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New activities include water leak detection, digging and pipe-laying
There's an awful lot of work going on there at the moment.
My kids are Explorers and do a service day once a month. Ask them to put the bins out at home and I get a load of moaning, yet their Explorer Leader got them to put up 50m of fencing and build a bridge over a stream.
Thats shocking tbh, would expect much better from any volunteer organisation
Certainly seems very badly handled. Though I fear that the new culture coming in feels more "business like" and less caring. I fought and lost that battle with various employers in the last 30 years, was one of the reasons I didn't fancy doing it again with Scouts.
Thats shocking tbh, would expect much better from any volunteer organisation
Certainly seems very badly handled. Though I fear that the new culture coming in feels more "business like" and less caring. I fought and lost that battle with various employers in the last 30 years, was one of the reasons I didn't fancy doing it again with Scouts.
I wasn't fighting it either, I've had enough stress from Area and Group over the last few years (although they were all happy for us (me and the other Explorer Leader) to take on Scouts to save the Troop from being closed, back before covid...)
@defblade where are you? I’ve got an explorer section for you 😉
Deepest SW Wales 🙂
That is awful.
Politics here to. Our Beaver leader has had enough, she's going at Easter. I've heard nothing yet about new Beaver leader. Oh dear.
On the plus side, I did a session with them again last week and another badge that was new for the colony. Photography. I got them making camera obscuras (I had to get a science bit in, that's the bit I most enjoy), cutting photos from magazines to see what they liked and discuss why, and taking photo portraits of each other in readiness to make mothers day cards. We also put the laptop I recently acquired for the grip group, to use and had them emailing the photos to our group account to tick the comms badge task
I've enjoyed helping with the beavers and got on well with the departing leader.. quite concerned about the future.
Thats shocking tbh, would expect much better from any volunteer organisation
Devil's advocate, but, I think it's worth pointing out that 'District' are also volunteers and have their own lives/jobs/stresses too that they need to fit the scouting stuff around. Having to be constantly chasing people up to do the mandatory training (which is only safety/safeguarding/first aid) must get really tedious, and if it gets to the point that it hasn't been done after multiple reminders then I can understand that a "right, fine, bye then" response is very tempting.
Thats shocking tbh, would expect much better from any volunteer organisation
Devil's advocate, but, I think it's worth pointing out that 'District' are also volunteers and have their own lives/jobs/stresses too that they need to fit the scouting stuff around. Having to be constantly chasing people up to do the mandatory training (which is only safety/safeguarding/first aid) must get really tedious, and if it gets to the point that it hasn't been done after multiple reminders then I can understand that a "right, fine, bye then" response is very tempting.
I agree, we only have one side of the story.
That used to be part of my role on the AAC committee. I've got DCs to withdraw a fair few warrants over the years. Some have been unfortunate, some were no loss at all.
Apologies for jumping in mid-convo - I've been helping for about a year in cub pack in Southgate/North London. Been on two cub camps now and so impressed with scout parks near London. Multiple options for activities to book on to and clean/smart sites. Just had a weekend at Tolmers in Cuffley. Lack of sleep terrible but otherwise a great weekend.
Very torn as I am more than happy helping but dont feel the confidence to take on more of a main leader role - not in uniform yet. Appreciate the current leader is actively looking for replacements but on my own I just dont think I can do it. Was this a natural progression over time for those that were leaders - or was it just straight in to leading? I was in scouts as a kid - but proper authoritarian troop!
Took the Cubs to the local fire station this evening which is always good. Got to play with the hoses this time.
I was in cubs/scouts/ventures and was a cub and scout leader with my local group, helping out on summer camps when at uni. Got involved again when I moved back to the UK and got landed running a troop on my own, which was painful. Now got a pack which I was running with an experienced leader until he retired and I'm currently training up my replacement.
The point about District being volunteers too is well made and I need to get my first aid up to date. Point is, it's great when you've got a good team and feel well supported, be that by Group or District, but if that's lacking it's not worth the candle. People trust us with their kids and the training etc is good but at the end of the day if you're not happy don't be afraid to take a step back or let yourself be pressured into anything. A parent rota is a good way of creating your own support and finding ones who would be up for doing more, mind.
Anyone done any good games to help youngsters remember a phone number?
Very torn as I am more than happy helping but dont feel the confidence to take on more of a main leader role - not in uniform yet. Appreciate the current leader is actively looking for replacements but on my own I just dont think I can do it. Was this a natural progression over time for those that were leaders - or was it just straight in to leading? I was in scouts as a kid - but proper authoritarian troop!
Very much depends on the circumstances of the group.
I was a Cub and Scout, skipped Ventures as I had a bust up with the leader. My Dad had been a Scout leader back in the 50s when serving in Cyprus, and he became our GSL.
MrsMC is a Guide leader and when Jnr started Beavers I went on a parent rota. Pretty obvious I wasn't that great with other people's kids, but was always willing to help transport, set up, marshall, fundraise etc as required. Unit leading wasn't for me.
Then I got involved with the group committee, then the district appointment committee and the district committee. Not the regular weekly commitments, but a pretty steady stream of admin and oversight type stuff. Just stepped back as family commitments are going to need more time in the short/medium term.
I've met some amazing leaders over the years through the appointments committee, from a guy who come back to the UK after working for the EU and running the UK overseas unit in Brussels, to a lorry driver who'd gone to support his nervous daughter at Cubs and ended up as a leader because he enjoyed giving kids in a poorer part of our area the opportunities he'd never had as a kid.
There is always a risk that willing horses get flogged, and feel pressure to take on more than they planned. It really depends on how much time your family can let you commit, and getting the right support around you.
My kids are 18 and 22, daughter is now an adult helper at Guides before she goes off to uni, son is a leader and trustee at the group where he moved to after uni, and his other half is a Guide leader. It's kind of incestuous.
Anyone done any good games to help youngsters remember a phone number?
You can use the letters that correspond to the numbers to make a word (popular in the USA), although modern phones often don't have this feature..............
A little game for you...
Hide a Lego minifigure in plain site and see how long it takes for the kids to spot it.
Very torn as I am more than happy helping but dont feel the confidence to take on more of a main leader role - not in uniform yet. Appreciate the current leader is actively looking for replacements but on my own I just dont think I can do it. Was this a natural progression over time for those that were leaders - or was it just straight in to leading?
You're volunteering so you need to be comfortable with what you're doing. In my case I am officially a leader but very much an assistant to the cub section leader. So I will take some of the cubs in group activities, organize games etc, but I'm not up for planning the evenings and camps.
I was a parent volunteer when my lad started Cubs. The pack was growing and they didn't have the right adult to kid ratio.
I'm very much a one night a week and camp/activity leader. I have nothing to do with the admin.
For me it was assisting at Cubs then the GLS announced at parents meeting the current Cub leader was moving to Scouts and I would be running the section! I could have kicked back but after a couple of years assisting I was ok with this and I think he knew I would be.
For yourself have a word with the current Cub leader, say you’re keen to become a Cub team member but not Cub Section Lead Volunteer, however you’ll need to be assertive on this point and make it a condition for taking on the role.
Not sure what the current leader has tried recruitment wise but perhaps using yourself (anonymously) to say there is at least one adult keen to help but not lead may encourage others to come forward, hopefully someone who is keen to take the lead.
I'm leading our "Expedition" this weekend. It looks like we're going to have to set up for hot weather!
Blakedean to Top Withins and back. Kids navigating by themselves with leaders shadowing about half a mile back.
Very torn as I am more than happy helping but dont feel the confidence to take on more of a main leader role - not in uniform yet. Appreciate the current leader is actively looking for replacements but on my own I just dont think I can do it. Was this a natural progression over time for those that were leaders - or was it just straight in to leading?
I kind of rolled into running a group, I was a helper in a big group, became a leader then when we spun off a new group I became the leader its a fair bot of work but it is rewarding
One suggestion would be to try and rope another parent in to be you admin fairy, you do the leading stuff and get them to do the admin, checking OSM for when badges are due, sending emails etc you have to get someone you can work closely with
Admin fairies are invaluable, we had a couple at district level and they absolutely kept the show on the road
What tents are you lot using?
We have lightweight “hike” tents and bigger “base” tents.
Our “base” tents are 6 man Berghaus Adaras and they are a pain in the arse. Too big to dry and quite flimsy (pole break frequently). Also, they are so big that the kids walk about inside them, so they are filthy and difficult to clean. We have 6 of them that are 3 years old and they are knackered. Also, one of our Cubs managed to piss in one and has effectively written it off!
I’d like to switch to something like the old Vango Force 10. Not too big, but strong.
Traditional Force 10s are about £450, but there is a new one at the suspiciously low price of £150.
Can anyone recommend something that will last more than 3 years and is small enough to be hung from the rafters 8ft off the ground to be dried out.
We’ve got traditional patrol tents too, but they weigh a ton and are difficult to dry.
Good question. We've got the traditional Icelandics which are great but as you say are hard to dry. We've also got some cheap Aldi family tents which I don't trust not to break (zips and seams have proved iffy) so me and another leader ended up taking our own tents for the Cubs to use last weekend, on pain of death.
Force 10s would be ideal if I can persuade the group to fork out for them.
We use good old fashioned canvas patrol tents and have probably even older canvas flysheets for dining/cooking shelters. Heavy but bombproof, and we're able to hang them to dry between rafters in the hut with some heaters blowing.
Our issue is drying space. We have a good sized store room, but the ceiling is low, so we can't hang anything massive. We can just about get one of the Araras up there, but if all six get wet we are stuffed.
Can always tell if my wife's Guide unit had a wet camp. We have tents pitched to dry on our front lawn. They have no other option.
Can you not hang stuff up in the main bit of the hut, rather than the store room? That's where all of ours go, they're dry in a couple of days with some fans blowing
We use a Community Centre, so the hall is in use all of the time by other groups.
Perhaps an idea that works for us could be tried: after camps we ask parents to volunteer to take a tent to dry. seems a good system, folks always happy to help.
It's going to be interesting to see how the next term goes with Beavers. The long term Beaver leader has stepped back so group leader picked it up temporarily. My daughter will move to cubs for September. I will likely stop with Beavers at that point now. Cubs I'm not so able/willing to help.
We’ve got bells that get a lot of use, a few larger (10-12 man) Vangos and some non- descript 8 man tents that came from Go-Outdoors.
Most of us aren’t keen on the Go-Outdoors ones so they rarely get used.
We have Icelandics that come out occasionally if we’re short of tentage on group camps/ nostalgia.
if they need drying we are lucky to have our own hall and a newly built store with hanging space. We find dehumidifiers better than heaters for drying.
@Harry- when you say “get one of the Araras up there” is that get up as in erected or just out to dry?
We hang ours over ropes like on a washing line so can get a few in a tight space and turn over at intervals in combination with the dehumidifiers.
Being canvas the bells do take a bit of drying but one advantage is that the base can be removed. I did a camp in Feb- the ground was wet when pitching and it rained the first night. It was then dry so we were able to pack the body of the tents and the wet bases were hung to dry n their own.
We have washing lines and pulleys in our store room, so can drag an Adara up onto the rafters. But only one at a time and even that is a squeeze as we have a box trailer that lives in there too.
If we use hammocks and tarps they get sent home with the kid for airing as they can be chucked over a banister.
That’s why I like hammocking- much less faff!
had a great district camp this weekend at our local site, a few hiccups with so many cubs but all the kids had a brilliant time, keeping them out of the sun and hydrated was w challenge! 
If any of you ever get up north, this is the best scout/cub etc camp for whole of Scotland.
My lads Scouts were at their local district camp this weekend, his first as an adult leader, so we'll see how it went. All we've heard so far is that it was chilly at night. Wrong phrase when the camp site is at Willy.
Did an audax the week before last that of course started at the village hall which is also the Scout hut. Scouts and the leaders were providing tea and biscuits at the start and finish for £1 as a fundraiser. It was their first year being involved and they were astonished how much they made from 70 riders, a lot of whom told them to keep the change. Had a great chat with their Squirrel leader who was thinking of offering bacon cobs next time - I'd driven 90 minutes to the start, I'm not the only one who would have paid generously for a bacon cob!
Hopefully they have a nice annual fundraiser going forwards. They are also on, or just off, a couple of main cycling routes out of Lincoln, on and off road. A pop up tea room would probably work for them as well.
Just done our “Survival Camp” this weekend.
The younger half of the troop stay in tents, the older half spend the first night in hammocks and the second in an improvised shelter.
Obviously with the weather we had to make a few changes, so we had the younger ones in a permanent tented “village” and the older ones in an improvised tarp shelter under our big parachute. We also had use of a covered seating/dining area permanent kitchen.
We were at Bowley if anyone knows it, using the Little Bowley area.
As leaders we have decided from now on that the kids can no longer take phones. We discourage it, but after this weekend they will be banned. Too many of them just sat around watching their phones and refused to engage at all. They knew in advance that it was a bushcraft themed camp and they also knew that the weather was going to be a bit of a challenge.
One kid burst into tears when we asked him to get off his phone and join in. He moped around for a bit then said he wanted to go home. We called his parents, and they said that they couldn’t collect him, so he was stuck with us for another 24 hours. Talk about cheap baby sitting! Same kid was also sent without a coat.
We’ve also got an issue with Crocs. Not from a style point of view, but from kids wearing them instead of boots. OK for a hostel based trip but not great on a campsite with fire and metal pegs sticking out of the ground.
Anyway. 23 of the kids would appear to have had a great time and learned something in the process. Damp fire lighting, hammock and tarp rigging for wet weather, parachute setting, improvised shelter building and waterproofing, fish gutting, and how to dry a damp sleeping bag.
Cool, we're doing ours the weekend after next. Just one night though, we're going to Boarfold near Glossop. They'll all be sleeping in shelters they build, for some it's their first camp which seems a brave choice... They'll be skinning rabbits, which will be new to me too.
We don't ban phones, but we do discourage them and to be honest we don't have too much of a problem. They know that I have a rule though - if I see a phone, I'm having it and they'll get it back at the end of camp.
I've got to organise something for a 'cooking on fires' evening next week, any ideas? Something pretty simple as we've got other stuff going on too, but I want to get away from the usual cheese toasties/s'mores/chocolate bananas stuff we've done to death...
I like apocalypse cooking. Get 4 cans of food per team. Remove labels. Make pyramid. Issue tennis balls.
Knock them down to win them.
Teams combine them to make the best meals, taste off to get to victory.
Meatballs, soup, stagg chilli, spuds, custard, prunes, anything goes…
We don't ban phones, but we do discourage them and to be honest we don't have too much of a problem.
That used to be our approach until this weekend.
At pack down we had all the kit in the open with tarps on top to keep the rain off. Tarps were weighted down with camp chairs.
One kid removed a chair so that he could sit down and play on his phone. Tarp blew away. Kit got wet. Kid was obliviously doom scrolling whilst this was going on.
So new roles and some new training needed. Everyone now needs to do first response. My FAW isn't quite enough and I'm told (all) face face to face training (in Croydon district i assume) is at the weekends. Can't do it then, so i guess that's the end of my short volunteering (2 years with the Beavers) bye bye.
Not very inclusive is it, or not to my mind. Hey ho. Someone else's turn.
I need to complete some training. online stuff tho. I work weekends and evenings so the face to face training never fitted in with my job so I downgraded my role to suit.
If it becomes more restrictive I'll probably cease helping out.
On a lighter note the Cub camp last weekend was pretty good. The weather cooled down and the showers were not a problem. We even packed away the tents prior to the heavy rain on sunday afternoon.
I'm just an adult helper, or whatever we are now called. Loads more training now required, a couple of on line clickety click fests but first response is in person (fair enough) . I'd do it but I can't do a day of the weekend, so that's it, I'm done.
I imagine that extra training will put off a fair few and having no weekday provision will make it impossible for many more. Shame.
Is there no flexibility with other dates to do the first responder training? I'm also a bit surprised that FAW is not sufficient, my understanding was that it was more in depth than first responder, although may not be child centric - when I've done FAW or refresher courses they've usually added child bits on the end of the last day. I get everything has to be done "right" but there's a real risk that good volunteers are going to leave, which is crazy.
Phones are a tricky one, I know a few groups where they are banned, and then the leaders get the joy of asking parents who contact them on the Saturday night because little Jimmy isn't enjoying it how the parents could possibly know that little Jimmy wasn't enjoying it.
MrsMC is threatening to step back from Guides again. She left her last unit as she ran it pretty much singlehandedly for 15 years, and got the chance to help set up a new unit in our village. They've just had a weekend away which she has had to organise singlehandedly, the other leaders keep arranging events but not figuring out whether they themselves can get there, so MrsMC ends up as a taxi service, and this latest weekend has thrown up a mess of parents not providing info on health and diet forms that suddenly gets mentioned 2 days before they go away. One parent sent a child without an inhaler, good job she didn't need it as it wasn't on the kids health form. I totally get her frustration, but they are a young group, and a lot of the kids (and parents) missed out on the basics of trips like this due to Covid.
In more positive news, eldest is enjoying being an adult leader with his new Scout unit, although they are desperately short of leaders for the number of kids coming up, and when he starts his "proper" job in September he may struggle to get there regularly as he will likely be travelling for work.
Faw doesn't include child cpr and the trainer i had for FAW annoying wouldn't cover it....i got the impression st John's were looking for more money boa more courses. Faw also doesn't cover sepsis. According to the scouts website those are the bits missing anyway. The sepsis bit can be covered with a bit of online training but not the cpr which has to be demonstrated fave to face.
I've asked a mate if Bromley do any weekday training, but honestly it feels like they (scouts) are making it hard for you (me) to help and I've got plenty of other stuff to do with my time. I might just help at girls and Boys bridge a bit more instead......I did a stargazing session with them which they loved so yep... i'll go do my sciencey stuff with them instead. @#£% scouting is kind of how I feel.
I had to do their child specific first aid course, apparently my forestry first aid wasn't relevant, I thought major bleeds, crush injuries and falls from height would be perfect based on my experiences as a scout 😂
Glad I'm not the only one to find the online courses a clickety click fest.
Doing bike skills with the cubs next week though 😎
@#£% scouting is kind of how I feel.
Understandable but a real shame. I'm 6 months in with no Scouting committees and the extra headspace has been a God send with my parents getting older, but last night was going through some pics for a presentation my lad is doing for his King's award and some amazing memories and experiences. Really helped shape him.
@timber - what are you doing for this? I considered similar but not sure how far my outdated TCL award will get me.
We did it over two sessions for our cubs. The first week was showing them basic bike maintenance and gave me the opportunity to identify and fix any dangerous bikes. The second week was a nice ride along a river path, we had one puncture and one grazed knee in a group of 25, which I thought was good going.
We did bike maintenance with the local repair cafe a couple of weeks ago to get everything sort of functioning (lot of BSO's). The riding session will be in the school car park.
Will probably start with some skills useful for the road like riding a line, looking behind, ride one handed to build up to signalling. Maybe do a figure of eight and finish with a slow race.
@timber - what are you doing for this? I considered similar but not sure how far my outdated TCL award will get me.
we had one puncture and one grazed knee in a group of 25, which I thought was good going.
Our cubs ride had one puncture, one set of brakes to fix pre-ride, handlebars & saddle to tighten up, one grazed knee and a grazed elbow - so a rip roaring success 🙂
did bike maintenance with my cubs last week
and we are doing a ride next week, quite lucky we can squeeze in a bit of flat off road
problem is that some come with bmxs - no gears and not enough seat post vs some on decent mtbs/ hybrids, the !speed difference between the 2 is big
Did the same as @ransos for our final evening/sausage sizzle/investiture. It's always low speed in the car park where grazed knees happen - must remember to include that in the risk assessment and introduce a minimum speed limit.
I'm thinking I'll give this lot another year (which'll be ten), take a step back, maybe become a trustee with a different group for a year or two (critical friend) then look at going back into uniform at Scout or Explorer level. Good to have a plan.
Our county bike unit usually do a basic check/repairs session and then a ride session. Helps that the guy who runs the bike team is also our chair of trustees! Following a joint cycle tour with a neighbouring counties bike team there is now a joint cycling specific Explorer unit, and a big group of capable young leaders keen to help with cycling activities in both areas.
The local council health ride group I help with do a couple of easy ride sessions with one of the local Guide units, basically an M check and a 5 mile pootle on the local canal cycle path. Think it helps Guides that we have a few female ride leaders that fits with the "this girl can" message. And always provide cake!
I spent last night sewing badges on my girls uniforms. They are ready for next week and start of term.
My eldest moves to Scouts in 6 months so I looked up the uniform. Cripes, £22 for a shirt!
Cripes, £22 for a shirt!
You were lucky, £25 + postage (Sea Scouts).
The shirts are indestructible so they will last your kid's duration in the troop.
We're back next week. Got a pretty packed program for the Autumn term. Taking three teams to The Beavan ( Home - The Beavan Challenge) and got a camp for the whole troop at the end of October.
Looking forward to it. We've had a load of them turn 14, so we've got five new PLs and five APLs to sort out. The October camp will be focussed on helping them in their new roles... so that they can leave us in 12 months.
Also got to try and raise £7,200 to send six of Explorers to Finland for 10 days next year for their Explorer Belt.
The shirts are indestructible so they will last your kid's duration in the troop.
His growth rate disagrees 😂 this is number 2 (so far and probably his last before he moves on).
His growth rate disagrees
This is why many of our scouts, understandably, start in massively, comedically, oversized shirts.
We started back this week too. A lot of new ones so we had 44(!) scouts on the hut on Thursday night doing a Ready Steady Cook evening in their patrols. Great fun, but I'm genuinely going to have to get some ear plugs, my tinnitus is still going batshit 36 hours later...
My eldest is a few days off 10, and my younger daughter just turned 8 so it's 2 at Cubs now. Knowing id need 2 uniforms i got a smaller and a larger when my eldest started so she's had a decent fitting sweater throughout. I'll do the same for the scout shirt. Assuming he likes it the uniforms should all get used by my youngest too (5 currently) . I just think the official uniform is a rip off though. For cubs I got the prefect colour items from general school uniform suppliers, polo shirts and sweaters, at a quarter the cost of the official items, and compared to the official beavers sweater i bought they've worn as well. Unfortunately I can't find a poly cotton shirt/blouse in the right teal/turquoise so it looks like I'm paying rip off prices next.
Proud dad moment, my eldest got made sixer last night. A little thing but should boost her confidence a little which is helpful.
I think the leaders have skipped a few older kids which seems odd to me i'd favour giving all the chance to grow up and lead a six (not that there's much leading really) but I'm not sure that is how they work it. Anyway, I'm pleased my eldest got that little boost and the day before her birthday.
And for 6 months we have a slightly easier evening as both girls are now cubs, yay.
Congrats to your little one.
it’s a double edged sword- if you go by age, you can end up with sixer with no idea and the 6 struggles or it can help them grow.
Mrs FB is a cub leader. Each year she runs a 6er & 2nder camp to help boost their skills & teamwork & gives those new to the role an idea of what is expected of them.
I’m and assistant scout leader and we do the same for PL/APLs.
We installed our new PLs and APLs last night. Eight of them in total. Promoted entirely on ability.
No coincidence that 6 of the 8 are girls! Bigger, smarter and more mature than most of the boys.
We'll work with them and get them up to speed over the next term, but to be fair to them they were the obvious candidates.
We've never had sixers or seconders in our pack but I pushed to have them. Now they're in, we don't really know what to do with them. A camp could be a good idea.
A camp is a good way (esp with the limited numbers of PL/APL or 6er/2nders) to give more time for all to practice skills like firefighting/pioneering/knife skills when you’re not in a hurry to complete a task.
If you want to have a sausage sizzle one night, there isn’t the time to let everyone have a go with the flint & steel as you want the fire lit asap to then create the cooking embers. On her camps, one of the activities is my wife gets the cubs to make flints & steels then they can practice til they’re making fire quickly.
There’s also team building exercises so that when they go back to their patrol/6 they can be more of an instructor rather than doing the activity themself.
We’ve had a PL move up- her lashings were top notch so her patrol always made their project first but she did most of the work and had to be reminded to spread the knowledge with her patrol.
Our district used to run a Sixers and Seconders district camp, working on team skills etc
skills like firefighting
I'm sure this must be a typo. 🤔
Scout = 🔥🔥🔥
But the rest of that programme sounds great.
Sixers act as go-betweens leaders and Sixes. Seconders are responsible for keeping the Six together and in order. At least that's what we told ours this evening. We've made a couple of the more 'active' boys Seconders and and the penny hasn't quite dropped yet.
I'm speaking as a parent not a leader but it seems a bit unfair and pointless to give it to those that show the skills and not give those that might benefit most the chance to learn.
If the leaders make it clear to younger cubs they need to show they are capable and it's then a reward i'm less angsty... but how does a 8.5 or 9yo cub get to show that? So my thought as a parent is give them the role by age and the chance grow. I can see a cub or scout leader may prefer a different method though.
I'm very pleased my eldest has gone from normal cub, to 6er now, where she gets a full 6 months to grow. She's been moved 6 to facilitate it. Really pleased for her. She was gutted when a younger cub leapfrogged her to become 2nder in her original 6 and I was really peeved as she had no idea why.... that to me was really poor leaders. The leaders never raised anything with me or my wife either, so we had to pickup a battered little girl feeling pretty @#£% about herself, at a time when she was being bullied in school as well, and it took a lot of hard parenting to sort that mess. Took a lot of effort not to have stern words with the shortsighted leaders that had really knocked her confidence when she was not far from rock bottom anyway. Hence... I'm really really proud she's kind of shown the leaders how wrong they were and got it now.... but annoyed I guess as I doubt the leaders would see it, and I feel sorry for the next kid they may hurt.
Phewy, hard post.
My comments about Sixers/Seconders are based on and more applicable to PLs/APLs, but at any rate leaders bring all the experience they have to bear upon the group they're working with and we don't always get it right. Look at how much big companies spend on HR and remember we're volunteers who see them once a week.
Exactly, so snap judgements can be way off.
but annoyed I guess as I doubt the leaders would see it, and I feel sorry for the next kid they may hurt
I tend to appoint 6ers by age, but theres big caveats in there, the dynamic of the 6 and individual members within it will determine who I think can handle it , its also important that the 6er and 2er can work together.
Ultimately not every kid can be a 6er or a 2er, sometimes the ages/numbers just don't work out
its also impossible to know whats going on with kids outside cubs or in school, the best thing to do is speak to the leaders, were all just volunteers and certainly no one wants to hurt anyone!
Yes, and sorry for your daughter's experience. A well functioning group has good communication between kids, leaders and parents. Every group is different but their aims should be clear.
@garage-dweller, yes should be lighting (fat fingers/old eyes!) but we do teach them to have a means of putting out a fire available before starting a fire!
In our troop, PL/APL appointments are discussed by the 4 leaders so there's no bias. Sometimes it can be a result of demographics. We have 5 all around the same age that are moving to explorers at Christmas- 4 PLs & 1 APL. We could have kept them as is until then but that means one doesn't get to be PL. The solution was to create a "senior" patrol of the current 4 PLs at the start of this term and the APL is now a PL
Discussion must help a lot. I'm not sure there's any of that (pretty sure there isn't!) At this cub pack.
Has anyone done anything with sound deadening in their hut? Ours is somewhat akin to being in a snare drum at times.
I’m wondering about something like this on the ceilings.
https://www.acousticfoam.uk/
I've suggested a 6/2er camp for our newly promoted crop. I've been immediately warned that this won't go well because the parents of non 6/2ers won't like being excluded, so it has to be redrawn as a P6er camp. Fair enough, I don't mind that but the particular parents who would likely grumble have zero interest in engaging with us (in part about their son's low-attendance) until something is of interest to them. Leaders might not always make the "right" call in the bigger picture of one kid's life at that moment, but who's to say that parents shouldn't be part of dealing with fallout (within reason) ? I'm playing devil's advocate in the vein of "life isn't always fair".
Happy to deal with my children, but knowing why they've not been chosen so i can answer when asked, and i can help my kids to acquire missing skills would be useful.
knowing why they've not been chosen
Have you asked?
Scout leader here, and whilst clearly thought goes into the PL/APL choosing, it's not an exact science and we don't, and can't be expected to, consider the individual implications or effect the decision will have on every child. It's probably a 15 minute conversation at best.
We may look past kids who really want it for a number of reasons, one of which could be that we didn't know they really wanted it. And there's definitely no way I'm going to go out of my way afterwards to debrief all the parents of the kids who were considered and passed over, or not even considered at all, as to why the decision was made in the way that it was and/or what their child needs to learn our do to get it next time. Saying that, if they asked me, I would explain the decision, although there would likely be less material detail than they may be looking for (again, it's not like a huge amount of deliberation will have happened; we're assigning minor roles to twelve year olds, not picking the CEO of a PLC)
Also, and I can't stress this enough; it's just Cubs/Scouts. It's really not that important, and the parents need to understand this as much as the kids. If they become PL/APL/6er/2er then that's great. If they don't, than the lessons to be learned are
a) not everyone can be, and don't take it as a personal criticism that it wasn't you (or your child) this time
and/or
b) sometimes life isn't fair, and we all have to learn to take things on the chin.
I get that b) is a tough lesson, but it's probably the most valuable one.
Has anyone done anything with sound deadening in their hut? Ours is somewhat akin to being in a snare drum at times.
I’m wondering about something like this on the ceilings.
https://www.acousticfoam.uk/
You need to reduce the amount of hard reflective surfaces, so put up curtains on all the windows, flags or soft board notice boards on the walls. Depending on the size of your hut and the size of your groups bank account, those tiles could get a bit expensive. We made up some sound deadening panels (wooden frame with foam filler and a fabric cover) which were hung from the ceiling.
So, I need to organise a 'bike maintenance skills' thing for my lot. Groups of about 7-10 scouts with about 30 minutes per group.
I'm thinking of covering finding and fixing a puncture and general cleaning/lubing dos and don'ts, I reckon that's about all we'll get through in the time available. I'll take a couple of bikes and some old wheels so they can have a go at getting tubes out of and back into tyres. Anyone done similar?