#35 Pushing organizers to change their rules to suit you...
Sometimes you hear about a great class or field trip, and then you find out that there is a rule that means your family can't participate. When this happens, there is nothing wrong with explaining your situation to the organizer and asking about the purpose of the rule, to see if there's a way to work-around the problem. However, if they say that the rule is firm, you need to accept the "no" and move on. Pushing after you've been told no will only discourage the organizer from organizing again in the future.
We are a volunteer-driven community, and volunteers have a right to organize activities to meet their own needs. For example, if a family is having trouble meeting kids their kids' ages, they may plan a field trip and restrict registration to the age-range of kids they're hoping to meet. If the field trip sounds like something your kids would like, but they aren't in the age-range, it may seem unfair or unfriendly, but try to understand the organizer's perspective, and remember you can always organize a field trip for a different age-range if you like. Maybe the organizer is asking for payment sooner than makes sense to you, or wants to have more information about your kids than you'd prefer to give out. Whatever it is, try to deal with the organizer in a clear, upfront way, and respect that they get to make the rules for their event. Sometimes it may seem like a pointless rule that keeps you from participating, but that's the organizer's perogative. Myabe in a few years you'll understand, or maybe you won't, but either way, getting mad doesn't help.
