To as if other children strongly dislike cadets?

[MumEeeee]

DS wanted to join air cadets, quite hard to get into but we got a place.

All the reviews are amazing, everyone raves about it but DS, despite loving sports/ scouts and being super enthusiastic to start has gone off it pretty fast.

Just wondering if it’s that unusual? Drill he found dull and awkward, the memorising drill and stuff mainly too (loved some history, but not stuff like memorising the drill book). He felt the trade off of occasional camps and stuff in the future was amazing, but he couldn’t do all the other stuff to get to them two nights a week. They also run until really late, cleaning up starting about 9:35 so it’s hard to collect them. Other teens were really really nice kids, but again he felt the rest would be dull.

Would you encourage to stick at it a little? Or just stop. Tbh, inside I know I’d not be keen on drill

How long has he been going?
Maybe give it 3 months? But if he hates it then no point pushing it.
I'm sure it wouldn't suit loads of kids.

The problem with longer is the uniform
costs hit… not cheap

Scouts aren't as formal?

if you haven't got as far as uniform outlay I'd just drop. Not everything suits everyone, and sometimes you don't know until you try.

Not even a fraction. More a big social group and fun. Earlier this week cadets had 1.5 hours of drill ‘about turn… forward March’ etc. expectations are far far higher, interest badges vs a learning portal that is huge and complex. It’s like an after school club vs 11+ cramming in feel.

I mean it doesn’t really matter if other kids would find it boring - obviously loads like it. But then loads of kids like rugby or singing lessons but that doesn’t mean your kid would like it. He doesn’t like it. It’s too bad but the uniform will have cost the same if he quits now or in 6 months.

If he's honestly given it a good go (it sounds as if he has) it might be better to let it drop before uniform expenses bite.
I loved Girl Guides from 11 to 16, but didn't take to Land Rovers at all; in my case, more of the same when I was ready for a change, and the "good stuff" clashed with other interests I was developing, plus being at an academically demanding school with homework eating into my free time.
It sounds as if he's taking up a place which another youngster would love to fill, but if you don't try these things out, how would you ever know?
If he were an habitual "flitter" you might react differently, but it sounds as if he's mature enough for a sensible discussion about this.

Thanks @twoshedsjackson thats a thoughtful reply. I guess sometimes it’s a bit FOMO when everyone else raves about something.
He’s been in scouts age 6-13 so yes, he’s reasonable.

When I was at school we had compulsory cadets. They were tiered, by us, as follows;
Army cadets; the default. Outdoors, fun, boisterous, parade drill/marching, guns, fairly cool.
Navy cadets; The stoners, kids who prematurely wore leather jackets and sunglasses and other similar refuseniks. Indoors, cool kids but zero fun. For some reason they all wore their berets in “inflated” or fully pulled down over their ears mode.
Air cadets; spods, indoors, social death. Very boring.

But this was 25+ years ago so probably of no relevance, I just wanted to share!

I’d let him walk away. Air cadets is fun at university when they actually teach flying. Not sure what children would get to do but that much drill is ridiculous and says to me the instructor is clueless too. When I did army cadets it was 10 minutes drill then onto map reading / first aid / exercise etc.

My ds is 13 and does combined cadets (army & airforce). He enjoys it, yes they do drill but lots of other cool stuff too. They mess about with drones, learn first aid and CPR, they are also learning to handle weapons.
He finds the residential camps hard work, the conditions are very basic and the discipline is strict. And packing the kit is a bloody nightmare, I get very stressed about that!!
His cadets is based at school though, so a few of his friends do it, and it’s straight after school 4pm - 6pm. He’s home by 6:30.

I could have written this op.

My ds's are 14 and 12 and have been going to Air Cadets for about 5 weeks - and so far it's unfortunately not a hit at all. They're only still going at my insistance they give it a really good go and we'll see how they feel in Sept.

They're both quite fit, sporty and outdoorsy. After reading all the adverts for it, I thought it would be ideal for them. I've also read reviews which rave about the sports, team work, camping, survival skills, general outdoorsy things, community activities, DoE, shooting, flying etc.

I pre warned them that there's a mix - and that unlike football where they love every single session there'd be more 'sedate' and learning based things, mixed with activities. So they knew not to expect being out climbing mountains and firing guns from day 1!

But so far, out of 10 sessions, they've only had one that they really enjoyed and another that they kind of enjoyed, which were outdoor active things and sports based.

The other 8 have been drills (which they don't hate but certainly don't love), first aid course, theory of drills, history of RAF lecture type things, uniform care and last week, the cream on the cake, they spent a whole 2 hour session learning how to clean boots properly 🙈

They say it just feels like an extra 5 hours of school a week and that all of the other boys there are the bookish, indoor type (think they used the work geeky) that don't play sports anyway and love the lectures.

Overall I'm disappointed because I thought they'd have been far more active than they are and it seems a bit much to sit new recruits at 12-14 in a hall and talk at them for 5 hours a week and expect them to love it. I know they need to be taught the 'boring stuff' about discipline, drills, uniform care, safety - but I thought they'd have made more of an effort to mix it up in the early weeks to try and lure them in with some super fun stuff too!

If anything, my concern about any of the military type clubs was that it might be a little rough and for that reason we chose RAF rather than Army Cadets! But I'm now wondering if Army Cadets might have been a bit more hands on and active. Or are they all the same?

I'm going to keep them in it and encourage them to persevere in the hope that their group (misguidedly imo) purposely get all the boring stuff done first and that it kicks up a notch in the coming weeks.

My niece adored sea cadets and got a lot out of it - she liked the drill but also did a lot of coastal rowing, windsurfing, sailing etc and lived the regular camps and time away at sea. All her uniform (both number 4s and number 1s) was supplied free though, and the camps were ridiculously cheap. Probably about ten years ago now, but a week away sailing on Jack Petchy cost around £50 all in.

Swap out for sea cadets/Royal Marine Cadets.
I've heard that the uniform for Royal Marine Cadets is supplied and cist is just a deposit. They do a bit of drill but some really fantastic courses at a fraction of their true cost (some I think are bursaried but don't quote me, I guess depends on personal circs) and also their area camps are really good fun apparently.

Meant to add She got opportunities that would not have been available otherwise. They performed at the Edinburgh tattoo. They attended launches of new royal navy vessels. She got lots of water sports that her mother could never have afforded otherwise, including training as a swimming instructor and windsurfing instructor that in turn meant she could get paid work in the holidays. She was invited to speak to an audience of 1500 about her experiences. She ended up studying as a merchant navy officer cadet which in turn meant that she had was paid a bursary each month to cover her living expenses and her tuition was also covered.

All cadet forces should be issued free loan of basic uniform. So what uniform are you having to pay for?

It really doesn't matter what others think. We all have different tastes, hobbies, different units etc. My daughter absolutely loves the sea cadets (junior) and she has plenty to compare with. But it's her. Her siblings probably won't be following her footpath.

One of my grandchildren goes to sea scouts which seems to involve lots of water based activities especially in the summer when they seem to be kayaking, sailing, etc. most of the time! They had one trial session of sea cadets and decided it wasn't for them - lots of classroom based activities and drills it seems.

My ds loves CCF. And I didn't expect that at all. He's in air cadets and does CCF through school. Hasn't seen a plane yet, but has done fun stuff at camps.

This is exactly how my sons would categorise their compulsory CCF 🤣. The Air Cadets all think they are going to be the Next Top Gun in Y9 however but in fact are more likely Next Top in Obscure Computer Game…Everyone is dying to escape by Y10 unless there is an forces family background/career planned.

I think, like all youth groups, it's very much dependent on the volunteer leaders.

Yes, there is a lot of drill etc but plenty of fun stuff too, if it's a good group.

The trick is to get promoted ASAP!

We didn't pay for uniform, other than some secondhand 'greens', parade shoes and boots, but even a lot of that was available from stuff donated back to the group.

Between them mine went to outward bound trips, volunteered at RIAT, leadership training camp, annual camps at RAF bases (including abroad but sadly cancelled due to Covid), ski trips (about 1/4 the price of the school trip), parades all over including at the Cenotaph, played in the band etc. And flying and gliding of course!

Oh and most useful lifeskill - ironing

My daughter does this. Her uniform is supplied free of charge, she does really exciting activities every week and absolutely loves it. Maybe if there’s another squadron close by he can transfer? Sounds like this one just isn’t run very well.

Seems to be a natural progression from Scouts where there's no Explorer Scouts (have you checked for this) in the area to move into.

I'd ask them to give it a little longer. Though the uniform I thought was free as standard (just as the cadets is also free), just the boots needed to be paid for.

My son joined the army cadets about 4 months ago and despite not knowing anyone there and being quite quiet he is enjoying it. They don't spend that much time doing the drills though, I think he would find that boring.
The uniform and kit is all free apart from the boots. I'd imagine it very much depends on the people running each unit. He chose army cadets over air cadets as air cadets seemed a lot of theory around flying which was not something that interested him.

I wouldn't say it's unusual for it to not to be a child's cup of tea

Tbh I'd say the majority of children might not like cadets

(Mainly due to the perception from other children about those who do cadets!)