AIBU.. To not want to take my ds1 (7) back to this kids camp

[specialmagiclady]

The young people looking after the children seemed disinterested and unengaged at drop off. Not one of them said hello to - or even smiled at - my children when they arrived or tried to involve them in any colouring etc even though they were standing at the side if the room looking shy.

OK, I thought, maybe they just feel awkward in front of older adults and will warm up when they start organising activities...

Several hours later I come back to pick them up. One of them is apparently texting, one is quite near my son and asks him not to do something in a "tsk - you're a pain in the arse" way in front of me and DS.

All kind of ok - I work with children too and I'm sure sometimes my face slips when kids are being a pain. My son can be a PITA - I am the first to admit it.

BUT as I was picking up, a small boy came up and said to me "he bit me. I asked him to show me his karate and he bit me. That's not karate." he was pretty stoical but there was a mark and on further examination it transpires that DS and this boy had "decided to have a fight". DS had gone in with the teeth.

I am appalled at my son for doing this but he is poss Asperger's and doesn't understand about playfighting at all. I have told him off, made him apologise and there have been consequences.

I asked the play workers if they'd done anything about it and they said "oh, we didn't see anything... Did you see anything Mavis?"

I'm furious that these distracted youths who I am paying more Than I earned at work today failed to spot this fight happening in a sports hall and allowed the kids to be so "free range" for long enough for them to get that bored...

When I challenged them about it they just said "if we'd have seen it, we'd have put him in time out, but we didn't see it," unapologetically

AIB totally U? or just a little bit?

Yanbu
Trust your instincts
Can you arrange other childcare??

I think, if you have left your children somewhere and you are not happy about the level of care or supervision they've had upon collecting them, that it's not at all unreasonable to not wish them to attend again.

Have you spoken to the DC and asked what sort of time they had?

No don't take him back and find out who is supposed to be running it and complain until you get some answers.
And is it council run or private?

I used to manage a kids camp and this shouldnt really happen! What kind of camp is it (e.g. a chain or a one-off local type one?). Remember that kids camps are subject to Ofsted probably (maybe this depends on minimum ages?) and so there are very strict guidleines for them to adhere to. We used to have to report every little incident to parents and ask them to sign to say that they had been informed.

Are the ratios ok of adults to kids? It might also be worth checking if there are enough qualified adults....kids under a certain age HAVE to have a qualified member of staff supervising them, so the kids camp really probably shoudlnt just have the teenagers!

Sorry. Could I just ask what part of the country you live in? That sort of behaviour is not acceptable and the staff should want to be with the kids. I personally would complain!

Complain. Please. I used to work for a place that sounds very similar. I left because I refused to be complicit in providing sub-standard care, but the managers would brush it off because there hadn't been any complaints.

Don't be afraid to take it further if you feel your concerns are strong enough or are not dealt with edequately.

i wouldnt send my kids back

Pull them out if at all possible and get your money back too.

Please complain. I wouldn't be surprised if the mum of the boy who was bitten while the play leaders were all apparently looking the other way complains too! Texting, not really engaged with the children, not seeing incidents -- this is not proper supervision at all.

My DS was at a similar private club a couple of years ago, and many parents pulled their children out. A couple of months later, we got a survey and a few parents, including me, were very honest with the feedback. It made a huge difference. This year he went back to that club and it is totally transformed. So, if I were you, I would complain. The head office might be totally unaware of what's going on.

Oh wow - thanks guys! Luckily I had only signed up for this one session because I am deeply disorganised the spontaneous type.

It was a council site, but privately-run IYSWIM. National chain, I'm in the South West. I have found the £5 voucher for King's Camp so they're going there next week. Thank goodness I only work 1 day a week in the hols...

It's a real pain, though, because I actually work in the same building. But that's not good enough so off we go!

Oooh, I'm in the South West and my kids go to a council type privately run holiday club. It's not in a leisure centre is it? In Wiltshire?

Not Wiltshire - am in Bristol.

I'm not far from Bristol.

The kids go to a holiday club 3 days a week in a local leisure centre that was part of a large chain but has now been taken over by the council. The staff do appear a little disinterested at times - depends who you get as the faces change each week, but mine are 11 and 8 so can take care of themselves pretty much. Activities are barely organised but the staff do try sometimes to get them involved in doing stuff.

It's the cheapest holiday club around here so I didn't expect much.
I would complain though if I were you. They don't sound as though they are being supervised properly and I'm sure the mother of that other little boy won't be too happy either (not that it's your lad's fault at all). They should be looking out for them and at least trying to engage them in activities. Like you say, during the summer holidays we often work for nothing just to keep our jobs and we don't do that so that some teenagers can text their mates whilst ignoring the kids they are supposed to be looking after.

Update: girl called me back saying that one of the young men who was supervising had seen the event and dealt with it. I said well that made me happier that basic supervision was happening, but that they needed to review their reporting procedures.

Still not going back!