If your child is involved in Scouting…

[PrincessPeache]

How involved are you as a parent?

just out of interest 😊

My son started Squirrels two years ago and was there for about six months before he moved up to Beavers. I’m now an Assistant Leader at Beavers, and will remain so when he moves up to Cubs at the end of the year.

Our adults are a mixture of people who have been involved in scouts all their lives, and those who became involved when their children did.

Around a quarter of our Beavers have parents involved in our Group.

I am an occasional parent helper. I was a Cub Leader in my late teens and early 20s and can't do it regularly now due to work / other children.

As parents we are expected to help out at Squirrels / Beavers / Cubs about once a term, I probably do it a bit more than that. However, I am a chaperone for my daughter's dance school and DH coaches our DD1's football team.

We have DD at cubs and scouts. We do one meeting every 6-8 weeks for each and then the volunteer tidy up days 2 Saturdays a year.

I was a parent helper and committee member right throughout both of my kids’ scouting experience.

DS is now a scout leader

Not at all. Used to volunteer once a term for cubs. But barely have any contact with scouts. Not my thing. I don’t really get it.
BUT I am hugely grateful for the people who do make it possible, because it means that my child can have opportunities and adventures they wouldn’t ever have otherwise

Already a mix of responses!

I know it’s quite common for them to have parent rotas for helping out. We are quite lucky we don’t really need them - we have five leaders for our Beavers (plus six young leaders), plus four other parents who are leaders elsewhere in our section who will help out if we are short on adults. We do have a particularly big section though - nearing 50 now 😬

This is lovely, did you really enjoy it? I can’t imagine stopping now!

I love this. So glad that we are able to give these opportunities to children!

My son is now in cubs. I help when needed; the cub leader sends an email out saying they need parent help on x date for y activity, if I am able to help I usually offer but I don’t every time if this happens a lot in a term.

When my son was in beavers, there was a parent rota and I helped once a term through that.

I have a behind the scenes admin role that takes up several hours a month, and both me and my DH are occasional helpers at activities. Love how beneficial Scouting is to young people.

I did a year as a beaver scout leader once my children had moved up to the older sections. I did it because the group was desperate for volunteers but i absolutely loathed every minute of it and stepped down as soon as i felt I had served a decent time. I would start worrying about it 3-4 days earlier in the week, it really affected me in ways I didnt expect at all. It was the parents as much as the children. Not my comfort zone and I now act as the group secretary instead.

I am hugely grateful to the volunteers who facilitate this for my children, their scout group will close this summer as leaders are stepping down and no replacements can be found.

DD is an older Explorer.

Our Squirrels, Beavers and Cubs don't have regular parent helper, they have enough leaders. But out Scouts now have it as a proper rota, just too many Scouts for the adult leaders.

DH started helping out with driving a kit van, got a shooting instructor license and went onto the Committee, became the chairman and is now the Group Scout Leader. (Group Lead Volunteer) All without ever being a Scout himself or even a section leader and he hates camping in a tent.

I am perfectly happy to help behind the scenes, I did some admin volunteering until the pandemic but didn't return as DD developed mental health issues and I just don't have the energy.

Been a beavers leader and a cubs leader, as well as starting a squirrel drey for several years. I love it but it has cost me a lot, financially, emotionally and professionally.

I occasionally help out as a parent helper but physically and mentally I can't afford to devote much more to it. I'm really grateful for those who do as its the only club my son has stuck at and he absolutely adores it.

Well I'm currently camping with my cubs. DDs are both Scouts...

7 years now.

One of my DC went through from Beavers to Explorers (they didn't have Squirrels). I was on the exec committee for about 8 years of that time as a parent rep, and helped out with meetings and trips ad-hoc, probably the most memorable thing was taking a group on the Monopoly Run each year which was quite an experience.

When DS started Beavers I became a permanent parent helper after a few months, although they originally set me up as a Section Assistant on the system. I helped for about 14 months and when he moved to Cubs I helped for a couple of months but then decided I’d had enough.

The children’s behaviour in Beavers was dire but looking back the Leader, while absolutely lovely, didn’t have a clue about behaviour management and discipline. Now in Cubs the Leaders run a tight ship and take a dim view of disruptive and poor behaviour and act accordingly. I wish I’d volunteered with them as Beavers really soured my experience of working with children. All parents now are on a rota which I of course do, and our group provides fantastic experiences and outings.

I went to Brownies and Guides in another country.

When my son started cubs I started helping as a parent helper and then took over the Beaver group and then moved to be a cub leader . I was involved for about 7 / 8 yrs before we discovered what myself and my assistant leader considered was a massive safeguarding issue with the other cub pack in our group . When we bought our concerns to the region , having had no joy with our group exec they all closed ranks and sided with our exec , which was made up predominantly of people who had been involved in scouting for donkeys years so we stood down immediately .

I attend beavers with my son and help weekly and have done sincehe started. I run sessions probably twice a term and really enjoy it. I will move up with him to cubs because if I stay at beavers it's a whole hour before cubs so he'd have to wait around for me. The way I see it I might as well stick around and help rather than drop him and come back. I'll be honest I'm also there to make sure it's safe for him because although everyone has been DBS checked it only flags up those who've been caught and I'm not happy to send him away with essentially strangers. Feels terrible saying that and most helpers are there because they are amazing and genuinely want to provide a great experience for the kids but having experience childhood SA I'm extra cautious.

I don't because when one is at squirrels. I have 2 other dc at home.
And when one is at beavers I have 2 other dc at home.
Dh is never home by time they start unfortunately

I joined as an assistant cub leader when my eldest child was in cubs, and became cub leader (Akela) a couple of years later. That was over 12 years ago. My youngest DD has recently finished at Explorers, and has become a cub section assistant in my pack.

We're lucky to have 5 leaders in our pack, only one of which still has a child at cubs, the rest of us stayed at cubs as our children moved on up through scouting.

As we have quite a few leaders, most parents are rarely involved. If we need extra help sometimes, we ask for parent volunteers, and it's usually the same 2 or 3 that step forward.

I have a son who's recently joined Scouts, and one who wants to join Cubs. I have no intention of getting involved with anything. We had to sit through the AGM this week and my goodness the level of dull was extreme.

Our DD joined our local scouts ag3d about 12. We had been living abroad and I had no idea that girls could be a scout.
She had the best time, I helped out two or three times, I even camped once.
She adored the camping and man hunt games, less keen on the shooting, monopoly run was the highlight of the year!

I would probably have offered my services if I only had one kid attending but as one is at beavers and the other at cubs I'm too busy ferrying by them to their meetings to be able to stay and help sadly.

Just a note here...

Its not always "helping with Section meetings" type of help we need. The Trustee board and fundraising teams need different types of help... we need people to apply for grants, or pick up stiff from the Scout shop, or this week we need a gas engineer to look at the camping boiler...

Or today so many parents arrived to help pack up camp we were finished 30 minutes early!

When DD joined the then GSL was old, dry as hell and very much into basic scouting like wild camping etc. Especially the girls found this hard, DD was once on her period at camp and despite having also a female leader, it was a nightmare with the portaloos. i think the female leader forgot what it means being a teen.

After the pandemic, several things happened and the two leaders left. DH somehow got roped into becoming GSL and totally revamped the group together with the other leaders.

The last two years the AGM was in the pub, this year we have a BBQ in October with camp fire. As I proofread his newsletters, I can promise it won't be dull.