lack of volunteers

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:why does it seem so hard to get anyone to volunteer to help these days?

is it a generational parent thing that parents w younger kids just assume someone else will do it?

it takes a village but it doesn’t seem to compute as the older parents look to pass the torch

Sometimes volunteering is too disorganized. I’ve taken time off work to arrive at a meet early to volunteer. There was nothing for me to do (and I asked several people).

Guess what, I’m not taking time off work to volunteer anymore.

And yes volunteering disproportionally falls on mom and rightly, Gen Z is saying no thanks.

How is this possible? At our pool you sign up for a specific task- timing, tables, stoke and turn. Never have we had someone show up and not have a job for them.

[Anonymous]

yeah that doesnt make sense

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:why does it seem so hard to get anyone to volunteer to help these days?

is it a generational parent thing that parents w younger kids just assume someone else will do it?

it takes a village but it doesn’t seem to compute as the older parents look to pass the torch

Sometimes volunteering is too disorganized. I’ve taken time off work to arrive at a meet early to volunteer. There was nothing for me to do (and I asked several people).

Guess what, I’m not taking time off work to volunteer anymore.

And yes volunteering disproportionally falls on mom and rightly, Gen Z is saying no thanks.

The people doing the organizing are volunteers themselves!
"Rightly"? so I assume you're pulling your kids out altogether?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:why does it seem so hard to get anyone to volunteer to help these days?

is it a generational parent thing that parents w younger kids just assume someone else will do it?

it takes a village but it doesn’t seem to compute as the older parents look to pass the torch

Sometimes volunteering is too disorganized. I’ve taken time off work to arrive at a meet early to volunteer. There was nothing for me to do (and I asked several people).

Guess what, I’m not taking time off work to volunteer anymore.

And yes volunteering disproportionally falls on mom and rightly, Gen Z is saying no thanks.

How is this possible? At our pool you sign up for a specific task- timing, tables, stoke and turn. Never have we had someone show up and not have a job for them.

I did sign up for a specific task. When I went to that table, someone else was already there doing that task.

If volunteering were mandatory I’d do it. My point is, if you are eliciting volunteers, respect their time!

[Anonymous]

So you just don’t volunteer? You expect othwr people to volunteer to run your kids’ activities while you sit back and watch?

[Anonymous]

fascinating about lack of commitment to activities
why so wishy washy?!?

[Anonymous]

Summer swim hasn't even started and I haven't received a request to volunteer.

Our team is 100% HOA/neighborhood kids and we don't have an issue with volunteers. We're required to volunteer 6 hours per kid. DH and I volunteered at one of the two meets a week. They made it easy for us to sign up online. We were all given name tag stickers and assigned lanes and roles. I think over half the volunteers are men, so I'm not sure why pp is saying it's all women. Even the other teams whose parents volunteer with us have a lot of men. I really like timing actually. It's exciting to be right up front and to see the swimmers. There's a lot of camaraderie with the other parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:why does it seem so hard to get anyone to volunteer to help these days?

is it a generational parent thing that parents w younger kids just assume someone else will do it?

it takes a village but it doesn’t seem to compute as the older parents look to pass the torch

Sometimes volunteering is too disorganized. I’ve taken time off work to arrive at a meet early to volunteer. There was nothing for me to do (and I asked several people).

Guess what, I’m not taking time off work to volunteer anymore.

And yes volunteering disproportionally falls on mom and rightly, Gen Z is saying no thanks.

This I disagree with and is shortsighted. Your kids view your volunteering as being involved and caring about them. And that is how they will remember it as they grow up - more so, than you sitting in the stands talking to your friends and recording.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Summer swim hasn't even started and I haven't received a request to volunteer.

Our team is 100% HOA/neighborhood kids and we don't have an issue with volunteers. We're required to volunteer 6 hours per kid. DH and I volunteered at one of the two meets a week. They made it easy for us to sign up online. We were all given name tag stickers and assigned lanes and roles. I think over half the volunteers are men, so I'm not sure why pp is saying it's all women. Even the other teams whose parents volunteer with us have a lot of men. I really like timing actually. It's exciting to be right up front and to see the swimmers. There's a lot of camaraderie with the other parents.

Yea, I am not seeing the volunteering requirements being a mom lift either. For swim, definitely not and that goes for other sports as well. Even PTSA, that used to be all women seems to be 50/50 in who is helping and running events. And, in quite a few houses it is only the dad volunteering for everything so I don't believe this mom shouldering the burden narrative.

I think that moms still shoulder the keep everyone's calendar and be on top of things burden, but that is about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Its not just swimming. I help run a local rec league and its so much harder than it used to be to find parents willing to help out (coaching, but even little, easy jobs like running a clock).

In my experience, running the clock is not an easy job when crazy parent spectators are involved. (Rec basketball) I try to hide until that job is filled.

We do fulfill our swim volunteer hours, though, and my DH coaches the rec soccer team.

[Anonymous]

Return to office 5 days is making this very difficult for some families, especially when things start early in the evening.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Return to office 5 days is making this very difficult for some families, especially when things start early in the evening.

I think that we have a bunch of young parents that had more flexibility for the past five years since the time of one parent bread earner. And these parents are lost and have poor time management skills They seem unable to create work arounds like prior groups did before covid. I had to explain to my young colleague that he and his wife would need to stagger their work hours in order to make sports and camps work this summer. They have never had to figure it out. The crazy part was they were like we will see one another less - yes, you will because this is how you make it work for the family.

This year was better than last and I think they are starting to get it.

[Anonymous]

People are tired, it's hard to survive on one income, more people are working two jobs and employers have become less flexible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People are tired, it's hard to survive on one income, more people are working two jobs and employers have become less flexible.

I don't think the volunteering comments are aimed at this group of people. And for this segment, if summer swim doesn't work for you, then don't force it upon yourselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:why does it seem so hard to get anyone to volunteer to help these days?

is it a generational parent thing that parents w younger kids just assume someone else will do it?

it takes a village but it doesn’t seem to compute as the older parents look to pass the torch

Sometimes volunteering is too disorganized. I’ve taken time off work to arrive at a meet early to volunteer. There was nothing for me to do (and I asked several people).

Guess what, I’m not taking time off work to volunteer anymore.

And yes volunteering disproportionally falls on mom and rightly, Gen Z is saying no thanks.

How is this possible? At our pool you sign up for a specific task- timing, tables, stoke and turn. Never have we had someone show up and not have a job for them.

Not PP but happened to me twice and I realllly dont like the food contribution because there is so much waste. Dont have 5 dozen doughnut sign up and then only 1 doz get sold. Especially for an afternoon meet. On top of that, there is no tracking of who actually volunteers or provides concessions and families are not dinged when they dont volunteer during the season. It's some scouts honor type BS.

Also, I dont volunteer at swim meets because my kid doesnt participate in meets. He has another sport practice on weekday meets for B team and Saturday he has games. We do swim team because it's a skill and also a summer morning activity. Plus I pay too much in membership to not use every "free" thing the pool offers. The pool doesnt open until 12 and weekends/holidays its slammed so the only time we really get to use it is during swim team mornings and random weekday afternoons.