If there's a chronic volunteer shortage, what's being asked is unreasonable. Overall, it's unreasonable and not sustainable. A complete redo of policy and expectations is the only answer.

There's an expression: you shouldn't lay the sidewalk till you see where people walk

Not sure SSL should be use to fill gaps at member-only pools - even if pool has non-profit status. Doesn’t seem the volunteering truly benefits the greater community. Another issue with teens is that NVSL has min age for on deck volunteers (maybe 18?). We explored these options a few years ago. Agree with commenter who suggested reviewing volunteer jobs and events - weekly breakfast may be a carryover from a different era (when there were stay at home moms).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Every year I read these complaints but no one ever wants to propose real answers like-

pools should include in their lifeguard contracts that they must participate in a couple of meets per season

Hire a couple teens to do some jobs like timing

Drop some of the activities that aren’t really needed - fruits for breakfast? pls parents are capable of sending breakfast for their kid

Tons of kids need SSL hours to graduate. You can offer it in the greater neighborhood, not just pool members.

Also I agree that not everything is necessary --which team does weekly breakfasts? If you cut that out, every single person contributing to Friday breakfast could take a necessary job like timing or ribbons that week and feel less stressed out. We have one pancake breakfast all season, weekly seems like overkill.

SSL hours is unfortunately not the answer. If you think parent volunteers are unreliable, sign up kids who don’t really want to be there and don’t have swimmers and need more supervision!

I am a millennial parent and work 2-3 jobs because of the boomers, so I don't have time.

Ours opens all jobs at the start of the season. I love it since I can then plan. It fluxes a bit as people change but is super helpful.

We do weekly breakfast on Fun Fridays but that does not count against your required volunteer total. People just chip in for it.

People also do behind the scenes jobs like team rep or website coordinator, etc. so there are ample options for people with only 1 spouse and small kids. We allow for true hardship cases though if needed too like DH deployed and DW has health issues or something.

Anonymous wrote:Every year I read these complaints but no one ever wants to propose real answers like-

pools should include in their lifeguard contracts that they must participate in a couple of meets per season

Hire a couple teens to do some jobs like timing

Drop some of the activities that aren’t really needed - fruits for breakfast? pls parents are capable of sending breakfast for their kid

Tons of kids need SSL hours to graduate. You can offer it in the greater neighborhood, not just pool members.

Also I agree that not everything is necessary --which team does weekly breakfasts? If you cut that out, every single person contributing to Friday breakfast could take a necessary job like timing or ribbons that week and feel less stressed out. We have one pancake breakfast all season, weekly seems like overkill.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had to quit swim over this. There was logistically no way for me to be present at meets.

It’s too bad but the meets can’t run without volunteers. There were probably other things you could have done, but it’s too late now. Why was there no way for you to volunteer on Monday nights?

No backup childcare.

Why couldn't you bring your other kids to the meets?

Because someone would need to watch them closely/physically carry them etc while I volunteer.

But if you went to the meets, and met the other parents, they'd join you in problem solving that. There are jobs that work fine with younger kids. They might not be jobs at the pool during a meet, although there are some that do, but there are solutions.

Our team only needs physical volunteers during the meets. It just doesn’t work with very young kids in the mix and no extra childcare.

It's crazy to have a team with 50 families and none of them are willing to look out for each others' kids. What kind of team is this?

Or the kid’s other parent could watch them. Childcare is a BS excuse.

There may not be another parent available. I have health issues. Thank goodness for other families that helped out so my spouse could be an official.

So, this is the kind of situation where people on my team happily step up for each other, whether that's offering to watch a younger child, or offering to do a shift for you or whatever.

Our team is amazing with helping each other out. It's really sad other teams don't function this way but we left a team that was like what others post where people are nasty to each other.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had to quit swim over this. There was logistically no way for me to be present at meets.

It’s too bad but the meets can’t run without volunteers. There were probably other things you could have done, but it’s too late now. Why was there no way for you to volunteer on Monday nights?

No backup childcare.

Why couldn't you bring your other kids to the meets?

Because someone would need to watch them closely/physically carry them etc while I volunteer.

But if you went to the meets, and met the other parents, they'd join you in problem solving that. There are jobs that work fine with younger kids. They might not be jobs at the pool during a meet, although there are some that do, but there are solutions.

Our team only needs physical volunteers during the meets. It just doesn’t work with very young kids in the mix and no extra childcare.

It's crazy to have a team with 50 families and none of them are willing to look out for each others' kids. What kind of team is this?

Or the kid’s other parent could watch them. Childcare is a BS excuse.

There may not be another parent available. I have health issues. Thank goodness for other families that helped out so my spouse could be an official.

So, this is the kind of situation where people on my team happily step up for each other, whether that's offering to watch a younger child, or offering to do a shift for you or whatever.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had to quit swim over this. There was logistically no way for me to be present at meets.

It’s too bad but the meets can’t run without volunteers. There were probably other things you could have done, but it’s too late now. Why was there no way for you to volunteer on Monday nights?

No backup childcare.

Why couldn't you bring your other kids to the meets?

Because someone would need to watch them closely/physically carry them etc while I volunteer.

But if you went to the meets, and met the other parents, they'd join you in problem solving that. There are jobs that work fine with younger kids. They might not be jobs at the pool during a meet, although there are some that do, but there are solutions.

Our team only needs physical volunteers during the meets. It just doesn’t work with very young kids in the mix and no extra childcare.

It's crazy to have a team with 50 families and none of them are willing to look out for each others' kids. What kind of team is this?

Or the kid’s other parent could watch them. Childcare is a BS excuse.

I don't want to watch your bratty little kids nor chase your toddler around the pool deck for 3.5 hrs (or any amount of time) b/c you want to volunteer to be a timer.

Are you the other parent of PP's kids? If so, why don't you just volunteer and let them watch the kids if you hate watching your own kids so much?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had to quit swim over this. There was logistically no way for me to be present at meets.

It’s too bad but the meets can’t run without volunteers. There were probably other things you could have done, but it’s too late now. Why was there no way for you to volunteer on Monday nights?

No backup childcare.

Why couldn't you bring your other kids to the meets?

Because someone would need to watch them closely/physically carry them etc while I volunteer.

But if you went to the meets, and met the other parents, they'd join you in problem solving that. There are jobs that work fine with younger kids. They might not be jobs at the pool during a meet, although there are some that do, but there are solutions.

Our team only needs physical volunteers during the meets. It just doesn’t work with very young kids in the mix and no extra childcare.

It's crazy to have a team with 50 families and none of them are willing to look out for each others' kids. What kind of team is this?

Or the kid’s other parent could watch them. Childcare is a BS excuse.

There may not be another parent available. I have health issues. Thank goodness for other families that helped out so my spouse could be an official.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had to quit swim over this. There was logistically no way for me to be present at meets.

It’s too bad but the meets can’t run without volunteers. There were probably other things you could have done, but it’s too late now. Why was there no way for you to volunteer on Monday nights?

No backup childcare.

Why couldn't you bring your other kids to the meets?

Because someone would need to watch them closely/physically carry them etc while I volunteer.

But if you went to the meets, and met the other parents, they'd join you in problem solving that. There are jobs that work fine with younger kids. They might not be jobs at the pool during a meet, although there are some that do, but there are solutions.

Our team only needs physical volunteers during the meets. It just doesn’t work with very young kids in the mix and no extra childcare.

It's crazy to have a team with 50 families and none of them are willing to look out for each others' kids. What kind of team is this?

Or the kid’s other parent could watch them. Childcare is a BS excuse.

I don't want to watch your bratty little kids nor chase your toddler around the pool deck for 3.5 hrs (or any amount of time) b/c you want to volunteer to be a timer.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had to quit swim over this. There was logistically no way for me to be present at meets.

It’s too bad but the meets can’t run without volunteers. There were probably other things you could have done, but it’s too late now. Why was there no way for you to volunteer on Monday nights?

No backup childcare.

Why couldn't you bring your other kids to the meets?

Because someone would need to watch them closely/physically carry them etc while I volunteer.

But if you went to the meets, and met the other parents, they'd join you in problem solving that. There are jobs that work fine with younger kids. They might not be jobs at the pool during a meet, although there are some that do, but there are solutions.

Our team only needs physical volunteers during the meets. It just doesn’t work with very young kids in the mix and no extra childcare.

It's crazy to have a team with 50 families and none of them are willing to look out for each others' kids. What kind of team is this?

I feel as though the way our swim team works involves people cooperating and problem solving. And we're happy to problem solve with you. But when people don't engage in that process, because they think their issues are unique, or that it's other people's problem, that's when it falls apart.

I also think that it's totally legitimate for someone to say that they aren't interested in an extracurricular activity that involves talking to people, and cooperating, and problem solving. That's fine. But then just say "swim team wasn't for us", rather than "It was impossible" when really you prefer a different type of activity.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had to quit swim over this. There was logistically no way for me to be present at meets.

It’s too bad but the meets can’t run without volunteers. There were probably other things you could have done, but it’s too late now. Why was there no way for you to volunteer on Monday nights?

No backup childcare.

Why couldn't you bring your other kids to the meets?

Because someone would need to watch them closely/physically carry them etc while I volunteer.

But if you went to the meets, and met the other parents, they'd join you in problem solving that. There are jobs that work fine with younger kids. They might not be jobs at the pool during a meet, although there are some that do, but there are solutions.

Our team only needs physical volunteers during the meets. It just doesn’t work with very young kids in the mix and no extra childcare.

It's crazy to have a team with 50 families and none of them are willing to look out for each others' kids. What kind of team is this?

Or the kid’s other parent could watch them. Childcare is a BS excuse.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We had to quit swim over this. There was logistically no way for me to be present at meets.

It’s too bad but the meets can’t run without volunteers. There were probably other things you could have done, but it’s too late now. Why was there no way for you to volunteer on Monday nights?

No backup childcare.

Why couldn't you bring your other kids to the meets?

Because someone would need to watch them closely/physically carry them etc while I volunteer.

But if you went to the meets, and met the other parents, they'd join you in problem solving that. There are jobs that work fine with younger kids. They might not be jobs at the pool during a meet, although there are some that do, but there are solutions.

Our team only needs physical volunteers during the meets. It just doesn’t work with very young kids in the mix and no extra childcare.

It's crazy to have a team with 50 families and none of them are willing to look out for each others' kids. What kind of team is this?

No easy answer IMO (team rep). I come down on the side of flexibility. As long as we have enough certified officials and someone to run automation, I have no problem with someone who wants to contribute by dropping off donated supplies.

I certainly don’t know everyone’s schedule and I don’t want volunteering to be a chore. Or more of a chore?