To think more Scouts should have made this a priority?

[Thrif]

DS2's Scout troup visited a local church yard today to tidy some graves "from the war" and lay poppies. They do it every year. DS2 wasn't particularly excited to go but I told him it wasn't supposed to be fun but was a necessary mark of respect and that part of being a scout means you turn up as required, not just when you fancy it. The least he could do after what those people gave etc

He was one of only two who turned up!

It was a Saturday afternoon, so I realise some will have had other commitments and families may have had plans but they had plenty of notice and it was one hour out of a weekend.

AIBU to think this was a really poor show on the part of the Scouts and their parents ?

Ds1 won't be attending the remembrance parade. Unfortunately he has a cup football match at 11am, and most of the team are scouts so they will sadly be a few down. They will have a minutes silence just before kick off however.

"It's not about respect or lack of. It's about scouts being on a Friday eve. That is the time he has for scouts. Not Sunday." So does he never do camp or any trips or hikes or sleepovers?

My two are both cadets (army & air). Yesterday was poppy selling day and today is parade day.

One thing I do see is that all events are organised. Attendees know well in advance where they are expected to be, at what time and what the dress code is (shiny boots seem to feature a lot!).

Clashes are known well in advance. I'm afraid that just hoping people will turn up is a recipe for failure.

I try and get my DC to things that are organised, even if they aren't that keen or we have to rearrange stuff as a family. We both work full time so sometimes the weekend events can be a PITA but we very rarely miss stuff. I want my children to understand that they can't cherry pick the bits that they fancy like the camps and trips and leave the rest. Imagine if we did that as adults! Also, I am very aware that the leaders are volunteers and also have families, jobs and commitments of their own. I am sure that they would sometimes like to give things that they didn't fancy a miss too! I'm not talking about clashes with football matches, more the it's raining, my child might melt while cutting back the bushes at the scout hut.

it's dd's birthday today - she's off on parade now - she'd probably have rather stayed in bed & eaten chocolate but she isn't complaining.

She's missed the last two years because we've been away. Sometimes it happens - occasionally she's had to miss 'fun' things because we've had other plans. There are six of us all with various commitments, often things clash.

YANBU. That must have been very disappointing for the scout leader. Obviously some of the children will have prior commitments they can't escape from or parents who can't give them a lift if they need one, but I bet they all didn't. I imagine the turn out would have been greater if it was a trip to a theme park and I think that's very sad.

tending graves is a nice thing to do. It seems that scouts/guides do it on the Saturday before the country's remembrance day (so, close to 25 April and Australia and NZ, 10 Nov in the UK).

But is there actually a reason it has to be done specifically so the graves look nice for Remembrance or ANZAC Day, given that the kids will be occupied all of Remembrance Sunday as well? Is there a way it could be done a few times during the rest of the year?

I can see (and agree with) the points about "you're always or never a scout" but unless the troupe meets somewhere with good and safe public transport links, I can't imagine most of the kids not having interference from the committments of modern life... including intransigent rugby squads, etc.