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Well I am hopeing that this turns into a very constructive discussion on how we
can cater to minors in our Local groups. I would be very interested in seeing
what people have to say on the issue. I would also like to hear any
experiances that people have had dealing with minors in organized groups.
Seeing that this is a good discussion for all of the local groups I have set
followup's to lugnet.org.us.
In lugnet.loc.us.me, David Eaton writes:
> I'd have to agree for the most part with what's been said-- I'd like to see
> NELUG cater to a wider audience... However, this is really where the purpose
> of NELUG gets called into question.
I would have to agree that I would like to cater to minors in some form.
Hopefully this discussion will create ideas on how to do this.
>
> If we want a bunch of us to get together and talk about Lego (your standard
> NELUG meeting so far)-- well, I don't want a bunch of young children running
> around. In addition to that, children don't usually have a mode of
> transportation to get anywhere, and aren't allowed out late at night, etc.
> Plus it would probably mean that if anything DID happen (accidental injuries,
> etc., someone falls down the stairs at someone's house, whatever), I DON'T
> want NELUG to be held responsible. Things like that get tricky when you're
> dealing with minors.
I would agree that for our current standard NELUG meetings I would not want
children running around. I think that these meetings should remain Adult only.
Although this also brings up the question of what I consider "tweeners" those
young adults that are say between 16 and 18 that might have their own form of
transportation and are mature and want to attend. How do we handle that. Do
we just say sorry can't help you? I would hope not because these are probably
the people that most need a "support group" at the moment. They probably don't
have many freinds into LEGO and they probably don't want to hang around kids 5
years younger that they are.
So do we have some sort of "permission slip" that clears us of any
responsibility? Does that mean that we would have to refrain from having
alcohol at events (we havn't been drinking much at meetings but hypothetically
we might want to).
Do we have different classes of meetings?
1. Adult only
2. 16 and up
3. all ages
>
> However, I don't think that's the sole purpose behind NELUG. Another aspect of
> NELUG is informational. We have a mailing list (although not highly used at
> the moment, now that the Mindfest has died down, etc) that gets sent out
> informing our members of events in the area, etc, etc. Here, being a minor
> doesn't present a real problem. Sending out a newsletter via email (no
> addresses or phone numbers being given out or anything) is pretty safe, I'd
> say. The only possible problem that it might have would be irresponsible kids
> using the mailing list for trivial things... but that can be controlled, I'd
> say.
I would say that the mailing list could probably be open to all just like
LUGNET is open to all. For the most part if someone wanted to know about an
event all they would have to do would be look on LUGNET anyway.
Irresposible kids are a relatively easy thing to control with a mailing list.
You just remove them from it and block their us of it. Of course there would
have to be some sort of sliding scale because one infraction is not necessarily
grounds for dismissal.
>
> The other big purpose to NELUG is to help sponsor larger events. We haven't
> really done anything YET that's been strictly NELUG, but it's certainly in our
> future (I hope). Here's where it can also get tricky. If we do something like
> take a trip down to Enfield, it's probably similar to a "regular" meeting--
> kids would need transportation, parental approval, and there are still
> liability issues... However, if we get a huge confrence room for a day (or
> something like that) and decide to sponsor a building event, I think I'd like
> to welcome kids... it's also something that parents probably wouldn't mind
> attending, even, if it's only for a few hours-- and that helps address the
> other problems... and to help with liability, etc, we could have an
> application form for parents/guardians to sign with the appropriate legal
> information. Doing that for things like trips to Enfield/Regular meetings
> seems like a lot more effort, though-- more trouble than it's worth.
I would agree that as we grow the likely hood of a larger self-sponsored event
becomes more and more likely. For public events I think anyone should be
invited, hence the name public. We may require parental supervision for minors
or those under 16 but that is easy. I would agree that anything requireing
travel or related to regular meetings is a bit tougher.
Another idea would be that if say a parent wanted to have meetings between
their kids and other kids we might be able to help them with getting in touch
with each other and maybe having some sort of "NELUG Jr." that is run by the
parents of the kids. We could then maybe even have joint NELUG Jr. and NELUG
events where both kids and adults can share their ideas.
>
> Hence, it's tricky. I'd LIKE to have younger audiences be able to use us in
> the informational sense, but that even brings up problems. If a 9 year old
> gets an email that there's a NELUG meeting, and doesn't understand that it's
> going to be us mostly talking about lego, displaying models, etc., rather than
> sitting down and building/playing games, etc., and s/he shows up to the
> meeting-- well.. that's a problem.
It always comes back to the out-of-control 9 year old doesn't it :-). I think
this problem can possibly be solved using some of the ideas I have stated
above. Have clear cut Adult only meetings and invite kids to more public all
ages meetings.
>
> So the solution up until now has been to only have an adult audience, with the
> intent to be to cater more to younger audiences when we are a larger group.
> Hence it's been a "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it". And now it
> looks like we've seen the first signs of that bridge, especially with all the
> kids who saw us at the Mindfest, and potentially the ones who are seeing our
> display at the Construction Site... But I'm still not sure what the best way
> is to cross it yet.
Well you are right in that Mindfest and the Construction Site window have been
a boom for membership growth and has definitly raised awareness of our group
with adults and kids alike.
These are all good things and we just need to figure out how to handle them. I
don't want people to think I was dodging the issue but it is a tough issue and
one not to be taken lightly.
_________________
It is very easy for me to take the first step and include an option for minors
on our membership form for minors with a check box that says they have their
parent/guardians permission and I can add them to the mailing list. We would
then have to state whether meetings were Adult only or public with a big
disclaimer for Adult meetings and then we would have to just turn kids away if
they show up.
If I don't get any negative feedback I will probably add this option for minors
to receive mail from our mailing list in about a week.
Again I would like to see other ideas related to this issue so please respond
to this if you have some ideas.
Eric K.
The New England LEGO Users Group
http://www.nelug.org/
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Message has 2 Replies:
Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: NELUG Turns 50!!
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| I'd have to agree for the most part with what's been said-- I'd like to see NELUG cater to a wider audience... However, this is really where the purpose of NELUG gets called into question. If we want a bunch of us to get together and talk about Lego (...) (25 years ago, 16-Nov-99, to lugnet.loc.us.me, lugnet.org.us, lugnet.loc.us.ma.bos)
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