Guiders Staff Room Part 2

[Groovee]

http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/extracurricularr_activities/715087-Guiders-39-staff-room-tea-wine-chat-and-optional-dancing

Part one above, new thread for when required x

It seems we are on the same page over this. She hasn't put them up yet, but if she does I will call her on it.

Ask the DC to have a word, haha. I've sent three emails informing her of different things in the past few weeks and haven't had a response from any of them. She seems to have fallen of the planet, she isn't on holiday and has been seen socialising in the town (out for coffee, lunch, drinks in the evening). Just ignoring guiding issues it seems. (Rainbow Guider has had a massive problem she is struggling through on her own with it as DC is ignoring messages).
Thanks for your input lucysmam, I appriciate a second opinion.

Oh dear, might it be worth going higher up?

Our DC's are really good (two plus DivCom who all just muck in on everything together)...I'm quite dreading someone else having their turn tbh.

Definitely call her on it if she does - they're not her kids to post photo's of. I have two good friends who occasionally post pics for me to see what my girls are up to if they are round at theirs. Other than that I don't expect to randomly see someone else post my kids on fb & would be most unimpressed if I did.

I don't have parents from work or brownies on my FB, unless they were already friends. We have a FB secret group for brownies. But on my own page for work would be disregarding my work's social media policy.

😑 ¥@%$*€ PARENTS!!!!

Oh dear Becles, that's not good :(

That doesnt sound good

Oh Becles

I'm struggling to finish up the accounts for end of term camp but am generally anjoying the break.
DrSpouse and Becles...hope you are both OK and not too disheartened by whatever's going on with your girls' parents ;-)

Busily sewing away this week...Build a Bear sized uniforms as a little bit of fundraising using up some scraps I already had & was unlikely to use again. Just glad only 6 wanted them as I'm completely out of the red.

Debating whether to offer them yearly over the summer hols as a bit of a boost. They don't take long once I get going & a few parents are kicking themselves for buying for over a tenner on ebay rather than a fiver to us.

Had a neighbour ask to use my internet to register her dd yesterday. Her friend's dd is in our unit and having a ball .

Still no resolution here, got an email from the commissioner with no attachments (oops) so still in limbo! Have been putting off doing everything including accounts, returning lost kit, as I have no idea what's happening or which families I'm not supposed to talk to.

Drspouse

Had the response the commissioner is going to send. No part of the complaint was upheld. Which is good. But the other leaders still have to face the parents at school even if they don't come back to the unit.
So they are still all reconsidering their involvement. We are planning to circulate something neutral to the other parents saying we've had this happen and obviously it has been really shocking for us so please bear with us while we get our heads round what to do next.

Oh dear, that's rough. Sounds a good plan, it'll buy you some time to plan what you are all going to do. All ok Beccles?

In response to the social media question, I've now got photo permission confirmed one way or another for three quarters of my girls, but no way would I post pics on fb of them. My own two, on my own page, maybe. We have a secret fb group which is jolly handy for communication. I'll c&p emails onto it, as well as reminders for water bottles while cursing the one parent who's crap at checking emails and is having an fb break!

One thing that occurred to me recently, and should have occurred much sooner, was to ensure both parents are in the emailing list in the case of separated parents, especially when there's a restraining order preventing one contacting the other!

Need to get in the hall and tidy the black hole aka the cupboard. Not sure when that'll happen!

For Brownie leaders, do you have six time? How do you fit it in your meeting? Just pondering different meeting ideas.

Yes we may delay the first meeting of term too, especially if we are down on leaders but not fatally down.

The other issue is that we have 1. mum who made main complaint and is totally identifiable and who we were kind of thinking of asking to go elsewhere anyway, who we will tell the Commissioner to tell to go the jeff elsewhere as we don't want to see her again thanks. but also we have 2. second mum who is BFF with first mum but is actually generally nice (we thought!) and who has more than one girl in her family (so if they stay we have them for years) but who was in theory "anonymous" in the complaint:
so do we ask the Commissioner to tell her they can have places elsewhere, do we pretend we don't know it was her (so she can see how horrified, we assume, the other parents will be!), or do we not announce anything to her because we know she knows what was going on.

PS I have done Brownies before (and Rainbows!) and at one unit we had a very short six time but at the others we've just split into sixes for different activities, but also into Adventure groups, flexibly.

My head is too thrashed to help out with anything like that at the mo drspouse but I do hope it doesn't drag on too much more.

Good news amongst the absolute pile of crap that has been my weekend...gift aid claim is set up. I just need to get my head around actually claiming at some point now. That might take me a while.

Quick question - some of you have seen my thread in Chat...

Do I tell my dc?

Hmm... Tricky one.

How supportive would your DC be?
How likely is he to turn up during meetings?
Would you now need to bring your girls to meetings (if they're not in that section)
What support do you think you might need to keep meetings running for the next few weeks/months?

On balance I think I'd let her know the current situation, more as a heads up than anything.

Thanks DrSpouse. Will have to begin planning the term with the other leader when I can pin her down.

I doubt he'd turn up to meetings. Both would have to come to Guides. Dd1 would have to come to Rainbows in Jan. Dd2 is in my Rainbows unit atm, will be going to Brownies in Jan so then both would be at both meetings.

DC is lovely. There are two of them actually who job share.

I think a head's up is a good idea just in case but I will mention it to the WPC who is dealing with it too and see what she advises.

In that case definitely give her the heads up that they'll be coming and why. If your district is like mine, it's another circle of support.

So sorry to hear this lucysmam. You sound incredibly strong

Commissioner rang and kind of said she thought other leaders should pull up their big girl pants, but one is quite new and is now thinking this happens all the time (I've had one other complaint, less serious, in 10 years). She's going to pass the outcome on to the complainers tomorrow I think.

Couple of other parents we've spoken to have been v supportive. So we'll tell the other parents soon I think.

Thanks. I will email her in the morning now.

Glad to hear the parents you have spoken to have been supportive drspouse :)

OK fellow Guiders I need some advice - and possibly a hug/ slap.

I'm taking 6 Guides to Wellies and wristbands. I'm also taking DS with me. The venue/ Guiding have asked that if you're travelling by car that the girls are dropped off at a local school and they'll be transported in by minibus. Absolutely fine.

I asked on the Facebook page last night if it'd be OK to drop me, DS and the kit off at the site (as we've done previously) and the girls come in on the minibus. I've seen these kind of arrangements previously and it's disorganised chaos with everyone being rushed, groups split up people shouting and generally no place for a toddler to be out of a car or his car seat. I was initially told that all 'kit' be taken to the drop off - to which I asked if they considered my son to be 'kit' - which in other circumstances I might find funny, but right now I'm feeling more than a bit apprehensive and to be honest, quite cross as organising this for my group has been a litany of chaos from their perspective.

I then explained that I wasn't happy about him not being in his car seat to which I was told that he could be strapped in, despite the minibuses not having isofix, which I think means he can't be rear facing.

I was then told pretty much not to bother emailing as this person was the person replying and she'd say the same.

I'm sat here this morning alternating between being really cross and for some reason wildly anxious (I am genuinely shaking as I type) about this. Rationally I know it'll probably be fine and I'm being precious. But it doesn't feel that way. Do I push this? Ask to speak with this person's manager about the decision and her behaviour? Or just leave it and try not to get any more worked up.

I do understand that organising this sort of thing can be a nightmare, and that patents like me can be infuriating - but I would always spend time making sure other people feel supported and comfortable.

It will be a short journey on quiet roads. Could you strap him in forward facing for that distance? I hate doing it but have had to put one of my DCs in a taxi for a sorry airport journey without a seat at all.
If you are dropped on site, you'll have potentially a long walk up the drive (if it's Waddow, as you aren't disabled), and you won't be with your Guides or most of your kit.