Also, just further to this point, I think for a lot of parents little Johnny or Suzie get home and it goes like this:
Responsible Adult: “Did you have a lovely time, my precious little darling?”
Teenaged Cadet: “It was alright”
Responsible Adult: “Tell me all about it, my little prince/princess!”
Teenaged Cadet: “God! Leave me alone! I want to play Xbox!”
When they’ve been out to collect little Johnny or Suzie they get to hear the excited chatter in the car on the way home between them - and them all laughing at what went on or what their plans are next or who passed and failed and and and and…
I’m not so sure the lift sharing will be quite the same for some time on the back of this.
Although I wholeheartedly agree that parents should do the bulk of the transporting. However some people organising things need to understand that while an event might be only 10-20 miles away, that’s a total distance of 40-80 miles which can translate into 4-6 hours driving and a fuel cost. Unless there is something for parents to do nearby, it’s a hard sell. Our kids were into sports and other things, but not like cadet activities that go on for 6-8 hours in out of the way places, so hanging around and chatting to other parents for a couple of hours was never a problem and was fun.
To be honest I’ve never found it a hard sell to get parents to drop off at events far away. Quite the opposite! Parents are much more thankful to us for running the events etc.
Very much depends on where your Squadron is, when I ran an inner city Squadron parents dropping off was unheard of, many were single parent families who had other kids at home and many couldn’t drive.
Whereas my more recent Squadron they are more than happy to drop off, share lifts etc
Valid points! I’ve not been on a squadron in a city so couldn’t comments to that. I guess not being in a city people (parents) are much more used to having to drive their kids about.
It’s not the distance it’s the repeat distances. If the activities were parent friendly in terms of time or something to do or go to while away the time, then it might be easier to convince people. You have to admit we don’t tend to run things in parent friendly places or ways.
We’d go to athletics training and meets and be able to get involved or stand around on the touchline for whatever the kids were doing. I’ve been linesman or magic bucket man more than a few times.
Okay. I am worried that if that is the case then some may see an opportunity to limit our size to make us more affordable as this country and the MOD/RAF is going to be broke…
I know there will be some hostility towards it, but I don’t see why a more joint cadet force couldn’t be formed out of the reduced staff and Cadet numbers across the three forces.
I’d supports this. Even if not joint units, but the wing/region/corps management could become a mixed system. It would be a complete change to how things are done, but might end up being a massive money saving measure with little downsides.
Seems like that is happening in front of our eyes. More CCF units being opened whilst ATC units are closing… I suspect someone is looking at the CCFs ongoing costs and thinking that is a better option then opening new ATC units or keeping low number units open!
