Anyone got experience of church Kids Club for non-religious kids

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Posting for traffic

Took DS 5 to a new kids club today first time as recommended by another school parent. 1.5hrs free childcare (you can leave and come back), sounded good.

When I picked up DS I asked if they did anything religious and he said they talked about God etc. As he's young I didn't know exactly what they said and he didn't explain well.

Anyway - it sounded fab, as a LP with limited time. But I don't want him indoctrinated in some religion by a random kids club. Is that what they might try to do? Anyone got any ideas how these groups work??

Many thanks

Yeah because kids really get that don't they.
They do.
I mean, otherwise my entire school would be crammed into church because they've had some assemblies by religious folk.

If it's a free church kids club then there will be indoctrination- it's part of the deal
Church attendancr is declining. I guess all this super indoctrination of kids who don't know themselves and can't think isn't all that effective.

Saying 'these are our beliefs' isn't indoctrination.
Exposing people to beliefs isn't indoctrination.
Having a session with the story of the Good Samaritan isn't going to make children think 'yes fire and hell for non believers'. It's a story about being kind.

It always amuses me that the people who claim exposure to religion is indoctrination are usually the ones who most loudly and and fiercely promote their own beliefs.

If you don't want him learning about religion don't leave him at a kids club at a church. It really is that simple

99% of the ones I know or have ever experienced are games, activities, craft, etc and a couple of bible stories. Read like stories. Theres no indoctrination, no ‘this is what you MUST BELIEVE’ etc etc.

Why use it though if you’re genuinely non religious and you seem to defo not want your child to learn about god? Seriously!! They’re gonna talk about religious themes.

^ I am guessing she uses it as it's free

I don't understand how you didn't know it was a church group. Surely you would research somewhere before leaving your child with random people?

So you left your child with random people you had never met before at a club you didn’t know anything about until you arrived?

Dc went to one and it was Christian themed and they prayed etc. Fine by me. Kids are far more influenced by their parents' beliefs than by a few sessions at a kids' club.

So you are happy to take 1.5hrs of free childcare and you are happy to leave your child with a bunch of strangers for 1.5hrs but you aren’t happy about them learning about God?

The people running the club are quite likely to be volunteers who believe in giving their time to look after the children, but equally the reason they do this is because they believe strongly in God & the Christian message so they will be excited to share that with the children in a very age appropriate way.
If you were leaving them at a free play group at a football club, would you not expect them to learn a little bit about football?

Good luck in finding free childcare that doesn’t have some “catch” if you want to call it that!

Hello all. I repeat my earlier assertion - I knew it was in a church but assumed it was a community group, it was only when I arrived I found it was a religious one. It was mentioned in passing the day before as a "would you like to come with us tomorrow" not discussed in detail. It was only when I arrived I realised it was a "drop off your kids" one, I had thought I was meant to stay there but it turned out not.

As I trusted the mother who told me about it (a friend and our kids are friends), and when we turned up other mothers I recognised were dropping their kids their thought it ok to leave him. Secondly the girls running the group showed me credentials and seemed really lovely, as well as other kids from the school being there we knew and their parents, who obvoiusly trusted the group leaders, otherwise I wouldn't have left him there.

Thirdly this was the first and last time I have taken him!! It's not like a regular thing. The purpose of the thread was to find out more about others experiences pending finding out at the very first one that it was run by a religious group. I don't expect to take him again I was just interested to find out others' experiences to help me form a decision about taking him again...

Not that I need to explain myself to a load of random strangers on the internet but grief some people like to interrogate and throw accusations around.

PS to clarify, often community groups are held in churches, that aren't religious! So to be fair I don't think I was being stupid to not realise.

My kids went to one. They loved it. Lots of their friends went there too - up to the age of 11. Excellent church leader, lovely kind people. Loved the fun of the action songs such as - "Jesus is my rock and he rolls my blues away", and "Oi, oi, we are gonna praise the Lord", which they continued to sing at full volume when we went round the supermarket afterwards. Is this indoctrination? They haven't joined a cult and they're not regular church-goers, but DS1 was quite comfortable with the prayers at the start of a football game when he was brought in to play a one-off match for the Christian Union at uni. They won, so the prayers must have worked.

I would totally let my children attend. I’m agnostic and DH is atheist. Here are my —batshit— reasons I think it’s ok

1. Risk of brainwashing: low
2. Religious stories can be pretty gripping if you’re little (even if every story has a moral)
3. Knowing all the bible stuff makes you excellent at pub quizzes when you’re older
4. I think early exposure to THE BIG QUESTIONS feeds enquiring minds.

I went to Sunday school when I was little and loved it. I don’t remember feeling brainwashed by it at all but incidentally I ended up choosing Sociology and Theology for my degree and getting a tanking great 2:1, not because I’d been brainwashed, but mainly because religion is interesting, even if the argument is it causes more issues than it solves.

In short, send them there!

I was reminiscing with a freind

A long time ago we went to two religious playgroups and she reminded me that in one of the at religious story/song time mothers HAD to join with the children and tambourine along

You would be hunted down...i kid you not

Apart from that they were ok but we did have to stay, the helpers were enthusiastic and very helpful

Some people from the Church group got together when DC3 was born and cooked the family meals every night for a week. No tambourining required in return!

you didn't know it was a church group but you still left your child there so you could get some free childcare? You didn't look into the group at all?

Imanaverage - read my post just above your one. I didn't realise it was a "leave your child" till I got there. There were lots of mums I knew leaving their kids there including my friend so I knew it must be ok. I only found out about it the day before. I only realised it was a religuous church group when I arrived. RTFT rather than repeating the same shit that's already been answered ten times.

But I don't want him indoctrinated in some religion by a random kids club. Is that what they might try to do? Anyone got any ideas how these groups work??

They work in exactly the method you’ve just discovered. Offer something for free, use it to manipulate innocent children.

My friend fell for it last year. Cue my daughter (who didn’t attend) telling me I wouldn’t be saved and get a second life because I don’t believe in God. Because her friend told her. That was after 2 2 hour sessions FFS.

Should be outlawed.

'I knew it must be ok' so you basically left you child at this club just because other mums were doing it without taking time to actually look further into the group/the teachings of the group.
Bit odd OP but of course not all parents take initiative and instead prefer to follow the crowd without thinking beforehand.

And now here you are.

Get off your holier-than-thou judgy platform Imanaverage. I know many of the parents / kids there many of which are good friends of my child. DS hasn't been damaged by one session where they mentioned "god" a couple of times. I saw the workers credentials (DBS certificate in a folder if you must know). I just wanted to make informed decision about taking him again.

I've helped at Messy Church which is the C of E version so not very evangelical - there's some painting, some crafts, cake and tea, and a bible story. Very much an act of community service not hard-core conversion!

Could you sit in for a session? It would be a shame to miss out if it turns out to be fairly relaxed. It's good to know bible stories in later life as lots of books, poems and plays assume that you know them.

As someone who grew up in Northern Ireland (the backwards country that's still dictated by religion on both sides of the community 🙄🙄🙄) the majority of our youth clubs/summer schemes/mums and tots are run by churches/are located at churches

I'm not religious whatsoever so I clearly didn't get indoctrinated by it, but they can be very hardcore. I can recite John 3:16 off by heart in a weird rhyme, also the Lord's Prayer.

Depends on your child I suppose. If they loved the group keep sending them and maybe just chat about religion with them?

Regardless of knowing people there, why did you not take the time to look into what he'd be learning about? Activities and such?
Surely you wouldn't base your decision solely on what your friends want for their kids, only for you to then question after one session whether it could indoctrinate him?
Now you're here wanting other people's experiences but of course all groups are different so they may say something that may not apply to the group your friends' kids go to.
So, why don't you do what you should've done when it was first mentioned to you and go and speak to the leaders of the group and question them about what religious material your kid will hear about and to what extent. If you'd done this at the start then you wouldn't be here questioning it. Ask if you can sit in on one of the sessions as a PP suggested.
You can't get a truly informed decision from this thread because only you know your own standards and expectations and as I said, all groups are different.
So go and be proactive to find out whether the group suits your values rather than just sending your child for free childcare

My six yr old goes to a super religious church school and goes to church. DH is religious and I’m open and erring towards super liberal Christian values at most. My older child loves the religious aspects but the six year old is well aware God may not exist without external encouragement. Kids can make up their own minds and you can help that. Most Christians are harmless, normal people who also have doubts and dislike the preachy ones.

I remember our our vicars son was not a believer and she was fine with it.

Imanaverage - have you never done a spur of the moment thing to help your child foster friendships and have fun? whilst using your own intuition and judgement and recommendations of close friends at the same time to judge whether or not something was appropriate? backed up with DBS certificate?

I've already made up my mind I just wanted other people's view points on how these groups work, is it not ok to ask? I think that's a more sensible option than just asking the group leaders who will of course be biased towards presenting their group in the best way possible....

But thanks for your highly valuable input.