there and he did but when I looked back he was at it again.
Later we were setting up a snack. A child tried to take some but i said not yet and to wait til I called everyone together. The moment he thought I wasn't looking he reached in and grabbed loads.
Someone went into a shopping bag, opened a package and took sweets without permission.

They don't seem like huge things but it's relentless.
Maybe my expectations are too high.

It sounds like the kind of thing that would start to grate on you. If you've done it for a while, why not quit and maybe move on to some other type of hobby or volunteering. No one could say you are being unreasonable.

Should have said the child at the door is 9 and the snack grabber is 11. Both NT.
I have children similar ages.

What kind of club?

What are the support systems for the adults running it? What resources do you have access to?

How often does it meet? How long for? What are its aims? What activities are you trying to do when things go wrong? Is it all the children or some? The same children? Are they responding to something?

How do the team running it respond to behaviour? Is there positive reinforcement? Are you all consistent? How many adults are there? How many children? How big is the space?

Who drew up the code of conduct? Was it collaborative or was it imposed on the children?

What goes well? What would you like to be different?

For your own sanity I would say try not to sweat the small stuff. If it’s serious, serious consequences. But low level stuff like chattiness/silliness maybe try to take emotion out of the response- one mark each time talking out/not listening and five marks equals some kind of time out or consequence,
Things like going into a shopping bag are bad and I think consequences are appropriate.

Reading back, the consequences are that they're verbally reprimanded. Then what? What are the actual consequences for not listening or behaving appropriately? And how do you tell them off?

E.g. Three strikes rule - warned about behaviour (not following code of conduct) three times in one session means they can't attend the next one...

As well as high expectations, you need clear consequences for what happens if those expectations aren’t met.

Is there a code of conduct for the children? Have you spoken to their parents?

Volunteering isn’t compulsory though.

It's a youth club. We are volunteers who are supported by an organization. The code of collaborative.
Mix of free play (there are games, crafts etc), planned activities and indoor sports.
Loads of space. Good leader to child ratio.

Faldo fire exit sorry! I would have words with parents for this. Opening fire door comprises safety. Maybe ask your manager/ supervisor for a frame work to help you with behaviour management

Also not faldo

I don't mind general silliness or chat at all.
It should be fun for everyone and i know kids can get a bit caught up in the moment. I'm fine with that.
It's the blatant disobedience and defiance that I find hard.
I think in the past a quick word from a leader was enough to sort out any unwanted behaviour but obviously we have new children each year as the older ones move on.
I think I'll organise a meeting with our organization and ask for further training.
We will probably have to move towards three strikes and you don't come the next week. We've never needed to go down that route before.

I teach this age group in an out of school environment, more extra curricular. I'd struggle to do it if it wasn't paid, TBH. They are hard work. It's lovely when you get a rewarding kid or the rare occasion when you connect with one who is usually a complete PITA is also incredible but it is hard work, especially if you aren't well backed up.

In the sense of constantly telling them off - you get better results with this I find if you're either genuinely scary, in which case they will respect you for that and not cross you (you have to be nice to them when they're being good in that case) or if you can manage to deflect it with humour/teasing/banter. Or you need to be 150% "on" full of beans and occupying them every minute to a planned timetable which you're energetically focusing them towards so that they do not have the time to become distracted and cause mischief. These are all pretty hard to do and have an element of personality attached, but the skills can be learned/honed. If they get the sense that they are genuinely exasperating you then they will find this amusing and continue.

It is worse if the activity is at a time when they are tired from behaving well at school and feel the need to let off steam.

Thanks to everyone for replying. I actually feel better already after venting.
I do really enjoy it most of the time and we have some great young people.

I'm old school (in other words I'm old!) and run our primary school library. I enjoy it and that's why I do it. Sometimes the kids are a bit loud but never rude or defiant. If they were I wouldn't/couldn't do it.
If the behaviour is getting to you OP try something else. I know I couldn't deal with teenagers and I'm in awe of those that can.