Working Bee - Yay or Nay?

[~ Zarava Flutterby ~]

We got a letter in DD1's pocket 2 weeks ago that there would be a working bee today.
It asked that you complete a form as to whether or not you could help out & what you could bring.
It was to remove old bark (not really safe) & replace with new soft fall stuff.

DP's been working 7 days a week so I ticked yes for me (and the girls) we grabbed a rake & the girls grabbed their wheelbarrows and off we went.

It was cold so we rugged up but when we arrived there were only 2 other cars, get inside and organised and in total we had 5 adults... That was all.
DD's class is 1 of 3 in the 3yr old group (20 kids in hers & 10+ in the others) plus 2x 4yr old groups!

Seriously 5 adults out of over 40 families?

That is even with an incentive if $50 off term feed if you volunteer for say this or bunnings BBQ!

So do you volunteer?
I understand some people work but the kids were welcome to come and with more people the job would have been finished today, I had to leave after 4hrs+ and we were probably just over half done.

It's for OUR KIDS to give them new stuff, to keep them safe, I just don't get why people wouldn't offer their time?
Even just an hour?

No matter what my girls had a ball and despite my wrist giving me grief now I'm glad I did my bit, making the playground safe for my girls and their friends.

I asked if they expected more & people didn't show due to weather?
Only 4 people including myself returned forms... 3 to say no


Sent from my iPhone, more than likely while I should be doing something else!

[MummyNaomi]

We help out at our Childcare Centre where we can - eg contribute to fundraising etc, but frankly when both parents work (in our case me 4 days, DH 5 days) our weekends are precious. I would rather contribute $$ than time, we seem to have precious little time to do the things we need to get done around our place, and keep up with our family and friends, so finding time (even as little as an hour) can at times be a struggle. In a perfect world though............

[Olive]

Yep it's always a huge issue....we have around 200 children at our kinder so around 170 families....we usually less than 8 adults turn up and it's usually the same people....committee members such as myeself. The attitude seems to be that someone else will do it.

[~ Zarava Flutterby ~]

I get that people work, I get that time can be precious I guess I just come from a family where no matter what 1 or both of my parents (from either family) attended working bees & we always had to go help.
Whether it was for school, sport or friends.

My stepmum has always done shift work but if dad was working she was there.
If mum was working my stepdad was there, etc etc.

I just think that 5 adults out of easily 40 families plus is a very poor effort.
The kinder could easily say too bad, no working bee, nothing new at kinder.

DP's been working 7 days a week, this was the first weekend in a while he actually got 2 days off and despite Sunday being family day we left him to sleep in and didn't return til nearly 2pm.

It's things like this that make me wonder about people complaining about kinder, school etc but no making an effort to help change things.

Please don't get me wrong, I understand both parents (or 1 if single) working and not having a lot of family time.

Does anyone else attend or not attend working bees?

"The attitude seems to be that someone else will do it" - posted at the same time olive - I think this can be the case.

Sent from my iPhone, more than likely while I should be doing something else!

[Khaleesi]

We have the same issue, last working bee we had 5 families turn up out of a 100.

We attend them

[Tegam]

Oh we are big volunteers at school and kindys. We use to get upset. Now we just aren't surprised. I still feel guilty when we cant help out sometimes but really we do more than our bit. We have four kids and DH works away, I work too, surely others could do more???

And you know what it's always the ones that complain about the bark that don't volunteer to fix it.

Good on you for helping!!

It's just our culture now to not 'give' of ourselves. It's easy to give money but I want to show my kids 'community' and that feeling of village. I want to show them that their kindy/school is important to our family!!!

[wysiwyg]

We attend them. I think there are a number of factors which contribute to people not going.

More and more people are willing to donate money but not time (especially true where we live) which is good but often time is more needed because committees can not justify the expense of paying contractors to do the normal working bee tasks. (Maybe they should specify in more black and white how much each working bee task saves the group).

Sometimes the working bee is not well organised and people turn up to find only thing someone can think of is some task like sweeping that takes 5 mins when they have given over all afternoon (have seen this happen and makes people less likely to return).

The less people come, the less people come IYKWIM as can be a social occasion. (Our community house insists on doing them mid winter too - no idea why slightly warmer weather would help)

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[Mother Goose]

I think it's a common issue at all kindred and schools. Some now give you the option to pay more at the beginning of the year so you don't h e to give up your time.

I personally don't do workbees that are landscaping type things because of my back - I've been stung in the past and hurt myself. But I do all the other stuff. I'm currently on PA and do most of those events but out of over 300 families we have a group of 10 ladies who are on PA and that's about it. We do the lot. Of those women, most only do the "fun" jobs (school disco) which is a bit sad. But I do any events I can that aren't risky for my back.

[RhiChiChi]

Yes, we volunteer. I am on the fundraising committee and general committee for DD kindergarten (4 yo). We had a working bee prior to 3 yo kindergarten starting and there were under 10 adults there. We got alot done, however many hands make light work. We have also had numerous fundraisers - Bunnings where DH & I volunteered for 2 hours each, a trivia night amongst others things.
I think it is really important to help out considering the 3 yo side of our kindergarten IS NOT government funded, so we rely on fees being paid on time, donations and volunteers helping.

Whilst DD attends 4 yo side and that is government funded (so everything done through local council) I still help out on the committee for the overall kindergarten and help out at kinder duty - I love it actually.

[~ Zarava Flutterby ~]

I think it's a common issue at all kindred and schools. Some now give you the option to pay more at the beginning of the year so you don't h e to give up your time.

I personally don't do workbees that are landscaping type things because of my back - I've been stung in the past and hurt myself. But I do all the other stuff. I'm currently on PA and do most of those events but out of over 300 families we have a group of 10 ladies who are on PA and that's about it. We do the lot. Of those women, most only do the "fun" jobs (school disco) which is a bit sad. But I do any events I can that aren't risky for my back.

See injury is another thing i completely get and you know what i prob SHOULDN'T have been doing the jobs i was doing yesterday as my wrist was a killer last night BUT it's not things i wouldn't be spending my sunday doing at home anyway (the gardening side of things).
I'm not on the committee but thats more that i couldn't guarantee my time regularly with DP working so much.

I would prefer lower fees and more working bee's i don't know where we gt this 'money will fix it' thing from.
I would much prefer spend a morning with my kids helping out their kinder (which DD1 loved and will be bragging about come end of holidays) than fork our MORE ontop of the fees we already pay (not sibsidised as it's 3yr old) AND the plates, photo's, raffles, scholastics etc we already pay for.

[sloane]

We have quite a good turn out for our plaugroup. We're a parent-run centre & because it's a playgroup we can be really flexible about what constitutes a working bee activity - for eg one of our groups spent 2 of their sessions cleaning out the toyroom (throwing out broken toys, tidying, sorting, replacing batteries etc) & that was their working bee. My group is going to paint the cubbyhouse in a beach box theme & so anyone eho helps with that gets their working bee levy returned (we charge at the start of the year & then refund). We also have an open/market day & one group will look after the bbq, last year i ran the cake stall & so on. I like to think we offer lots of opportunities for our members to get involved & try not to limit it to physical work or weekends.

Some people will always prefer to pay the levy (for a variety of reasons) but if we can also get a good number involved then that's great.

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[RockingBaker]

Our daycare doesn't do them but I doubt we would. Why? DH won't watch the kids while I do 'that stuff' so I would have to take all 4 kids and that would be counter productive. DS needs someone with him at all times doing damage control and the girls follow his lead so they'd undo everything being done (and then some). I wish our daycare would though as our fees are going up for the 3rd time this year

[~ Zarava Flutterby ~]

I wish our daycare would though as our fees are going up for the 3rd time this year

I completely get your situation hun and i'm not saying this about you BUT if everyone said this but wasn't willing (or able) to attend then how would it be fair for fee's to come down if it's only certain people attending to do all the work?
Again i'm def not saying this about YOU, hell you have very valid reasons for not attening (multiple children and being PG) but would your DH attend, if not why not?

Again i am just asking for an insight, there is no right or wrong - i just wonder where some people draw the line or the reasons they might not attend.

[RockingBaker]

Honestly DH won't do anything where there are people he doesn't know as it puts him out of his comfort zone. He barely talks to the kids daycarers beyond "here they are" and "we're going home". To DH that would be a social thing and that causes him stress.

[OceanPrincess]

DD has been at kinder for two terms (as you know ZF). We are in a government-funded kinder but like someone posted above, it isn't funded for 3yo, so there are working bees. Generally I think two or three per term? Anyway the roster one of the groups (we have two 3 and two 4yo group) on and really try and encourage that group to "own" that working bee but anyone from other groups is always welcome.

Have we been? No.

There wouldn't be a lot I could do. DH could do heaps, but he doesn't want to. Part of the problem is that they are always on Saturday mornings and we have swimming on Sat mornings. DH asks why we should give up something that we pay for and that he enjoys doing with the kids, to go and do a working bee? He knows we could get a rebate off our fees but honestly, we are in that position where our family time is more important than saving $50.

Will that change in future? Possibly - but it'll depend on swimming. DH feels that he would be more willing to get involved in school - once we have chosen a school, we will be involved there for probably ten years across the three kids, so he is more likely to put time in there. So he says anyway.

[HotI]

I also think sometimes people think they won't fit in, they will feel awkward or think it might be too cliquey. I know i often used to be like that, until i started (with DHs help (he can talk to anyone!)) to challenge those assumptions and in most cases i have found that when i get out there i end up having a good time.

[sangie]

Our kinder has 3 working bees a year and at the beginning of the year they ask families to choose which date will suit them. We have a pretty good turn out at ours and also I think the $50 we get back if we attend seems to be a good incentive.
Also the days chosen are both saturdays and sundays as we found that some families prefer one or the other depending on their other commitments.

Agree with you that people shouldn't complain if they aren't willing to help fix things! I can't stand it lol!

[nickle730]

I'm a big volunteer-er at the kids school, and DH gets dragged along for the muscle! I think working together to achieve something at the school creates a sense of community and belonging and sets a great example for the kids of what can be done if we work towards a common goal. It's not necessarily just about reducing costs, although that's a great benefit.

If I am not physically capable of assisting in a task, I find something else useful to do such as entertaining all the kids or cooking the sausage sizzle. Working bees are a great social outing at our school and we all enjoy them.