Why is beavers so late?

[TwentyTwenty20]

I'd love to put my son in beavers but it's from 6:00 until 7:15. By the times he's got home, had a bath, had a bedtime story and wound down and actually fallen asleep it'd be 8:15/8:30. Feels quite late for a 5 year old who is usually in bed by 7. Does this feel a bit late or is this the norm for beavers? Anyone else's kids cope OK? He has to be up for 6 so would only get around 9.5 hours sleep. He usually gets 11+

If it doesn't work for you, swap to a different activity.

Whilst I appreciate you feel some people are being aggy, can you see why it may bother people that you didn't even consider the needs of the volunteers? Have you considered volunteering there to support them?

If people are getting upset to the point that they'd be rude, simply because I asked about whether other people's beaver clubs also run at the same time, and for advice on whether their children coped with it OK, then they are being over sensitive.

I didn't criticise anyone. I didn't say it was wrong. I'm simply trying to gauge whether it would be OK for a child who gets up at 6, and if other people do the same with their kids.

It baffles me how people can find such offence in the smallest things on here.

Its perfect for us (our beavers is slightly later than yours). It means we can work, have a normal dinner for our child, and then she goes in the lul between dinner and bed.

She's home by 7.30, straight up to bed, no bath and is in bed all done by her usual bedtime of 7.45/8.

I don't think this is late.

7 is a pretty early bedtime. My 5 year old twin DC go down at 20:30 and are up at 6.

Skip the bath on beavers nights; it's not necessary. Just straight into bed when he gets home.

Don’t know why people are so upset? if scouts/beavers prefer non-working parents , they are perfectly entitled to (none of our leaders work). Its a volunteer lef activity, so fair enough to prefer parents with a lot if time/flexibility.
Going to bed after 9 and waking up at 6:30 (breakfast club from 7:30) just doesn’t work for many children of working parents. So we do other activities and leave cubs /beavers to parents with more time. Fair enough.

I think everyone has different "normals"
7pm would be far too early to go to bed for both our 5yr and 2.5yr old! And 6am far too early to regularly get up. (Although the toddler gets up at 6.15am twice a week for childcare reasons). DS does swimming and Karate, 7pm finish but regularly runs over so home at 7.30, snack, chat, story bedtime around 8.15pm.

I do find “6am is too early to wake up” or if just doesn’t work, funny.

I’m three kids deep and haven’t found a way to keep them asleep when they naturally wake up. Even if I put them to bed at 11pm, they’d still all be up at 6am, cranky, and falling asleep in the car etc. I myself naturally wake at 6.30. Is that wrong?

how do you force your kids to stay asleep in the mornings?

It's one day a week OP. Let him do it. He will have a blast, and meet other children outside school. Beavers is great fun.

Ours is 5.30 till 6.30 and thags a push for me with a full time job and 3 kids of my own

If people are getting upset to the point that they'd be rude, simply because I asked about whether other people's beaver clubs also run at the same time, and for advice on whether their children coped with it OK, then they are being over sensitive.

1. People aren't being rude
2. you didn't start a thread asking if other people's dc cope with their dc going to beavers, you started a thread literally saying "Why is Beavers so late"

I didn't criticise anyone. I didn't say it was wrong. I'm simply trying to gauge whether it would be OK for a child who gets up at 6, and if other people do the same with their kids.

Many people reply to the title question.
It reads like a criticism.
I don't know how often you are on MN, but there are, unfortunately too many people who do start threads criticising people who give up their time to run things like Scouts / Guides / PTA things / Sports Teams.

There's one running tonight about being asked to wash the kit for the team their dc plays for once a season, just as an example.

That's why volunteers get fed up.

Ours is 6pm-7pm. It's fine for DS. He usually goes to bed around 8.30-9pm, and is up at 7am. He eats a meal before we go, and another snack after the session. We have a very quick shower those nights instead of a bath.

Sorry some people have been a bit stroppy at you OP! My 5 yr old dd does Rainbows 5-6pm so yes your timings for Beavers do seem quite late, more similar to Brownies here who are aged 7-10yrs and do 6.15-7.30pm. My 5 year old could manage that just about, but gets up at 7.30am so a different situation! I can see why you would be a bit concerned if they have to be up at 6am. You could try it out and have an early night the next night.

ps op he doesn’t need a bath after beavers.
we always do “express bedtime”
after beavers/cubs etc. so they are in bed within half an hour of getting home.

Luckily ours is 5-6:15. (From age 6) on a Friday.

cubs next term is 7-8 on a weekday though, which will feel very late! Understand why though I guess.

My children went on days I work, stay at home parents very rare here and busy with a waiting list. It needs to be a bit later to allow for people to get kids from childcare and feed them and send them back out, so it's a no win situation for some people.

@HauntedPencil agreed there are two local to me one at 6 the other 6.30. Not a chance I could get my kids collected from different places home fed and back out for 6.00 I struggle for 6.30.

Lots of kids would miss out if they were too early also leaders need time to finish work too.

That's normal time for Beavers. Our Squirrels group runs from 5-6, Beavers from 6-7, Cubs from 6.30-8 and Scouts 7.30-9.15 (on different nights!).

Cubs from 7 to 8:30, monday as well. impossible for working parents (as kids need to go to breakfast club), but maybe that’s intended? working parents don’t make good volunteers so doing clubs late is a good way to ensure you only get parents who work parttime at most

I find this a very odd statement. I would think that for many working parents, a later time such as this is better, not worse. Of course I get that it may affect those who have to get up very early for breakfast club, but for every one of those, there will be some that can't get there for an earlier start time due to work commitments. It certainly works better for volunteers who work. Many of my cub leaders would struggle to get there before our start time of 6.30pm.

Don’t know why people are so upset? if scouts/beavers prefer non-working parents , they are perfectly entitled to (none of our leaders work). Its a volunteer lef activity, so fair enough to prefer parents with a lot if time/flexibility

I think people are getting upset at your suggestion that scouts leaders don't also hold down full time jobs! We have a total of 19 leaders across our scout group, and with the exception of one (who does not work due to disability), we all have full time jobs. One of our cub leaders has two jobs. I think this is perfectly normal, I know of very few leaders in the wider district who don't work, unless retired. Nowhere does scouts ever suggest that they'd prefer non-working parents. In fact, most of the time, we go out of our way to accommodate the needs of working parents, as we all know how tricky this can be - most of us have been there/done that/are still doing it.

I'm a Brownie leader and I run my Brownie unit at a time that suits me and my family. End of. If you want your daughter to attend and can manage the time, then great. If you can't manage that time or day, then bad luck. The same applies to Scouting groups. I don't give a moments thought to needs of parents, working or otherwise. Their lives and convenience aren't my problem.

As it happens I run my Brownie unit from 5pm to 6.30pm at the moment. It is at that time purely because it fits in with another activity which my own daughter does. Next year, she won't be doing that activity and I think we'll change the time of Brownies to later in the evening because it will suit me better.

When DS was that age, his Beavers ran from 6-7.15pm and he managed just fine.