Scouts weekend trip- would you expect updates/a few photos?

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If your child has gone on an overnight trip with scouts, is it unreasonable to expect a few group photos or a quick update from the leaders? It’s DS first trip away and he was a little apprehensive camping for the first time. We’ve not received a single photo or update on the group chat. I messaged privately & got a very general reply with an implied don’t bother me again so I’m left feeling uneasy. It’s cubs scouts and ds is age 8.

I am being unreasonable - parents don’t need to be updated at all
YANBU - parents should be sent a group pic/update daily.

As i've said we didnt have texts or photos during scout, cub or beaver trips. I was comfortable with this. They were brilliant experiences for my DD who gained so much independence. I am genuinely thankful to the leaders. I trusted if there was a problem they would contact me.

Others might not be comfortable with these arangements - every family is different. If as a parent you arent the time to ask is before you agree to your kid going. A quick - 'do you usually send updates during the camp' at the end of the meeting is fine. If they dont & you're not comfortable dont send your child. It isnt a safeguarding requirement, you cant expect it. These are volunteers working 24 hours to give children a great time. As this thread illustrates for a myriad of reasons many groups dont.

A huge part of Scouts is developing independence, alongside robust policies and procedures for keeping children safe.

If you don't trust the leaders, why allow your child to go?

Otherwise, trust them to keep your child safe, and to contact you if they need to.

Allow your child a weekend with leaders you trust to have all sorts of fun, and tell you about it themselves when they get home.

DD came home from her first Brownies weekend, aged 7, saying that she knew how to use a sharp knife for cooking. They had taught her far better than I would how to use it safely. It was great six months later when I did my back in and could only lie on the floor and talk her through cooking meals like spag bol.

Stop molly coddling your kid, it’s one night; photos are difficult in groups as some kids are allowed photos and others aren’t; let the scout leaders concentrate on what they are there for, looking after your kid and making sure they have a good time.

Then they need to face up to and deal with their anxiety, not expect the volunteers caring for their children to also carry their anxiety.

If you can't cope with that, don't allow your child on camp. Though I would feel sorry for the child.

Or, you could assume they are 'safe and accounted for' unless you hear to the contrary.

If you mean the OP, it actually comes across as a parent criticising the Volunteers who have given so much of their time and energy, to give all the young people a wonderful experience, to me, and clearly many other people on this thread.

Absolutely not would I expect updates.
We worked with the assumption that no news was good news.
We didnt get updates on cubs, scouts or y5 residentials.
Leaders have e e ought to fo looking after the kids.

Not necessarily. You decide on Your In Touch process, based on your Risk Assessment. It doesn't have to include a formal home contact.

Nope

Lots of great responses above, there are so many reasons why volunteer Scout leaders do not post, and they are all good. I will add one more, because things change a fair bit on camp from hour to hour, and the volunteers that have given their time up to run the camp, will be constantly busy making sure the young people they are responsible for are safe, warm, well fed, entertained and reassuring on a 1 to 1 basis for some young people etc. It is hard yards. I am afraid that if you post happy news that "all is well" or some lovely photos, some parents take this as a "carte blanche" to go out and have a child-free night out. If you send your child on camp, then it is definitely fair for you to hope for the best and enjoy child-free time and not dread a call for a pick up (it is rare), equally, it is not fair for volunteers to deal with a ill or hysterically homesick child waking the whole campsite because their parents are not answering the phone or have been out and cannot pick up. We have just been on camp, and all was fine at 7pm, by 8pm, two parents had been called, who did come with no problem. It really does change sometimes within an hour. No comms = all good for now. I would also add that most scout groups love someone who volunteers to come on camp, esp if child is a bit nervous, gets the DBS, shares the workload, and then gets the reassurance they need for them, and themselves too. If a camp is offered, you will usually be able to go...just ask. x

No news is good news!

The other thing you can do to help if you cannot be a leader is to have a parents group - for fundraising, helping to set up camp if local, helping with newsletters, sewing on badges for parents. Some parents groups still stay together long after DC have left explorers.

I swear as well all the tent poles interfere with the phone signal

My group will usually post a couple of things on its Facebook each for a weekend camp , but no guarantee and it depends on what else is going on. Big camps there might be a verbal update of “we’ve arrived all settled in” or “despite seeing Noah’s ark float past no one has been washed away” We usually deliberately don’t post photos until after they’ve all got home so that the camp is something the YP can tell the parents about themselves

I am Guide leader with sons in Scouts. His Scouts never send updates but will contact in an emergency.
For our Guides we find that for many this can be the first time they are away or camping and parents do get nervous.
We have a camp WhatsApp group and ask for permission to share photos within group for family use.
I try to pop a couple of messages on each day. Usually along the lines of a photo of everyone queuing for hot chocolate on the first night with something like. Tents pitched, everyone settling down. Usually also a first morning photo with picture of breakfast spread. Then one or two random updates.
Reception is often poor and we warn parents ahead of time that we don't send lots.
So really depends on leaders and their cohort of young people.

No I wouldn’t expect any updates - in fact I would hope the scout leaders only had their phones there for emergencies. On a scout trip no phone should be in sight really. At 6 I was off at pony club camp for 4 nights and no-one ever updated my parents. They found out what we’d been up to on day 5 when they came to watch the end of camp competition. My own children go away with various sports groups and school and they aren’t allowed to take phones or anything as the point is that the children focus on being present in the moment and enjoying themselves.

I'm a scout leader - we clearly put on our letters that parents will not be receiving updates during a weekend / night away as we are too busy looking after your children. Also if we tell you everything there are no stories for your child to tell when they get back.

If you are specifically worried about your child there will be an emergency contact number. Otherwise no news is no news. Trust your child and trust the adults looking after them. Hopefully somebody will have explained to you that homesick children usually manage better when they don't speak to their parents especially at bedtime.

I haven't run a Guide camp for 20 years - camera phones weren't as usual back then but I wouldn't dream of sending parents a running commentary on what was happening.

Surely it goes without saying that no news is good news. Running camps is absolutely full on, I wouldn’t expect any communication.

Please don't recommend calling the emergency contact. They are there for emergencies not to reassure a parent.

DH is often emergency contact and while he obviously has the schedule what is going on, he also can't do anything outside contacting the leaders which then will disturb the camp, keep attention away from the group.
Our beaver and cubs leaders holds one session for "new camper" parents prior to a camp to talk through things to reassure parents and explain what and what not to expect and that is a running commentary/photos during camp.

Emergencies are the the one case DH actually drove to the camp to deliver emergency medication a parent forgot. Or advising a leader that a grandparent passed away and the child would be collected by a family friend, not the parent.

Please don't recommend calling the emergency contact. They are there for emergencies not to reassure a parent.

Absolutely.
Thank you for highlighting that.

Definitely not! They are having a scouting experience- you can look forward to hearing all about it when they get back.The leaders have enough to deal with without having to pander to photo obsessed parents.

It's ok to hope they might post some pictures or updates on a shared social media such as private Facebook page or WhatsApp group. It's absolutely not ok to expect it. And to message the leaders direct, when they are busy looking after your child is really not on at all, short of a genuine emergency.

I, along with my wonderful leadership team, took my cubs on camp this last weekend - we all had a great time, but it's beyond exhausting. I was on my feet from 6.30am to gone 11pm each day, with perhaps a sit-down for 10 minutes in all that time. There is always something that needs doing - putting up tents, taking down tents, setting up the kitchen, setting up an activity, cooking, clearing up, washing up, running activities, locating lost property, loading the trailer, filling juice containers, getting water. And we get very little sleep.

And that's all on top of supervising the cubs, making sure they are having a great time, that they have things to do, that they are fed, warm, happy, that their tents are organised, that they have everything they need for the activities, and helping if they are homesick, feeling unwell, or are having friendship issues.

It's relentless. When I do sit down for a few minutes to eat, the last thing I want to do is make sure social media is updated, or to message parents. I will answer messages if I can, and if they are important, but that's it.

I do understand that parents want to see photos of their kids on camp, and I do post plenty of photos to our closed Facebook page once we get home on Sunday evening.

I have made more of an effort to post to our Facebook page while on camp in the past. But if just resulted in a parents commenting that there weren't many photos of their child. So I tried to post more of their child, the parent then commented that their child wasn't smiling in the photo - were they ok? The child in question was having a ball on a trampoline, just wasn't smiling at that moment. I gave up making the effort at that point.

Honestly, these whiney parents: if I had a parent calling or messaging me I would be tempted to call them at 5am the following morning with “HI… just calling to let you know that your Dc is wide awake and ready for the day, hope I didn’t wake you!”

I love this idea! Not sure I'd have the guts to do it though.

when I was a leader I didn’t have time to take photos even of my own child who was on camp at the same time. Particularly with smaller groups the leaders are too busy with activities/ making sure children are safe to take photos, check permissions and post photos

Leaders have such a balancing act. Some parents don't allow any photos, some expect constant photos.

I’d rather they were looking after the kids properly than taking pictures and sending messages….