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

[goodbyemrschips]

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

Rita, what about a creche that the kids actually want to go to? Why are you assuming they don't want to go to a creche?

We've never stayed anywhere that has a supervised kids' club but we've used the nursery at Butlins, which our children loved. The first time we did this it was the first time dh and I had spent any time together on our own out of the house in more than 2 years. I wouldn't want to put them into a club all day every day, but having a bit of time to ourselves is a godsend once or twice during our holiday. We don't have the option of having a weekend away by ourselves so all our holidays are family holidays, most of the holiday is spent doing things as a family, but we like to relax occasionally ourselves. Is that such a terrible thing?

Yes because:
I like to enjoy the company of each of my children on their own sometimes. They are 6 and 11, have different needs/interests and fight frequently.
We (sometimes) go to places where they have opportunities to do things in clubs (e.g. sailing, climbing) which they wouldn't normally have.
It's my time off too and I have no other time when I can do certain things, like play tennis, and dh can go sailing. I think it is good for parents to have some downtime and for the family to have something to talk about at the end of the day.
We have plenty of family days by the seaside, country walks/picnics throughout the summer. Usually somebody would rather be doing something else!

I booked a holiday village for me and DS last year, he loved the idea of kids club but when there went twice! We did attend the soft play sessions in the evenings when adults stay. He is an only child and me a LP so I am happy for him to go and socialise and happy to have 2 hours to myself 'off duty'.

OTOH I was a children's rep in an AI hotel. It still amazes me to this day how many children attended 1 1/2 hour session in the morning, 1 1/2 hour in the afternoon, 2hour tea and play session and then the late night video sessions. Basically every club going. Most companies (as mine did) only garuntee 5 daytime and 2 evening sessions and so have book-in to ensure a child gets at least 1 session a day during peak season. It would astound you the number of parents yelling at club reps that little johnny only got 3 out of 4 sessions that day and so had missed out. Parents always had a lovely tan though.

halycondays - because most babies and toddlers don't want to be separated from their parents, certainly not to be cared for by strangers.

We've just got back from our annual hols. I had enroled DD into a 'stage school' thing for 3 days, 2 hrs a day and she loved it so much she asked me to book her into the next session. 6 whole days where I got 2 hrs snoozing next to the pool was bliss!

DD wanted to go to a lot of the Kids Club sessions as she had read what activities they would be doing each day (they ran 3 a day 1000-1130, 1400-1530, 1600-1730 and an evening 2100-2300). Daytime activities ranged from things like Archery and Raft Building to nature walks and to PAL activities indoors. She went to three sessions, but then said she wouldnt go again as there was a young boy (who went to every session) who was "really naughty and horrible and hurting people mum". Said young boy had DS and it was quite hard explaining to DD that he might not be aware that he was hurting people.

I was a bit pissed off TBH (on DDs behalf), but DD soon made friends with another girl who also was scared of the lad, so they played together instead.

I think Kids Clubs are great on hols, even if they are just used to get your DC out of the sun for an hour. The organised clubs like Razz and Swim Academy that you pay for are well worth the money and DC get so much out of them. I will always encourage DD to go to at least one session to see if she likes it, but wont force her if she doesnt.

Dd is 7 and goes when she chooses. We normally do campsite holidays so the sessions are 2 hours. Last year she went lots, this year she went twice. She preferred to stay in the pool all day and made lots of friends that way. (And as she can swim well now, I had no preference either way )

Actually Rita, plenty of toddlers enjoy spending time in a creche mine have always been happy to go just about anywhere, they have never been clingy and as soon as they see the toys they're away. I think that's a good thing, dd1 settled very easily into nursery and primary school, even though she has Aspergers. If they weren't happy I wouldn't leave them somewhere, my dd who is 3 actually chooses to go to a particular creche once a week instead of going to a parent and toddler group with me like she does most other days. I enjoy the break and it's good for her to get used to being looked after by someone other than her parents, as she is always with one of us except when she is in a creche for an hour or two. There are some that don't like to be separated from their parents but they are not the majority, by any means. I'm on a rota as a volunteer helper in a creche which looks after babies and toddlers up to around 3 and most of them enjoy it.

I disagree halcyon, most babies and toddlers don't want to be separated from their parents - not to go to strangers/a strange place. IME it's quite unusual, hence settling in periods when very young children begin new childcare settings.

When we are staying at home, I have done but only for specific activity clubs that they wanted to go to.

When away on holiday, no. We go on holiday to spend time together. We've spent money on the holiday so don't want to spend more on childcare. The dds have shown no interest on the couple of occasions when there has been a holiday club type thing.

i used to work for a holidau firm and help manage them, it dd suprse me the number of very small children there for very very long days

I did see girl that left a small baby unattended in the baby club, she was immediately sacked

Rita, have you ever used a creche or worked/helped in a creche yourself then? We're only talking about an hour or two, not all day. Yes, there are a few children that scream the place down as soon as their parents leave, but ime they are in the minority. Plenty of children settle in very easily.

We shall have to disagree then halcyon.

Either way though, if your child is happy, with any kind of childcare or activity then it's fine. If not then you wouldn't send them back. Not all children will enjoy kids' clubs,either, I remember going to a summer scheme once when I was about 5, I went with a friend from school, but neither of us liked it, so we didn't go back, but other kids enjoyed it. And I was used to going to a childminder, I had a couple of childminders that I loved and one or two that I didn't like, so stopped going to them. but I enjoyed other things, like Brownies.

I can't see why using some kind of childcare or supervised activity on holiday is any different from using it at home. If I went away and left my dds in a club all day everyday then to me it wouldn't really be a family holiday, but a couple of times for a few hours during the holiday doesn't stop it from being a family holiday. I don't know need to spend every second of the holiday with them. Also, on our last holiday, I spent an hour having a back massage while dh looked after the dds, and I took them for a hour while he had a bit of time to relax. Does that stop it from being a family holiday, too?

I haven't used one before, but I would be happy to use a club in the future if DD wanted to go. She's an only child and would probably be happy to have a few hours playing with other children.

I stated before that I don't use kids clubs because we normally back pack.
THinking back to oh!! the last ice age when the kids were very small we did put them in a club once or twice.

We asked them if they wanted to and thinking back one wnated to do the football sessions and another wanted to do treasure hunt or something.
We only let them go to the morning one 9.30- 11.30 while we got straighnted and made butties. We would them pick them up and have the rest of the day out. They made friends and played with them once we got back to the campsite.

It depends on the family situation for the rest of the year. I only work two days a week, so have a lot of time at home with my kids. Occasionally when we have been away and there has been a kids club, my DD has wanted to go to the odd session because she wants to play with other girls, rather than her two year old brother. But if me and my DH both worked full time, then I probably wouldn't. But it's up to the children too.

No-holidays are family time. Having said that I would on skiing holidays or activity holidays where they need to be taught at an appropriate level. Not if you are sitting on a beach.

Last year during the school holidays I did. My eldest did 3 days of street dancing and 2 days doing water sports. He loved the activities, I loved the peace of one child at home, the youngest being the centre of attention.

On holidays I want them to use the site holiday clubs but they won't! The youngest is quite shy, and is much happier being with us. Which is fine he's a happy chilled out soul. The eldest then won't go on his own, which is a shame because he makes friends easily, and enjoys socializing.

I did manage to get them to try a club last year but picked the worst day, the day of the "show", so it was all about practising dancing and singing. Not really their thing! Maybe this year I don't have any problems with children spending a couple of hours away from their parents, if they're enjoying it.

I can't imagine being that insecure in my family attachments that we would have to be together for 24 hours a day during a holiday in order for it to be deemed "family time". A phrase that makes me teeth itch. I think if you see so little of your children during the rest of the year because of long working hours that you feel the need to not let each other out of sight during a holiday - something is wrong and a refusal to let your kids try something new without your presence is not going to fix that. ( I exclude of course pre schoolers who need constant supervision)

We went on a key camp holiday last year and dd went on a few of the PGL activities and she went to the kids club a few times because she made some friends. ( She is an only child) To be honest when she was at the PGL activities we were stalking her with a camera so our motivation in letting her go was not to get away from her. When she went to the kids club we shagged like bunnies.

You cannot judge someone by their use of holiday activities. We have arranged our lives in such a manner that our dd sees plenty of us during the year so there is nothing to fix on a holiday. My dp works part time so that he can drop her at school and then collect her and be with her after school. I teach so although I work long hours during the week I have most of the weekend and holidays with her. So there is not a correlation between using holiday clubs and childcare during the rest of the year. Having said that my dd does sometimes go to activities during the day because she wants to.

Just because your child attends a kids club it also does not mean you do nothing but lie by the pool.

halycon I agree with you to some extent. My DS settling in session to his 2nd nursery, was in one abroad from 4 months (started p/t) he went in and played and looked up and said 'mummy home now'. The nursery said he clearly didn't need sessions with me tagging along and may cause problems if I insist on staying. He did though go through the crying and clinging to me stage as I left 6 months later.

DS won't however go to kids clubs as he finds them too overwhelming and likes to be with me on holiday.

Yes fairly often, because they are far more exciting than me and DP, frankly.

Puppy, I am sure my dd would say the same.

Last year dd wanted to go to the disco without dp and I, she was singing in the talent show. I wanted to go and watch her sing but dp told me that I had to respect her right to consider us dull old farts. So we let her go on her own and we spent the evening stalking her.

i cannot wait for the day that we can afford a holiday thats geared towards the kids and has all the clubs necessary (am hoping this will be the case next year).

the idea of spending a few hours with DH on our own by the pool, chatting, reading a book, dozing in the sun without having to keep a "full time eye" on either of our DC sounds like my idea of heaven. I'm a SAHM and need time away from them.

My DC are in a gym creche quite a lot and love it - i don't think for one second it would take them long to settle into a kids club - knowing them as i do, i think they'd love it.

I have given them a choice and they decided they did not want to go. However, they chose to go to a football club at Keycamp. i could not keep them away from it.

No, not whilst on holiday. They have more fun playing with each other, we gave them the option last year at keycamp and this year at a hotel in Turkey, they didn't want to so that was fine. It was totally up to them.
We are off to a keycamp holiday this weekend and we'll let them know about the club but I doubt they'll be bothered tbh.

They do go to holiday clubs during the summer holidays so they are probably just glad of it being just us in all honesty. We wouldn't be offended and we are not being precious about "family time", the clubs just haven't appealed to them as of yet.