Arghhh Brownies! Or am I the CF?

[Cellardoor84]

About 6 months ago my daughter decided she wanted to quit Brownies, fine with me. She stopped going but stupidly I forgot to let the unit know. I got a text 2 weeks ago asking if she was coming back, I told them no and apologised for forgetting to tell them (they would have been told by DD's friends in any case). She told me I would need to pay for the 6 months she's missed (plus an additional tenner for reasons I can't quite fathom). I asked if I could bank transfer, was told that wasn't possible. I said no problem and I would drop ilthe cash off when I could. Bear in mind this was 2 weeks ago. I was working late on the night brownies was on, the 2nd week it was cancelled. So I've had no opportunity yet.

Yesterday I get an angry text demanding I drop the money off right away, talking as though I wasn't planning to.

First - I don't remember signing any agreement stating the cancellation policy. Just a bit annoyed really and wanted to rant!

I am a Beaver leader, so maybe slightly different, but similar.

Although it is nice if a parents lets us know that a child has left, we do not expect it. This is why we try to get in contact with parents after maybe 3-4 weeks if we have not seen the child. It just means that we can offer the place to thr next child on the list.

I feel your DDs Brownie Leader should have done this.

Now, we do need subs to be kept up to date (half termly in our case) so that we can cover the childs membership of the organisation, insurance etc. However, we are not going to try to do that retrospectively for children who have left! Neither are we going to require notice or anything like that.

The idea seems absolutely ridiculous to me.

There is no national policy about chasing. When I'm on the ball I start chasing after a couple of weeks.

I'm running a 32 girl unit with an young leader off doing gcses and a unit helper who turns up on the night and that's it. My assistant is in the middle of chemo for the second time in less than a year and her 'D'P of 4 years left her a couple of months ago because he 'didn't sign up for this', so I'm holding her together for now. My dad had a bad fall last month, my job is making redundancies and I'm just about keeping up with the planning, accounts l, forms and weekly programme by myself.

I have lots on my mind and anyone telling me that my admin of this unpaid volunteer work is crap is more than welcome to do it for me. Seriously all I want to do is turn up run a session and go home. Someone else can deal with shirty parents and send them emails with the same information 4 times because even though it was in the paper handout they're ignoring it because they are bust people.

I know you didn't tell them she was leaving (and know you should have) but did they really keep her place open for 6 months?

It seems odd to leave it so long. Do you know anyone else in the group?

If your DD's place was filled in the last 6 months so they have not lost anything then I don't think you should be paying for the whole time (would accept a reasonable notice period).

Becles, not criticising at all. Can you get any support from your District? Parent rota?

I dont know what features GO offers, but its a shame you cant use OGM as it makes this a fairly painless process if its the same as OSM (and no, it is secure, it just doesnt automatically and iretrevably delete data as per GGUK request before anyone jumps on me)

In your shoes I'd pay for the term your child left in but not 6 months. It's very odd they will only take cash. I would insist in paying by cheque so that it can only go the club account not into the pocket of the leader.

You know you should have let you know but they cannot make you indefinitely.

@chowhound thank

Have supported district units but no offers when I'm on slate rota iron holiday.

Parents ignore any begging emails for an extra pair of hands

Just wanted to give a view of a volunteer leader (not with brownies but similar). I would be annoyed if a parent waited 6 months to tell me their child no longer wishes to attend. Usually if the child misses two weeks I'll send a message/email checking in with a polite reminder we have a waiting list so the space can easily go to someone else. I do get irritated when parents forget to pass vital info on as it takes more of my time but understand people have busy lives (myself included!)
I do not think it's ok for them to ask you for the payments. They may have been counting your DD into numbers for activities etc for the first couple of weeks but not for 6 months! Admin is one of the parts of the role and they should have been more on it contacting you for the place in my opinion

@becles in that case I think it might be time to produce a rota. You tell parents when their week is. If they cant make it, they need to swap themselves. I know its not something we like to do, but if you are really struggling and people are not meeting you halfway, it is not unreasonable.