Over the top?

[izzyrainbow]

I've got a new little girl starting Rainbows with me in a couple of weeks when we start back after the holidays. Her dad rang me a few months ago to put her name down on the waiting list and was full of questions, what do we do at Rainbows, how many girls are there, how many leaders etc etc - the usual thing.

I rang him a few weeks ago to offer his daughter a place and he asked if he could bring her along to visit before she started. I said this was fine and he came along, the little girl was great and joined in with what we were doing and he seemed happy enough.

The following week his wife turned up! Completely unannounced I might add, not that this was a problem but it was unexpected and could have been awkward. Again the girl joined in and seems really confident, which surprised me as I thought with such mollycoddling parents she might be a bit shy.

Both times they have asked me loads of questions, I felt like I was being interrogated at some points I appreciate they are just being careful but blimey, I dread to think what they will be like if we ever do a trip away from the hall! Daughter is only just five so I have two full years of them before she moves to Brownies, wish me luck!!

[Barny]

Good luck!!! Altho hopefully once they realise she is absolutely fine it will all settle down. I was on the phone to a parent for half an hour the other week and she was only putting the daughters name on the waiting list. She is starting after half term so hopefully that will be ok.

[Orly]

If this family hasn't had any experiece of Guiding, then it's not unfair that they should be asking questions. It doesn't mean that their daughter is mollycoddled.

[Rowan]

Perhaps if they're keen you could see if they're useful in any way to you...

[Smartie]

yeah they could be unit helpers! and if the daughter is confident with them there, then even better.
Yo be honest i can kind of see their reasoning...i mean at five, the only person my mum left me with, besides at schol was my nan, so leaving a child with a bunch of strangers i imagine is very difficult.

[giggle drawers]

these parents have unit helpers written all over them!

If you can convince them to help make it clear from day one that they are not there for their daughter to go to, or them to her. If you do group work, they work with groups other than the one their daughter is in.

they should settle within a few weeks. Ive got a couple of brownie parents like that. I just keep telling them thatsince they are here, could they do X, Y and Z!

[blue_dreamer]

We had to cancel our Thinking Day trip becuase it was only a month after everyone had started and they weren't sure about letting their kids go on a trip with us yet, especially as we didn't fully understand what would be happening. It was our decision. We refunded the one pound three of the parents had paid and phoned round.

However one parent was out at the time we phoned and we couldn't get hold of her. She knows someone in Brownies so knew all about this trip and took her daughter... and then found out none of the rest of us were there!! She's had a bit of a downer on my GiC ever since, but we hoped she understood we did try to contact her...

We had a girl for a couple of weeks who cried and didn't even really joined in when mum stopped. That was a bit hard because we were consious of mum being there. What really annoys me about the parents is that when we run over a few minutes at the end they're all there peering through the windows to see what we're doing!!

Have you told them about finding out things on the website? That might help them underestand it all. They're probably just new to all of this and aren't really sure about letting their kid do something they don't know about.

[giggle drawers]

Give them the starting Rainbows thing if your unit uses them, or your own equivalent.

[Polly]

I think these parents are to be congratulated. So many parents just treat us as un paid babysitters. I was once questioned for 45 minutes on safty precautions I would be taking on Packholiday. So now whenever I have new Brownies start I make sure I meet both parents and have the Brownie introduce me. Whenever someone new picks them up from Brownies the girls know that they must introduce the Guider who is seeing them out or they wont be allowed to go home!

[Boobook]

Do they have experiance of guiding? I think that it can sometimes take a lot for parents to give there children over to someone for an hour. maybe they are used to being around there child all the time and this is a frightening experiance for them. I personal wouldn't have a problem with the dad but would ask the mum to contact before turning up as you might of been outside of the meeting place or doing a number restrictive activity.