Scout groups not enough Volunteers

[girlfriend44]

Local Scout group has lots of children signed up but enough volunteers do in danger of closing.

Is this the same everywhere?
What stops people from volunteering?

A lot of reasons have been given which I won't add to. I think one small one may be that the range of other volunteering options have increased over the years.

15 years as a Brownie and Guide leader means I need a break, plus I can't bring toddler DS with me and have no childcare.

That said, when DS2 is older I've said I'll help with outdoor cooking as I miss the woodsmoke. But no more risk assessments, no more stupid Go! and no more politics.

Reading this thread has made me realise one issue - while most people split into those who will and will not volunteer, scouting is a harder thing to volunteer for than other volunteer options.

I don’t help out at my ds’s scouts routinely (bar when they put out appeals to help pack vans before camp, or set up for events - we’ll be helping set out for the fireworks on Saturday), I do, however volunteer with other organisations locally. Scouts is tough. It’s a big commitment of time and you do need to be fit and healthy.

many people feel they’ve “done their bit” helping elsewhere, but I’m not sure how you’d make scouts easier to volunteer for without making it a bit shit for the kids attending.

scouting is a harder thing to volunteer for than other volunteer options

I think that can be true of some other volunteer options, but I can think of plenty that are much harder. I'm a Cub Leader, and while it's time consuming, I don't think it's particularly hard in the way that volunteering for an emergency service, or the Samaritans etc would be. I don't think I could ever do that.

The good thing about scouting is that there are roles to suit everyone. Being the Cub Leader is full on, but I was an assistant leader previously, and it wasn't nearly as time consuming. I have an assistant who attends every other week, due to his shift patterns. My DH is the Group Chair, and it's mostly an admin job, and he finds it easy to fit in. Most people could probably find some way to help, if they just asked, without it being all consuming.

Because I can't volunteer until DS's can both get a space.
Because you can't get a space until there are more volunteers.

@ChristmasCakeAndStilton - try a different group. Overwhelmingly groups will move any child up the waiting list if the parent is willing to step forward as a Leader. To the extent I am really surprised to hear of a Group that doesn't have that as a Policy.

@emptythelitterbox

Do you still have to have DC in scouting to volunteer or be a leader?
My DC loved being in scouts in their youth.
I'm a grandma who would love to do this.

You have never had to have dc in Scouts to volunteer. All mine have taken on Leadership roles at 18.
I became a Leader when I became too old for Venture Scouts many decades ago. We have lots of volunteers that don't have dc at all, let alone dc who are of an age to be Scouts.

Grandmas are definitely welcome in my District.

I very much agree with @budgiegirl

used to be a volunteer in guiding. Couldnt be now because I dont agree with the attitude to safe guarding. Considered being a Scouts volunteer instead but feel I've done my bit, the regular commitment is too much when I want to be free to do other things at a moments notice and I really dont like one of the local volunteers.

I’m on the committee as I don’t camp! Will help on camp as long as I don’t have to sleep in a tent! DH loves camping and hiking but doesn’t have time to be a leader but will be an extra adult if required. Both of us DBS checked

My DP offered to be a volunteer when DS was in scouts. He was asked if he was Christian and when he said 'no' (atheist) they argued with him, said 'but for instance, when you look at a beautiful flower don't you see gods work?' No.

‘Too many feckless parents see it as a baby sitting service’

get a grip. In our case it was Because I couldn’t commit to the time they wanted for my DS to be able to join, on the night they held it. There aren’t many grass roots organisations that say your child can join if you immediately volunteer and here’s all the hours you need to put it.

I have a fulltime job, 2 kids in various activities, I coach one of their sports as a volunteer which takes up 2 eves a week already, and I also volunteer at a charity.
DW travels for work, worlds fulltime and volunteers at her own sport.

it’s a shame but if your child joins a grass roots football team, while you may be asked to lift share, help out with fundraising, or putting up goals or even reffing occasionally no-one is after an immediate, complicated commitment in the same way.

for many parents it’s already a commitment just helping their child take part in a sport or activity as it is.

I was a scout leader for a while (I didn't have a child in the unit, but I got roped in by an old friend as they couldn't get any female leaders). I left as I was fed up of being treated like shit the parents scraped off their shoe.

And as for the whole ‘higher power’ thing … there are just better activities for modern kids to be a part of than a quasi military organisation that has a belief in a god at the heart of it.

Scouts is multifaith, including atheist and humanist, these days.

We were scout and cub leaders 30 years ago. We could see the shift coming then. We took the group over then to stop it closing.

It's actually, as others have said, more than rock up once a week and keep kids busy! There is planning, and these days, risk assessments training, accounts, etc. There are so many restrictions on what you can and can't do. Going mixed sex whilst giving a new lease of life also added its own challenges. We lost boys who didn't want to have their sisters there! telling parents what they were up to Apparently, there are more girls in our old troop than boys now. I can imagine that fewer men will come forward to run groups that are predominantly girls.
We kept it going until somebody better came along and then bowed out.

It really isn't. We taught DS the secular promise for Beavers - his leader told him that was silly and he should say God instead. DS is only just turned 6 so he felt pressured into it

I used to volunteer for guides when I had an office job and had some time to give. The prep was pretty intense and I ended up doing it in my paid job on the sly. Not good.
When I changed sectors to education I realised it was going to be impossible to do both. I would assume that a lot of people who like children and are therefore willing to do voluntary work with them are in the same sector and to be honest, our jobs sprawl into our free time enough were lucky if we get to sleep and eat and keep our houses running let alone anything else. My partner who ran it with me got a job in social services and couldn't commit to the time involved for similar reasons.

I left before guides abandoned safeguarding so I won't go back until that has been resolved. As it is they seem to be doubling down on their idiotic decisions.

I also ran my unit in my own way and ignored all the boring 'wife training' activities. As a result we were popular, but equally I wouldn't want to join in an established group who place emphasis on how to be a 'proper girl' which is so based on stereotypes they welcome males who like sewing over football and ignore the safeguarding implications of claiming to be single sex when they are not.

Similarly I'm an atheist and basically ignored the god part, gritted my teeth through the promises and did rememberable Sundays etc from a non religious pov. I'm not willing to put the kind of religious judgement and pressure I suffered through as an atheist child in the organisation and again, another group might operate that way. I don't think they are truly inclusive as yet because they cling to the old ways.(I mean inclusive in the true sense of the word, not pandering to sexist stereotypes- guides still do that, not sure about scouts).

So basically it comes down to life commitments and unwillingness to push beliefs on children in exchange for providing fun opportunities. Feels a bit culty.

I'm musing with starting my own non religious, non woo organisation when my kids are old enough but again it will depend if I can keep up with the time commitments. It's not a small thing to ask people to volunteer for. I volunteer for local playgroups and the prep and time consuming nature of it is worlds away from scouts and guides, the responsibilities of which could easily be a full time job.

I find it quite astounding that grown adults are deeming others lazy for not volunteering in the cost of living crisis.

Better things to do with my time then volunteer and look after other peoples kids.

That's totally up to you. As long as you don't then complain that the scout/guide/sports club run by volunteers isn't run the way you like it, or has to close due to lack of volunteers.

It’s not just Scouts, volunteering in general is becoming more a burden than a pleasure. I gave up because it was being run on the same lines as a commercial business. The final straw was being told to report to my “manager” when I told them that I wasn’t able to commit my time anymore. I was then told I was letting myself and the charity down. Never again.

Which is fine cos presumably you don't send your kids to any volunteer led groups.

I volunteer but I took on the role with the least commitment because I also have several roles volunteering with Samaritans. If some of us don't do it, none of our kids can go so I figure it evens out of everyone does what they can

Wow. that is very weird, and completely against Scouts Policy, and has been for a long time. I mean, even putting aside the daft question which 99.99999% of Christians wouldn't ask people anyway

You are clearly confusing 21st century Scouting with Scouting in the 1920s.

None of what you have written describes Scouting today.

As an organisation, it really is.

If one of the thousands upon thousands of volunteers has gone rogue, that is the one volunteer - obviously it is up to you if you want to follow that up with the Group Scout Leader, or even at District Level or not. If no-one tells them they won't necessarily know.

I'm musing with starting my own non religious, non woo organisation when my kids are old enough

It's already been invented - look up Woodcraft Folk