Petty vent, it’s band camp time. Come complain with me

I worked in an elementary school and we had a small but great PTO. When the parents of the fifth graders left, there was always a big learning curve for the parents of the younger kids, but they jumped in and did their thing. Sometimes parents of younger kids are ready to bring new ideas, but they wait until the more established parents move on.

My family is out of town for the weekend. I have no complaints.

I was a band parent - I volunteered all the way thru. But after mine graduated I didn’t worry that ‘the same 5 parents’ kids graduated with mine. Band was there before my kids & it will be there after.

I enjoyed my volunteer time, it was a good experience.

It’s always the same 5 people band/scouts/4h whatever it’s always just a few people stepping up. I hear your gripe. Your gripe is valid, for your school and thousands of others.

In hindsight, I feel sorry for the parents that don’t step up because I had such a good time & had such good experiences with the other volunteers & the kids. Those are things they’ll never have.

Same thing with sports teams. The senior parents for the class of 2019 were always the ones doing things and sending things. Some of us have sophomore this coming year, so we will continue, but the years in between sucked at it.
I refused this year to fill in the blanks.

I think this is pretty much the way it always happens. It's unfortunate for the kids but I think most of the time it ends up working out (just probably not as good as if the parents had stepped up as freshman parents and learned from the more seasoned volunteers).

My vent is that we still don't have a school schedule for this coming year. We always start the day after Labor Day so I assume that won't change but I have no idea if we'll have any 3 day weekends, when breaks start, when the last day of school is....nothing! Very difficult to plan anything.

Yep, 100% to this. We have a great band program and it's the same people who always volunteer. We are looking into a pre band camp social to try and get those freshmen parents involved. I may even host it! Right now, my dining room table is covered with the material to cover some band props. I've been sewing hours every day but I know that my daughter appreciates that my husband (he's the pit boss) and I are so involved. I will never get these years back with her (or her 3 older brothers) and that makes it all worth it.

When my kids were in band, and there was an event, I felt like I had to hunt for the right person to ask, and then practically BEG to volunteer. It felt like a tight clique of a few people who knew each other, perhaps bonded by their martyrdom.

Completely agree....my other two kids didn't do band, but were in cheer...I was a seasoned vet by then. But the cheer coach was crazy.....and unreasonable, and unorganized. I could go on and on....we gave her a chance because her mom had been our former fantastic cheer coach, but she passed away from cancer. Loved that lady....but it was time for me to be done. I had done six years in elementary/jr. high volunteering, three years HS band, and four for jr. high/sr. high cheer...gave up my summer to do car washes almost every weekend, which was my choice...I didn't need a medal or anything, I was doing it so my kid would have a blast. But I was a little put out as the lady that only washed the uniforms and fitted them (and I did that too!) got a thank you gift. 
This is my youngest's senior year...she is in art...not cheer anymore and I'm secretly thrilled. Because its the same people over and over....

My gripe for this afternoon was there were more little kids running around in the nail salon today than there were paying adults. There were between 8-10 little kids (3-8ish in age) that seemed to have created a hostage situation in the nail salon. If your kid can't sit and entertain him/herself at a place where you can't get up and correct your child, maybe find another place for them. I was entertained by the ruckus for about five minutes and then realized that it was going to last the entire time I was there. Moms were getting both pedicures and manicures.

I’m amazed your band camp is 5 days. Lol

@julie5 I went thru this with a group my DD belonged to. There were some parents who worked themselves to the point of heatstroke for our club and some who thought we should be GRATEFUL they bothered to get up early enough to drop their kids off for the day’s event. These latter parents were the first to scream when their kids didn’t receive a scholarship or get work credits for a group cleanup day. I had to explain often, usually to the same people, that the person who established the scholarship had asked it go to athletes whose whole family supported the club with their sweat equity. Their kid didn’t get work credits because when the work started, their kid was nowhere to be found. The kid signed in and took off, coming back at the end of the day. We had called the parents to find out where the kid was, but they had turned their phones off when they went back to bed.

I will admit that I really enjoyed the look on their faces when they demanded to know who the anonymous donor of the scholarship was as they were going to set him straight as to how his decision had hurt their family and how he needed to reconsider and be more thoughtful. Informing them that he was a she and she was not at all impressed with their bellyaching, then waiting for them to realize who it was, was definitely worth every penny I had spent setting up that travel scholarship. LOL

My vent is company’s that say they have an offer pending for you...and then drag it out for weeks. DH was told after his 3rd interview that they intended to make an offer to him. The recruiter calls every couple of days to make sure he is still available and swears they’re just finishing up the paperwork. This has gone on for a month and still no official offer. DH has continued to work and go to other interviews, but this is just irritating.

Marcy

This! OMG! I volunteered multiple times to be the “med mom” for two band trips. I was completely ignored because I wasn’t in the “clique.” I had 20-something years as a nurse, 10 of those in critical care. They picked a random mom and low and behold, meds got screwed up and people weren’t getting them on time.

Second instance is my girlfriend and I “inherited” the ticket chairmanship of our home show. The director was aware as was his administrative person and we were not told that we couldn’t do it. We had all of the materials in our possession and were looking forward to it. Field band season starts and there is a call out for volunteers for the ticket chairmanship. My friend and I were like WTF and sent multiple e-mails and texts to the powers that be. We were completely ignored and it went to 2 rookie parents who had no clue what they were doing. Lesson learned.

My DD is no longer in band and I couldn’t be happier. Apparently there is a lot going on that isn’t being talked about and they are supposed to go the Rose Parade this New Year’s Day. I know that a few kids have dropped out due to the politics and favoritism and it breaks my heart for them.

Oh. The speech at the banquet by the director that was posted up thread is something I could totally see our director doing. He has scolded all of us more than once via e-mail.

It’s just too bad because band can be such a great thing.

Our band directors are currently begging for men to chaperone band camp overnight. (It's 5 days, 4 nights.) If they don't get enough, they won't be able to have sleep-away camp. They'll have to do it at the school. We have a daughter, so we don't feel too obligated to send dh out there to watch other people's sons. Dd wants to cancel the sleep-away part anyway.