To expect baby group to be open during the holidays

[PeggyPatchandPoppy]

I live in the countryside and I'm fairly isolated. I have a newish baby and enjoyed going to baby group 3 days a week. I didn't particularly have any friends there but enjoyed the process of going somewhere different to the village shop and talking to different people.
The groups finish this week because it's the end of term. That means that me and DD have no where to go to interact with other parents. The library clubs have always stopped for half term so we are really stuck for things to do.
I know there are reasons the clubs can't run during term time E.g. Parents have to older children they need to do activities with. Am I being unreasonable in thinking they could keep at least one club a week going?

I will deffo offer. As I said I don't really have any friends there (I'm horribly shy) but even the small talk with people made me feel a little bit less lonely. Hopefully other people are feeling the same way and will want to join me!

I used to hate this. What made it worse was that I didn't feel as though I could take my then baby or toddler to soft play/the park/the farm as there were (obviously) hordes of school children racing around. It felt as though we were on house arrest!
I also found the timing of baby groups annoying. Nothing started until 9.30 by which time we'd been up for hours and DC1 was ready for a nap; likewise, nothing happened after 2pm whereas I would have loved a group during the gap between wake up from afternoon nap and tea time. Of course, none of this concerned me by the time DC2 came along as DC1 was at pre-school then and so we were operating on the same timetable as everyone else.
Just to say that I hear you! Well done for offering to host at yours. I bet some people will bite your arm off and you can then arrange to do other things.

What about Church? There's a playgroup running right through until September at one of ours, £1 a session for 2 and half hours!

Sorry that's slightly missing the point about Baby and Toddler - but the same people will be enthusiastic volunteers and might have some ideas or local knowledge?

Going back about 8 years my old local children's centre ran almost every day throughout the summer holidays, one day a week they would have a different theme, animal man, magician, water guns, barbecue. It was wonderful and a real life line for me and my dc.
It's annoying when they all close down for 6 weeks, but other than sorting out your own play dates there's not a lot you can do about it.

I worked as a volunteer in a group but we didn't run during the holidays as that was the only time we could go away as we had older dc in school, also it wasn't easy with some 5-8yr olds hanging around. We all had primary school aged children. Also the holidays felt like our time to reconnect and hang out with our children, being able to spontaneously go to the beach/park if the weather was good. I do remember how it felt with a young baby, I had to jot down contact details or say to them on the last meeting, if anyone is around in the holidays same time let's go to the park. You might be surprised too how many older siblings come out of the woodwork and that serene mother of one baby turns into a whirlwind with five extra children who are usually at school so many regulars just don't turn up. It won't be many summers before yours are in school too!

If its any consolation the same happens at children's centres in London - yanbu! Even the private/paid for classes are having a summer break.

DS's toddler groups last week were just a scrum of parents exchanging numbers in a panic at the prospect of 6 weeks without the supporting frameworks of our regular groups.

However our local Children's Centres (which are really ace) will still be running something every day as part of their summer programme. It's a massive upside to living in a deprived area!

I found this a huge surprise when I had my first baby. I was in a town, but hadn't lived there for long so didn't have much of a network.

Force yourself to get some mobile numbers and make some embarrassing overtures.

I spent a lot of that first summer in the park, just lying on the grass with my baby and a picnic!

I'm afraid you lost me at going to baby group 3 times a week! Honestly, I hated baby group and wouldn't have gone 3 times a week if you paid me...

But back to you Is this a group run in a village hall - could you set up something yourself? the whatsapp group upthread is an excellent suggestion and you could try local facebook groups too.

Over the summer you might find attendance is patchy as people are likely to be away, but even if it was a we're meeting at x place on y day arrangement you could probably keep some sort of group going...

The two Children's Centres in my town keep running over the summer, it's a shame yours doesn't. It's only the groups run by volunteers in the village halls that stop over the summer.

Is your nearest town very far away? I would look into where your nearest NCT group is, or if any of the neighbouring towns have a "Mums group" on Facebook (my town does, I think various mums organise events on it).

Otherwise I hope you manage to get some takers in the village for a summer meet up group. I'm sure you are not the only one in your situation.

It's the same where I am, even the paid for groups stop running here!

I tired last year with the leader of one group to a "We'll be in the park at x time on y date come if you want" but no-one turned up so we're not trying again.

Thankfully my now 2 year old will still be going to Nursery 3 days a week so it's only the remaining 2 days a week I need to fill. If you're near to me I'm happy to meet up, and can drag some friends along too.

But if they keep running you'll be back on here upset because the seven year old child of the person who runs this group for free and has no childcare options ran near your PFB in a supposedly scary way

yup

"baby" groups stop in the holidays, and in their place there are usually "family" events (not necessarily in the same venue). But of course there are nasty scary "big kids" there

Nobody is stopping you from speaking to the rest of the group on the last day and asking if anyone wants to get together over the holidays. Most won't, they'll be busy. It's only 6 weeks anyway.

Print out your contact details and hand them out at the next meeting. Suggest coffee ,a walk, picnics, library trips , sanity time. Suggest days / times (maybe the shames as your current groups. See what the response is, you might end up having to co ordinate things a bit but at least you will be making friends and doing stuff. Carpe diem!!!

Shames? Same as .

If your in the south east look up your local busylizzy group. They run all year, mix of classes etc. We love our subscription, it's been a great way to spend my maternity leave.

our childrens centres run durinf holidays. They are my lifeline

When I was younger mums used to complain about this. But generally the volunteers who ran these groups, also had kids of school age.

It's six weeks.

Life without baby groups carries on .

A few women round here started pram/buggy/sling walks it popped up on my face book looks popular and then they stop for coffee. Is that something you would consider ?
I Know it is annoying when groups stop but it a logistical thing staff volunteers have kids parents have older kids staff need time off etc etc

. Place i work do 2 trips over the holidays it is under 4s and parents need it tbh. When they start back ask at your centre what they can do over holidays maybe the centre has a comitee you can join and suggest a summer programme,

I run a Parent and Toddler group in church. We're all volunteers. We'd love to run over the summer but:

1. We're on holiday at different times, so not every week would have enough helpers

1. Some of us have older children who are off school and would have to come along

1. Lots of the people who come have older children who they would bring along (despite being asked not to), and that never ends well

1. Over the summer is when work gets carried out in the church hall, so it would be unusable for a number of weeks due to that

1. If it's a nice day, hardly anyone turns up, but we still have the same amount of setting up / clearing away to do

1. We're exhausted and need the break!

I know it's difficult, though, and in some ways we'd love to keep going all summer, but we just can't!

I do sympathise as I used to hate school holidays. Still do but for different reasons lol.
But I had no family nearby or friends. We also moved 30 miles when DD was 10 months old right when the summer holidays started so I was a bit lonely.

Now that I help run a playgroup I see it from the other side. Our playgroup is run by volunteers. Most of us have older kids at school and it's not really fair to bring them to the group. Also because we have school age kids, we tend to go away on holiday during the break so we will struggle with the number of volunteers. Also a lot of the kids that come have older siblings too so they won't come during the holidays. And it can be very hit and miss in the summer months how many people come to group anyway when the weather is nice. We need to be sure we have enough people to cover our costs. Subsidising 6 weeks weeks venue hire when nobody turns up is too much of a risk.

starting up a FB group is an excellent way of keeping the momentum going over the summer. I did that previously and we managed to arrange a few meets over the summer. And gatherings at a park or someone's house is the best way to get to know people properly.

It's hard to instigate something but you often find others are filled with the same dread of the holidays as you x

I know your pain - I lived in a rural area of another country and all of the groups closed for 3-4 months in the summer leaving me very isolated from May to September.

One year some of the mums organised an informal park meet where those that wanted to could meet in the park on 1 day each week from10-12. It worked OK but was more chaotic and less focussed on the little ones as many Mums had school-age children in tow

I do understand but like Belfast I run a local group and it's not possible to keep going over the holidays. Our rent is £30 per week and if you only get 10-12 children at £2 per child we can't afford it. Plus we are for under 5's so anyone with older children can't come.
Many many groups are run by volunteers like us and there just aren't enough volunteers to keep going over the holidays. Perhaps volunteer and see if you can get a group together over the holidays too.
But it can be tough on your own. I used to send a message out saying we'll be at xyz if anyone wants to join us.
Also to the pp saying everything was after 9:30 that's because the venues are cheaper then and we need to let the older children get to school before we start. Generally we've all been up since 5am too but it's not feasable to start earlier.

I used to help run a group and I did keep it running one summer. Almost no one turned up. One week no one turned up. People were away, or looking after older children, or enjoying the sunshine, or meeting up with people with older children....