To think children generally enjoy holiday clubs?

My eldest granddaughter (11) is very academic, hates sports except swimming, very mature for her age, hates clubs. It's the regularity of them. She likes one-three day activities. Used to like the art/craft library sessions. Likes the cookery classes on holiday.
My youngest granddaughter is very sociable. She struggles with academic work and has dyspraxia. But she's kind, likes younger children to look after and likes to join in. At 8 she still likes soft play. I take her to a park in a lower income area, which she prefers, because the children play with each other. She would really miss the company of other children over the summer holidays, without stuff to go to.

My children tried them but didn’t like them on the whole. They found them too noisy and said a lot of the kids didn’t listen to the adults, behaved badly etc.

They preferred being with us, whether we were doing something exciting or just chilling at home. They also liked to stay in bed later in the holidays.

Mine probably wouldn’t choose to go to holiday clubs every day of the holidays, but she’d choose to go some days. She likes to play with children her own age (not younger siblings and cousins) and she likes many of the activities on offer.

I'm not being nit-picky. At least not deliberately. Apologies again if you think I am.
You obviously have a reason for asking.
I was attempting to help but I guess whatever I say isn't going to be what you want to hear.
Apologies again. I didn't mean any offence.
I will leave you alone now.
💐

My ds hated them, fortunately I don’t have to use them anymore. My dd tolerated them but she is a lot more easy going and makes friends easily. Neither of them would ask to go though. Maybe if they go with friends there is more desire to go?

My DC really enjoyed them. They were lucky enough not to go every day though, so maybe 2-3 days a week for 2 weeks in the summer say and maybe 2-3 days of the Easter holidays. They were pretty sociable kids though and used to enjoy the variety of activities. Primary age only.

To be fair some parents have no choice for childcare in the school holidays.

I've yet to meet a child who would choose a holiday club every day over staying home with a parent, unless they had an unhappy home life.

But what can you do? Parents need to work.

My son was generally OK with them and yes would of preferred to stay at home but me or my husband have never really wfh, maybe an odd day but we had to have childcare in place to wfh. There so many school holidays ds had to go really. We don't have lots of family to look after him

I posted upthread saying mine does enjoy them

She goes to one holiday club that's part of a nursery. So an unstructured one. I think it's really good. They've got good facilities in my opinion. Snooker/pool table. Nintendo switches. A good outside area. And other things to do of course. One time over Easter they got a lamb in visiting!

The other one she goes to is a sporty one where they do lots of different sports all day which is the type of thing she can really get into and she like the physical sporty stuff. They do wet Wednesdays in the warmer weather and the one she goes to has a swimming pool on site so some days they go in the swimming pool.

It's a lot of money but for example I couldn't replicate those experiences to be honest. And she's the type of girl that needs to be active as well which the sporty one definitely does. So I do think they do her good. And she can be with her friends (most of the time some people she knows are there). And in a way it'll be a bit sad when she stops going due to age.

Best advice I have for anyone is to send them with a friend or to get them into an activity, like ballet, football, whatever, and hope that their club runs a holiday club.

Apologies.
I didn't mean to sound rude.
It just not a question that I think you'd get a good answer from though because for every child that enjoys a holiday club there will be one that hates it.
Are you worried about having to send your child to one?

Depends on the club. My dd did local ones, some of which she loved and some of which she hated. The ones run in the local schools were normally fine, as her friends also went (they were also cheap) And then she did "away" ones as my Belgian employer offered a massive discount. These she generally loved, so much so she did the training course to become an animator at 16 and camp chief at 20.

But what were you wanting people to say?
Some children will enjoy them, some won't.
That's just life 🤷

@letsgoonabughunt I would say more that it 'depends on the club' and the people that run it. I was a very sociable, outgoing, active, enthusiastic child but attended some dreadful clubs, run by dreadful people with no regards to safety etc. and I hated them so much. It wouldn't have taken much to keep me happy and entertained, but the people running it were cold, uncaring, and uninterested.

This. I mean, ‘at home with a parent’ is only an option when a parent can take AL, so it’s a matter of what form of childcare you choose.

I think most children would prefer to not go. My dh had to go as his mother worked and he hated it.

My child does like holiday club yes

She might moan about going sometimes but she does like it.

She's 12 so at the upper end now. But I think it's much healthier for her being there than being at home bored out of her mind and lonely and at a loose end so god knows what she'd get up to if I left her for all those hours

Mine love them, but it takes time to find a club that suits them. Mine go to seperate clubs which is a faff but I know they enjoy them so feel confident they will go and stay when I need to work. Youngest goes to one aimed at EYFS and KS1 DC with her old nursery friends and a couple of school friends, eldest goes to a football camp.

But that doesn't really narrow it down 😂
"Most" kids are different.

I hated clubs. My brother loved them.
My eldest would hate them, youngest would love. So 50/50...

DD is nearly 6 and enjoys them. She usually goes with a few kids from school. I’m off for 3 days next week and she’s insisted on going to the local forest-school type club which runs 10-2pm. We have loads running locally of all different types. Very, very few families in DD’s year have a SAHP or term time only jobs so the holiday clubs fill up quickly

Mine aren’t keen. But I have to use them for childcare reasons. I can’t wfh with both of them because they’d bicker and argue all day. I try and use them only for a couple of days at a time.