Guild Age Limit???
01-22-2017, 05:24 PM
#51
Member
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Greenville, SC
Posts: 77
My daughter saw the ad for the local quilt guild in the paper. He dad was answering an ad for something else and she happened to see the paper by the phone. She wanted to make a quilt. She was 10 and I wasn't into quilting. I called the local group and they said that they would take any age as long as they wanted to quilt and were interested. I took her and she had completed her first full sized quilt and hand quilted it before she was 12. Then I decided to get on the ball and make and quilt and here i am. She is 35 yrs old now.
01-22-2017, 07:26 PM
#52
Senior Member
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: USA
Posts: 783
My guild is in the process of updating the bylaws that deal with membership and I was wondering if any of your guilds have an age limit for guild membership. We are trying to avoid having members bring young children/ teens to the meetings and sew days simply because they could not find a babysitter, which has started happening. Some members are very bothered by this and don't think it is appropriate for children to be at the meetings and fear it will become too disruptive.
Do any of your guilds' bylaws address this and state a minimum age for membership? Any comments and suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Do any of your guilds' bylaws address this and state a minimum age for membership? Any comments and suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Occasionally a member brought a child, sometimes a child would accompany their grandmother but the President always had control over the meeting. We had one lady who did not drive so her husband always brought her and stayed for the meeting. We had one member as young as 12 who was a beginner quilter. One lady always brought her handicapped son who was wheelchair bound and could not be left at home alone although he was in his 40's. He was ever so sweet and we all loved him. I would say perhaps dealing on a one by one basis would be more appealing than rigid rules. Just my humble opinion.
01-22-2017, 07:39 PM
#53
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Pennsylvania
Posts: 619
Our group (ASG) put an age limit of under 12 (I think, might have been lower) for Stitch Camp due to insurance because of dangers of children running around with all the cords, irons, scissors, etc, was very dangerous and there were instances of small children not being watched. Then ASG did start having Junior memberships, I think they could start at age 7 & go up to 18 (I might not have ages exactly right, but close) So any child with a Junior membership could attend, my now 12 yr old granddaughter loves to sew & loves Stitch Camp so I signed her up quickly. The guild members love her in part because she is a big help to the older members in carrying in their machines, etc from their cars & back to their cars, makes it easier for them to attend.
01-23-2017, 05:08 AM
#56
Super Member
Join Date: Nov 2010
Posts: 1,572
I would simply state, no children allowed, it is an adult function. They can be disruptive and they can be bothersome to others. We do not allow children, the mom's need a break as does everyone else. I view my time at the quilting guild as very special day. It's about the only time I get to go out and socialize and have fun doing what I love and other ladies have said that also. We talk about anything and everything, some may be inappropriate for young ears. For instance one of our ladies has breast cancer, she opened up to us and found out she's not alone and many of us have experienced what she's going through. If there were children there she most likely would not have opened up to us. There are lots of sewing centers that teach child friendly sewing classes, lots of church groups have sewing opportunities for children also. Plus there is 4H, Brownies, Girl Scouts, etc., that would be a great place for a young lady to learn to sew.
01-23-2017, 05:16 AM
#58
Junior Member
Join Date: Dec 2016
Location: Georgia
Posts: 145
One way to offer babysitting during the summer months would be to find a couple of young teens to watch the younger children during the meeting. Anyone who has to bring a younger child could pay $5 or something to the teens to watch the kids in another room. They could bring some games or crafts or something. The young children would be entertained. The teens would be earning money. And the quilters could enjoy the meeting.
01-23-2017, 05:16 AM
#59
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Kansas
Posts: 910
Our guild has a lady that routinely brings her young grand-daughter. We just love it because she's so well behaved you hardly even know she's there. What if your guild had a couple of 'busy bags' with coloring books, etc. to give the little ones something to do while they're there? I think members having conversations during meetings/presentations is much more of a problem in our guild than children. It's a touchy issue that is sure to cause some hard feelings either way and may result in some members dropping out altogether.
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