To think children generally enjoy holiday clubs?

Mine moans about going but is generally okay once it’s there. It helps that it’s at his school and run by the same people who do the wrap around care during term time so it’s familiar. There’s normally a few people from his school there too. But he’d much rather be at home, sadly not an option!

I think the poster that said dependent on the child wasn't wrong though. My ds loves football, he went to a local holiday club at a football club and hated it. He pereservered for a few days but asked not to go back and there were tears some days. When I got to the root of it he said it was because it was intense and competitive. He plays for fun but the boys that went to the holiday club played for the club so all knew each other and were playing to a higher standard. He felt left out and out of his depth so for him it just took the fun out of it. We then arranged football holiday camp for him at a gym and he enjoyed that so much more. He made friends with kids and whilst we only signed him up for 2 half days initially he decided he wanted to sign up for 2 half days a week for a further 2 weeks.

Dd1 was signed up to a holiday camp with a mixture of activities advertised but that actually focused on group sports. She has DCD and did not enjoy it at all. I didn't force her to go. We then signed her up to an arts and crafts holidays club with some drama mixed in and she found her tribe. We only ever sign them up for 2 days a week though and for only one or two weeks. For us it isn't used as childcare though.

Dh and I do not have family help. We work opposite to each other so that there is always someone home for the kids. I recognise that they have such a busy school year and ours do outside classes such as music, swimming, arabic and guides too. I do like them to do some holiday classes as they get to interact with other kids and push themselves outside of their comfort zone meeting new people and trying new things but I'm also happy for them to potter about and rest at home too.

I would say yes the nature of the child can impact whether they enjoy it or not but also the activity or range of activities offered and how well the group is run.

I can only speak for my children. They hated them. No matter the activity.

My children loved being home in the holidays. The slow start, no having to rush out of the house.

My kids have had various experiences but when they were younger they didn’t have a choice as we can’t cover all the school holidays between us (we live abroad so need to keep a couple weeks to visit our parents). My daughter is quite happy at home with her crafting and reading but my son is super high energy so gets really bored about halfway through the day.

My DC begs to go to one particular excellent holiday club near us, as the activities they put on are so amazing.

Conversely my friends DC absolutely refuse to go to (a different) holiday club in their area.

It really depends on the DC and what the holiday club actually provides.

Depends on child, club, and parent and home life
Find the right club for child s interesrs
Maybe working parents have no choice anyway
Maybe it is a respite for child from annoying younger sibling or parent who ignores them or worse.
Lots of variables

Mine hates them.

My dc liked some.

I rebooked the ones they liked. Art and drama and ballet and music ones were generally a hit. Less keen on tennis.

It clearly depends on the kid and the specific camp. Mine hates football so a sniff of that and he’s bored. Manga/crafty activities are preferred.

Also there’s a big difference between being there for full weeks vs ad hoc days. My kid would find the former too tiring and no fun.

All my three hated them tbh.

Depends on the child and the club.

My kids always liked (and still like in one case) clubs that are an extension of their existing hobbies. Or my DS liked one particular just multi activity club.

But there was one particular one they did that they really hated - and that was heavily advertised, well know one, that runs nationally.

They wouldn’t have wanted to do them the whole time though, as they both like some down time at home. And I take as much time as I can off with them in the hols.

Mine also hated them.

Most clubs aren't good to be honest.

They claim to do lots of fun activities but the reality in my experience is they leave the children to create a lord of the flies reenactment!

Massively depends on the club!! Some my DC love and others they hate. Also I think it depends on how often they go… a child who goes once or twice a week, regardless of if days out or home days on other days, is far more likely to enjoy it than a child who goes 4 or 5 times a week.

I would like mine to go for just a couple days out of the holidays - they look fun, have lots of activities planned, children get to interact with each other etc. The one linked to our school gets good feedback but when I offer it to my son, he doesn't seem that keen. As it's his holidays, if he would rather stay at home then that's fine. I just think he'd like it when he is there!

Ok.....more sensible answer (hopefully).
For some children it's just more "school".
Not a holiday or break in the slightest.

I have one that loved them and one that hates them (Organising anything in our family is fun!)

Mine doesn't have to go as I work term time, but she always asks to do a couple of days. I think she just finds it really good fun and it's football, so she gets extra practice. I miss her when she goes, but figure we have plenty more days together.

Mine tolerate them but would generally rather be at home. My youngest enjoys a particular one as it’s a specific sport she enjoys and wants to get better at. Unfortunately it’s not every day in the holidays and only a short day.

I hated them when I had to go.

I hated them as a child. I only had to use them a handful of times for my children, they were young enough and it was sporadic enough that they seemed to enjoy them enough. But they’d have hated them as older kids or in week blocks. I always tried to avoid using them because I thought holidays were important for downtime. We were lucky we managed to juggle it despite both being full time.

I remember seeing some amazing ones though, I remember our city had a museum themed one where you got to be a museum curator, that sounded fab to me!

But it's an unanswerable question.
No offence.

I hated them! But my child loves most of them.

I've put mine into holiday clubs a couple of times, but she chose to go and didn't have to be there for childcare reasons. One was dance based and the other was drama based both of which she enjoys so it was her choice to be signed up for them. They were both also no longer than 5 days at a time so didn't drag on for weeks.

It also depends on the club.
My children would kill me if I put them into football or multi sports. But DS2 would love a drama themed one and DS1 loves a farm near us that’s designed for autistic children.
Sadly, I can no longer afford the farm and I cannot trust the ones that are run by the local primary school or are held locally as there seems to be one particular child who attends everything, as well as breakfast and after school clubs, who continually torments DS2. So they are no longer options for us.
Luckily, my children prefer time with mum (we have Mum and Me days in the holidays) and DH wfh, so that helps. And they have two full sets of grandparents who adore them. So that, IMO is better.

My kids generally loved them. Nit so much the cheap sports camp with crap youth childcare but decent quality well run clubs with trained childcare and fun activities. We did music drama climbing and wood school . Now older we do outdoor pursuits and water sports