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Original poster

do you put your children in kids clubs while on hols?

212 replies

goodbyemrschips · 21/03/2011 08:15

As in the title ''do you put your kids in kids clubs while on hols, if yes why and if no why?

OP posts:
exoticfruits · 21/03/2011 08:42

Kid's clubs at home are wonderful! I don't see the need on holiday-unless you are involved in an adult sport.

upahill · 21/03/2011 08:45

When they were much younger they sometimes joined in a club for the odd morning if there was an activity they fancied doing but if they didn't want to go they didn't.

Now they are 11 and 14 I can't really remember the last time they went to a kids club!

kreecherlivesupstairs · 21/03/2011 08:47

I posted assuming it was while on holiday. The one she enjoyed most was in Croatia. We were camping and the hotel next door had one.
We lived in Thailand and went to Phuket a lot so that DH could scubadive. I loathe the beach so we would find a decent hotel with a kidzklub for her, she was happy and so was I.

BoffinMum · 21/03/2011 08:48

As many of you know, I do not have a tidy family with two children all carefully conceived at approved times and with approved gaps. I have a whacking great messy family, often with random hangers on.

Sometimes we do holidays without kids' clubs, sometimes with. When we do, I dump the children in there with barely disguised glee every morning, and they are equally keen to get out from under my apron strings and do subversive kid stuff without parental scrutiny. I am not normally to be found on a sunbed while they are in there, I am usually trying to do watersports very badly, or sometimes I dose myself up on painkillers and go hiking or sightseeing in places where you can't usefully tow along a two-year-old without it doing your head in.

I will have had young kids for 33 years out of my marriage and the idea I am going to put off indulging my selfish side, or having a bit of time with DH until they are older is just bizarre in the circumstances.

That having been said, I have seen some sad little souls in kids' clubs who clearly are not as keen to be there as mine, and I do feel for them. But they are very much a minority - most kids seem to have a great time once they have made a friend or two.

mummytime · 21/03/2011 08:57

We've sent our to kid clubs at campsites. They actually want to go, and sometimes prising them away is the problem. It allows me to swim lengths rather than toddle around in the pool. 2 hours in the morning, then maybe another 2 hours in the evening. They get to make things and meet other kids.
If they didn't/don't want to go we don't make them.

I wouldn't want them to have MArk Warner type nannies, but that is my choice.

We also have holidays where they're lucky to see another kid (Utah Desert etc.).

LtEveDallas · 21/03/2011 09:00

Yes, but only if she wants to go.

We tell her she has to go once - and if she likes it she can go again, or not as the case may be. When we went to Morocco she went once and asked not to go again. We tell her to go once, because otherwise how would she know if she liked it or not?

We used to do the same with DSD - she never wanted to go to the daytime clubs, but used to enjoy the evening DVD/Cinema Clubs.

DD took part in a 'stage school' type affair last year and loved it, so we have pre-booked something similar for this year.

mycatoscar · 21/03/2011 09:06

when we went to center parcs dd asked to go the arts and crafts sessions and the bug party at the children's club - she went twice because it was quite expensive but if she had her choice, she would have gone more. She is an only child and loves to make new freinds.

When we went to Haven there was a kids club on every morning that parents had to stay to too - she did go every day to that except for when we had a day out planned

I don't get what's wrong with letting children go and have fun with new friends and the parents getting a bit of time off at the same time! Different if the child is made to go though

Lucylu5 · 21/03/2011 09:16

Yes, been to so fantastic places with amazing kids clubs, they dint go all day everyday, but like to pop into them every now and then. Went to a wonderful place in Greece that had an Eco kids club.....children went canoeing and snorkelling with intructors and had lessons about the Eco system etc while they were doing it, also did one evening where they studied the stars and learnt about greek mythology they love it.
I go on holiday as a family abd we all go out for day trips and spend days on beach and seeing different sights, but I have no problems with them spending the odd couple of hours here and there in a kids club if it is fun exciting and they want to go (but def keep time to a limit.....holidays are family time)

janinlondon · 21/03/2011 09:16

God yes. But I have an 11 year old only child. And she is at the door begging us to take her to sign her in each morning. I have even staggered down to the club and signed her in (and I am not alone in this) wearing my robe. If she hadn't been in kids club she would never have learnt to waterski/sailboard/windsurf/roll a canoe/sea kayak/suba dive/sail a dinghy/etc etc, because frankly I am not qualified to teach her any of that stuff. Which is why I am boring, and she loves kids clubs.

Nelly123 · 21/03/2011 09:36

My ds was almost 4 and he went to kids'club on holiday last year for the first time. We both work full time and ds is in nursery 3 days; we have no other babysitting outside of this. If he wants to go he goes. He sleeps 8 hours a day and we can find plenty of family time around 2 hours of club time. A godsend now he doesn't nap. When he goes to school, holidays will be prohibitively expensive and so we will look at activity clubs during holidays.

Bonsoir · 21/03/2011 09:45

We don't use kids clubs on holiday for the simple reason that we don't holiday in resorts with facilities. None of us like that kind of holiday.

We do go on sports holidays, though, where the children have ski-ing, tennis etc lessons.

reallytired · 21/03/2011 09:50

We haven't been on holiday for 3 years due to lack of money.

I have sent my son to a kids club. He wanted to go and loved it. It was only for one and half hours and allowed us to get boring things done like shopping.

It wasn't daycare. It was an activity laid on for him to have fun.

exhausted2011 · 21/03/2011 09:50

I think this depends on a lot of circumstances
Age of children, what they want to do, what will make it a good holiday for them, how active they are.
If you are constantly watching a baby,toddler or small child for safety/water issues it's not very relaxing. If you get on the beach and they want to go back after an hour cos they are bored, it's not very relaxing. They don't all play nicely on the beach.

A holiday with my H, yes we have to have kids clubs, because it's our holiday as well, and we need to relax and enjoy time by ourselves. However DS loves it, and it's only a couple of hours here and there, and he interacts with other children. And he can only do an hour or so on the beach, or an hour at the pool before he gets bored. We still have hours and hours of play time with him.
If he didn't like it, there's no way on earth, I would leave him there.

If I holiday with my family, then no kids clubs, because we all muck in with looking after them, and the kids together amuse themselves. And my mum is super-Grandma!It's a lot different with more people there.

GwendolineMaryLacey · 21/03/2011 09:52

I have done it twice. The first time was at Center Parcs and we went and fetched her after 20 minutes because we felt a bit lost without her there.

The second time was when we were on a ship on the Atlantic, so 6 straight days at sea. Not being able to have the sort of freedom to run around that she would have elsewhere (she was 2.6) we felt that she needed something else to occupy her. She adored it.

MyNameIsInigoMontoya · 21/03/2011 09:53

We have used them. DCs were still small, and I was on maternity leave so normally running around after both of them all the time, and very glad to get a bit of time to myself or with just DH for a change. Also we like to do activities on holiday and get very bored after a while just messing round on a beach, but no way we could do most of the activities we liked with a baby and/or toddler in tow.

Another advantage was that as they were still needing lots of naps, it meant they could do their sleeping in the kids' club while we did something nice together, instead of one of us having to hang around the bedroom all the time. They still had plenty of time with us as well!

GetOrfMoiLand · 21/03/2011 09:54

I have never been on holiday where the hotel had a kids club (apart from one ghastly holiday in a Haven death holiday camp, which I left early. But I wouldn't use them anyway. I spend enough time away from dd during the working year, holidays are precious time to spend together.

She is 15 now, and still happy to spend time with her mother. Let's see how long that lasts Smile

MyNameIsInigoMontoya · 21/03/2011 09:55

And I agree with everything exhausted said too, she put it very well!

mosschops30 · 21/03/2011 09:55

Notso much with ds1 just because he doesnt really enjoy it. He prefers to be in the pool all day, and likes to do a disco in the evning.
When dd was little we couldnt keep her out of them, she would go with friends shed met round the pool she even did some of the evening ones.

I suppose it depends on your child. I dont have any problem with them, whats wrong with wanting 2 hours to yourself every afternoon

VivaLeBeaver · 21/03/2011 09:56

Only if we're skiing. DD goes in the morning ski lessons as she needs lessons. When she was little she then used to stay in the snow club/creche thingy in the afetrnoon as we wanted to ski all day. I often used to pick her up early to go swimming though, so mid afternoon. Now she's bigger she skis with us in the afternoons.

Summer holidays - never put her in a kids club.

Sidge · 21/03/2011 10:03

We're off on holiday in April and chose a hotel with a kids club.

The idea is that if the children want to, they can go there for a couple of hours in the afternoon. I believe they do treasure hunts, art and craft activities, sports and games, as well as making jewellery and sandcastles.

Given that we'll have been with them all morning and for lunch, probably spending 99% of the morning in the pool, I relish the idea of a couple of hours horizontal on a lounger with a cold drink! Then they'll soon be back for more swimming, dinner and bedtime etc.

I love our time off with them, and being away together, but I also like time alone, and alone with DH. It's my holiday too and much as I love my girls I also love having some 'time off'.

2babyblues · 21/03/2011 10:03

I am planning to this year! The campsite we are going to this year runs a kids club twice a day for 2 hours each time. We will probably put them in for a couple of hours a day so they make friends with children on the campsite and get to take part in the end of week production thing they seem to do. We also could do with a bit of time to relax as we are generally then busy watching them/playing with them in the pool. Our kids are very full on and I think if they are away for a couple of hours a day we will have more patience and fun with them the rest of the day!! Camping is great fun but very tiring as the kids sleep less than usual! This will be the first year we will use it as the youngest is now old enough to go, I wouldn't have sent one without the other I don't think.

cumbria81 · 21/03/2011 10:25

When I was a child we used to go Eurocamping and my siblings and I loved going to the children's courrier sessions.

Likewise, when at home in the summer hols and with both my parents working full time, I used to go to sports camps all day. I loved them and used to cry when they were over.

I think (providing the child wants to go) kids' clubs provide a great opportunity for children to socialise and learn new skills. remember, it's their holiday too.

Fimbo · 21/03/2011 10:31

I think I have wierd dc. They have both been to holiday clubs on holiday and hated them. We even got a phone call once to go and collect ds as he would not stopping howling.

Original poster
goodbyemrschips · 21/03/2011 10:35

Thanks for your input and yes I did mean when on holiday away from home.

I have not and would not.

OP posts:
HappyMummyOfOne · 21/03/2011 10:38

No, dont see the point of going away as a family and then booking childcare.

Theres also the aspect of not knowing the staff etc.

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