To ask why you don’t volunteer for school / PTA / Parent Council Events?

[whyismykid]

Is it because you are too busy? Don’t think it’s important? The people who organise these type of events are irritating? Think the school have all the funds they need so it’s not worth the bother?

What would enable you (or persuade you) to help out?

200 people attended the event I planned today and had a good time but only 8 people volunteered to help. I understand that the planning and preparing for events is time consuming (it totally is!) so I’d only expect a small number of people to be able to take that on, but it should be different for on the day help I would think? I made sure each volunteer slot was only 45 mins long, so that people could also take part with their families, and made it clear what each volunteer job involved. Online sign up
so super easy.

What else can I do? it’s a school of 750 pupils and I have a summer fair to attract volunteers for next, any ideas?

I totally agree that it's a thankless task. Any kind of volunteering is! I don't do the school PTA but I do help organise and run a youth club. It does tend to be the same faces who pull their weight. I did go along to the school PTA meetings for a short while. It didn't feel inclusive and the people running it seemed to be incredibly sanctimonious and not at all open to any new input. They spent funds on the most extrodiary things with the hope of making money (tea towels with a picture of the school on, fridge magnets dito ) wondered why they didn't fly, wouldn't have been so bad if they were student designs. There was literally zero interest from the school leadership team, so didn't feel like a PTA, more of a PA! The school secretary was the only one who ever showed up. It was more of an excuse for parents to bitch to be honest!! The events were compulsory (or at least massively noted if you didn't go) the experience I had of this particular school is that it was lacking in a proper goal, lacked a wider motivation for inclusion or general purpose and lacked the scope to dip in and dip out with a hands out grabby attitude from the school as nobody really ever knew where the money went anyway.

Oh and just to add whilst I might be lazy and selfish I would never ever slag off any event or fete etc that other people have set up and run, I am amazed that people do either on SM or face to face.

Because I work full time and struggle enough with that, family, and coping with mental health problems. That and DP is rarely around to help. I kind of resent the assumption that I can't be bothered or don't give a shit.

I do give my time and then some! I am very involved with our Parent Council (meetings held in the evening and we alternate between two nights of the week to reach more parents) however evening meetings don't suit everyone as they often then have children at home and no one to look after them.
Thankfully we always have enough volunteers - just and I've come to realise that they are worth their weight in gold.
We try and thank them really well. Note to self...must arrange another wine and cheese night to say thanks!

Required how Steff? Did the children get kicked out if you didn’t do it? What a little nazi school

I don't know what happened if we didn't do it; we did. It was part of the agreement. Studies have shown that parental involvement positively impacts student achievement. We chose that school because it was the best in the area. If they expected us to participate, we participated. 🤷

I don't volunteer because there is a clique of parents who do and I find them quite intimidating. None of them work (I do, full time) and I couldn't possibly commit to the amount of time they do. I will always happily donate though.

Sprinkles - my DS goes to private school as I said up-thread and as a result I don't feel obliged to help out much on the PTA as I assume that the school fees cover the essentials and my friend (who is on the committee and gives me all the gossip) was told that they are struggling for ideas for how to spend the money raised and were advised by the Head to pay for a particularly expensive piano . Forgive me if I don't want to give up much of my free time to support that endeavour.

However this does not mean I do not volunteer - I certainly do - but not much for that particular cause.

It’s a very reasonable question, and I am always grateful for those people that do. When I didn’t volunteer for fair/make cakes for stall etc it was usually because: I had done so for the first four years; I had taken on a volunteer role for another organisation; I thought it was dh turn, told him but wasn’t about to insist; the kids weren’t interested in the event; I felt stretched in other areas of life.

I’m too jaded to want to bother. Toddler group & Preschool committee have left me jaded. I also don’t like the commitment element & subsidising where schools should be fully funded.

I have done bits for the PTA but I haven't joined because I don't enjoy it. I think it's a very inefficient way of raising funds, and I'm not a fundraiser type ( eg I don't like asking for freebies or twisting arms ).
The PTA events I go to, are from a sense of duty. They're not really what I enjoy. School fair- buying other people's unwanted bric a brac, or winning regifted supermarket toiletries on the tombola? It's not great...
DCs have always enjoyed the discos though.
I've had at least 1 child in primary for over a decade. I have done school trips galore, 1:1 reading support for many many years, and a huge literacy project- 2 years of 4 hours per week. All voluntary. All contributing. Just getting on with it. No drama. No flouncing. No whinging about what anyone else is/ isn't doing.

All those people who say they would rather give money-well, I have countless times made this an easy thing to do. And nobody ever does!

And each attempt was greeted with people saying they would much rather give a bit of time. Probably the same people.

Chiefly business, but cant do daytime meetings (working) and evening meetings are particularly difficult to make as dh often not home til 8pm. I do volunteer for the school fete though.

I work upto 50hrs a week, mostly evenings & weekends. When I was a SAHM I would help out on school events (fete, Christmas fayre etc) but the whole PTA committee is a clique I'd rather avoid like the plaque. They are the very middle class mums who aren't accepting of those who are different so I keep well away

And YY very common to hear "Id rather give money" but I've yet to meet anyone who actually does.

I used to do loads.

The new people took over the pta and now I'd rather just give the school £100 donation than have to deal with them. They're vile.

Because the woman who is head of our PTA shagged my ex, when DS1 was quite little! And because she whispers and sniggers with her mate whenever I'm in her presence. I wondered what all that was about for years until ex told me about it (as though he was chatting about the weather, and why would I be bothered anyway as we'd split up now? )

I do go in and listen to reading, help on school trips etc though, as she doesn't have a child in my class. And I've helped run volunteer play schemes over summer holiday and loads of other things so I think I've probably done my bit even if I avoid helping at official PTA stuff.

Should point out that he wasn't an ex at the time she shagged him...

rookiemere - don’t blame you for a second! I’d be the same

“BarbarianMum

And YY very common to hear "Id rather give money" but I've yet to meet anyone who actually does.”

Some of us like to give anonymously. I recently made a substantial donation to ds’s school to help fund a certain item of equipment & his grandad’s company donated the balance but we didn’t make a song & dance about it.

I left because the chair was a massive bellend.

It folded.

I've volunteered again because I'm a sucker for saying yes and helping.

Also as a governor I can confirm that many parents help out financially in ways that are not via the PTA

Because it's usually run by the school yard bitches who all seem to have special kids that get all the best bits in the play etc etc... Sure not every school, I have just yet to come across one that isn't one massive clique.
I spend money at events and have helped in the past. So glad I now have one that I don't need to stand in the yard for.

Imagine.... you go to the supermarket. Buy flour, sugar, eggs, butter, icing sugar, vanilla essence, food colouring or sprinkles/ choc buttons maybe.... Spend a tenner.
Spend two hours baking and decorating a cake which you see for sale on the PTA stall for £2.50!!!!

Because i got fed up of only being talked to when they needed people to sign up to things, no directuon on the day and not a thank you. Plus its the same stuff. It all revolves around cake/ choc/ food/ selling prosecco. Its not interesting to me. Plus all that 'doing it for the kids'. I live in a very mc area. Those kids dont need the pta cash. Other schools do

I dislike dealing with groups of people. Nothing in this earth would make me volunteer my time to deal with a group of people, most of whom I wouldn't ordinarily chose to spend time with.