To feel a bit sad my DCs don't get to do things after school

[drspouse]

Not really an AIBU to be honest, more a bit of a self-pity moment!

Just trying to sort out after school activities for my DS who is going into Y1. I have been taking DD who is in nursery to a toddler gymnastics class that allows school age children to go along in the holidays. He has loved it and has been begging to go back so I investigated the classes available for age 5. There are two locally - both of them on the same day after school, at a time when I'm still at work and he's still in after school club.

One of them runs a Saturday morning session but it's massively booked up and from the length of the waiting list he wouldn't get on it till he was too old for that class (and I'm not sure they allow complete beginners on the next stage).

I can't change my days of work for another year due to work regulations (I work 4 days but this isn't my day off) and once before when I was due to change something (can't remember if it was days of work, it might have been a swimming class) and I changed it so that DS could go to a class he loved and had been missing, the organisation moved the class to a different day before we had a chance to go to it again.

No real answer, just wanted a bit of a moan to be honest!

Can you find someone who can take him to the class? Like a regular babysitter?

We have had a babysitter in the past who's taken him home from school once a week (so he didn't go to after school club every day) but it is pretty expensive (we chose this because he was finding after school club tiring every day). So babysitters tend to be about twice the hourly rate of a childminder, for example, and at least 3x the cost of after school club.

It might work if the club was nearby (one of them isn't and it was hard enough to find a babysitter who's free the right day, every week, without finding one who can also drive!). But it would be really pricey to do this every week! as well as the cost of the class of course.

I know at least one child in his year goes to the nearby club but I would really NOT feel comfortable asking them to take him every week. Obviously if it was a very good friend and/or they offered I wouldn't mind but I don't know them well enough to be a cheeky so and so and ask them (or expect them to! I know there are many of the escapees from cheeky fuckerland who would just book the class and expect them too!)

I have4 kids and there are so many after school clubs they would love to do but can't. We have had to limit/compromise as you just can do everything. They all do one after school activity and one weekend activity each.
I explained that we just can't afford/fit in everything they wanted to do and they accepted that.

I know - I think I just have to be realistic!

At the moment they are doing more or less that - swimming in the week and currently DD does gymnastics with me on my day off and DS has a club on a Saturday. It's just that he has sounded SO keen about doing gymnastics himself and he never normally sounds this keen (he likes swimming, but will mainly ask to go with us not to his class, and his current Saturday activity he really blows hot and cold about).