Do Beavers do any extra activities?

[redbottleblue]

I've got 2 children, my DD who goes to Brownies and my DS who goes to Beavers. I've noticed that Brownies tend to have a lot of extra things they do such as trips out (park, cinema, local landmark visits, camping trips), so they aren't just in a church hall every week. Whereas my son has been going to Beavers for a few months now and they don't do anything except stay in the church hall. They do various activities while there but I can tell my son is getting a bit bored. Is this normal for Beavers? I'm wondering if I should look around at other groups

Like all these groups it all depends on the volunteers. Every group is different.
My granddaughter goes to Beavers , it's a mixed group and she didn't want to go to all all girls group and they have had a lot of trips including an overnight camp, trips to an animal park , playgrounds etc

It really depends on the group. It's important to remember that the leaders are volunteers. So any additional trips / activites, and the paperwork required for them, will be planned and organised in their own time.

In my experience it's usually the other way round here. Brownies tend to stay indoors more than beavers so I would definitely look for another group for him.

I agree with PPs that it depends on the volunteers. My DD does beavers and they do loads of extra activities

It depends so much on the group and what the volunteers who run them can/will do. And how many of them there are.

It depends on the Leaders. I’m a Cub leader. Our beaver leader does nothing but craft with her beavers, stops them from being offered area events and does no events. My Cubs are offered so many trips and activities. They’re going to the campsite to do some gardening on Monday, got 2 camps at Easter, tickets to the Royal International Air Tattoo, and have their meetings away from the hall at least three times this coming half term.

The parents say there’s a massive difference even between sections …

Some of it is age too. At Rainbows there were far fewer trips than with Brownies.

Yes, but they tend to be outdoor activities and in the winter months, it’s dark before Beavers even begins. Ours do night hikes, but usually not when it’s freezing and raining, usually more autumn and spring. But yes, ours is going to a climbing wall next week. They do cycling along a national cycle path. Archery, orienteering, bushcraft and campfire building, ropes courses, putting up and taking down tents, overnight camps, a sleepover at a museum, larger scouting events.

All of these are out and about either at the site itself (museum, outdoor education centre) or in a nearby forest or up on moorland or at the local reservoir. They do tend to be in the village hall from October to about Easter time when it starts getting lighter in the evenings. Then they’re rarely at the hall until autumn again. These aren’t extra activities though, except for camps and scouting events which are usually weekends. They happen during the usual 5:30-7pm weekly meeting.

I was a beaver leader (on Saturdays) and we often went on hikes etc. However, I wasn't the 'senior' leader so didn't have to do all the paperwork, risk assessments, emergency response stuff etc.

Even going to the park required crossing a road (at a traffic light) - they did all look cute holding hands in pairs in their little hi vizzes!

Any time leaving the usual centre requires a higher ratio of adults to children as well.

So, just the same as organising school trips.

We are in an affluent area, so their were plenty scout owned buildings with gardens for camps etc - although we had a church hall.

I'm a Beavers leader and we do loads away from the scout centre. However, there are several things to consider...

The first is the time of year your young person has joined. In the winter months, we tend to do things indoors as our meetings are at 6pm and it's dark outside. Activities like hikes, games in the park, bike maintenance and others are difficult/dangerous in the dark. There are lots of badges and games that are suited to indoor meetings, without becoming repetitive.

Obviously we could go to venues like climbing etc but the second thing to consider is the cost. We try to keep our subs as low as possible and therefore a trip or external speaker can take up out entire term's budget. I was recently quoted nearly £300 for 90 mins of climbing at a local centre.

And yes, as others have mentioned, organising an external trip (even to the local park) requires a huge amount of admin including notifying the GLV, parents, risk assessments, additional adults (you need more adults at external venues, and none of the parents ever want to volunteer) etc. It's a lot of work and can be very daunting for an inexperienced leader.

Let me guess - you don't put a lot of hours yourself into the Beaver unit but you're happy to come online and ask a disingenuous question about 'do Beavers do less because my Brownie daughter gets to do all these great things?'. If you want to shit on the Beaver volunteers, just do it.

My husband and I have been involved in different aspects of running units and sitting as Trustees plus assisting at camps etc for other units. The amount of time we spend begging parents to just come and do the odd night, but everyone is 'just so busy' they can't. They can get the child to and from the activities, they can even sit in their car outside the activities (one memorable occasion), they just can't help or offer to do any of the behind the scenes work.

If you want more, then prepare to do some of the heavy lifting yourself. Can't help on the night? Offer to cover another activity or task. Want more activities? Offer to research what is available plus costs. Just for the love of God don't post this sort of thing without one sentence acknowledging that people are giving up their time, not just on the night but in the huge amount of session prep and mandatory training behind the scenes.

It’s the opposite where I am. Those who start in Rainbows or Brownies want to change to Beavers and Cubs because what they do is so much more fun. However, it is going to be very much dependant upon the leaders and they are all volunteers so need to do what works for them as much as the children.

Things we've (my husband, I, or friend) done this month that literally no bugger will notice:
Updated some stat and mandatory training.
Got involved in trying to sort a division banking issue.
Researched and discussed a new system for subs and child records management.
Started to prepare an application for funding to repair our very old hall.
Met to discuss a clear out of the hut garage (I am guaranteeing that it will be leaders only that volunteer to come do the tidy up and tip trips).
Spent time on eBay selling old unused division equipment to raise money.
Made a poster to advertise the Easter fundraiser.
Contacted PTA to see if we can borrow some of their equipment for a session.
Collated and checked paperwork consent all good for a future activity.
Random emails amongst trustees to discuss a specific safeguarding issue.

And more. Very willing to do it. Losing patience with complaints.

This is dependent on the leaders , I used to lead a cub pack and beaver pack and we were out and about much more than the other beaver / cub pack in our group .

A lot of the behind the scenes work definitely goes unnoticed. Sounds like I do a similar amount to you.

Because our sections all meet on the same night, it means taking my Cubs away from the hall on a meeting night is difficult for parents who have more than one child in the group as the would need to pick up or drop off at the same time, but in two different places. For these situations I hire a neighbouring group’s minibus, pick it up before the meeting, drive to the hall, pick up 14 Cubs, drive to the event, drive them back to the hall, refuel the bus and drop it back to the other Group. As well as write the increased risk assessment etc. so a 90 minute session can turn into 3-4 hours of my evening.

ONE (1) parent out of 14 has said thank you.

It entirely depends on the volunteer leaders and how much time they are able and willing to give. My experience is in Guiding but a friend whose children have gone up through a scouting group had a great few years when all her children were going on at least two residential trips each year. Then a couple of the scout group leaders left and she has ended up becoming a leader herself because she did not want to see the unit close. I really do think that a lit of parents either don't realise or don't care that units are all run by volunteers. Sone of the condescending comments of mumnset of 'Brownies is crap' or why don't scouts do anything' are really uncalled for.

Perhaps you should volunteer to do fun stuff with them.

They won't though. The parents who moan and complain never offer to help.

These sort of parents use every excuse under the sun as to why they can't help. Conveniently ignoring the fact that the leaders and other volunteers also have jobs, children and other commitments, but they still show up each week.

Have you noticed the weather recently? I know "there's no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothes" but going out in the freezing rain every week is enough to put most young kids off Scouting. And probably a lot of leaders. I'm a Cub and Scout Leader and we've been indoors mostly because it's winter. We've had one camp, in a hut, and one very very wet and muddy hike. The camp was planned in summer, so we've had to book that, put deposit down, decide what activities to book, do risk assessments, etc. It's not as simple as saying let's go on camp!

It also means time off work for some of the leaders - if you've got leaders that work weekends or shifts then they might not want to use their leave for Scouting purposes, especially if they have a young family and need to use it for childcare during the school holidays.

If you don't like it, volunteer and improve it.

The leaders are all volunteers, some have been doing Scouts/Guides/Outdoor stuff for years, others are new to it. Some have Young People who will listen and act safely when told what to do - but other packs don’t and can’t take young people out of the hall safely as a result. Some leaders have the time for paperwork and planning and risk assessments - other groups are run on a wing and a prayer and just about keeping going with indoor sessions for ratios but don’t want to close the group. Some young people in some packs are less able for outdoor activities for a range of reasons (disabilities, not affording gear, multiple languages to manage etc) but can do a broad range of activities to develop those young people indoors.

if you have a concern, please talk to the leaders. And if you think they should be doing more, ask how you can help make that happen.

I just wanted to say how grateful I was that so many of the responses went this way. I read a thread not too long ago where people were just complaining about their kid's activities and there was no recognition of what it takes to run these groups. It made me feel like leaving.

My Mum ran Brownies then was a division lead for twenty years. We got raised in these groups and into the idea that life should involve service to others. I'm proud of what we do, and we do it with multiple kids. We've got volunteers who do Cubs whilst their Beavers kid is looked after by the Beaver leader. We've got ex Scout parents who stepped up to keep a pack going after their kid left and the pack would have folded. We make up a community which offers a way of life that all children should have access to. I'm proud of that.

As a former Beaver leader I agree with all PP’s. I ran an evening group and you couldn’t safely risk assess a lot of winter outdoor activities in the dark with potential for bad weather, plus some of our kids needed 121 due to additional needs. From Easter we went out a lot more. That relies on plenty of parent helpers to keep the activities safe. If you want your kids to do more, offer to help out. That’s how I got involved and as they knew I had a clear DBS, then I volunteered as Sectional Assistant then Leader. We had lots of parental support so did lots of activities. Other groups didn’t have that so the kids did less.

Also depends on the children - the Beavers might be a wild and naughty group so too risky to take them to the park or cinema.

And also loads of the kids get dropped off by car with no coats regardless of the weather!

I understand that they're run by volunteers and people are giving up their time for it. I wasn't moaning about it! Just noticed a stark difference between the two and wondered if it was normal. I didn't know if it was common to keep in boys a bit more because they can be a bit more wild. They might be doing more as the weather warms up like some people have suggested