To worry there are not enough free weekly events for mums or dads and their babies in UK

[Mammajay]

I just visited my local library and it was chock full of baby buggies and the children's section was packed to the doorway with mums and their babies ( didn't see any dads). I commented to the librarian about how essential such events were when my children were babies. He replied that this was that second session today and that there had been 50 mums at the earlier session. To be honest they were both so crowded that mums standing at the back probably won't have fully enjoyed it. So I googled free mum and baby stuff in my area but most were private charged for events in church halls. So, what is on offer where you are? I had no parental or family support and didn't belong to a church but the library and local mother and toddler groups put on by various churches in their halls were wonderfully supportive.

What was the event, surely not just nursery rhymes?
Have you asked your local church our children's centre/clinic what groups they know of? That's be a start.
We have a particular free(ish) event nearby that's always packed but that's because everyone loves it, not because there's nothing else on!

I agree there's quite a few activities for babies and young toddlers, but hardly anything for a low price for slightly older kids- minimum around here is £5/ 45 min class and we're in a cheap area.

Who do you suppose should pay for the cost of events for you to enjoy?

Even a decade ago it was mostly the library singing session and the park if you wanted free. The playgroups were a pound or two.
Children's centres may have been free too but I can't remember.

It seems there are still lots of free or low cost activities, which is great. I agree with Ellisandra that they need to be inclusive so reaching out to various groups to s important

Pope the sessions are the librarian reading a picture book and occur one morning per week, two sessions.

When mine were little we had a wonderful purpose built Children's centre. There were a couple of free groups - Breastfeeding support and the Stay and play during babyweigh by the HVs. The rest of the sessions you jad to pay but only something like £2 per family. There was an under 1 group, under 3 group and then 3+ group - all tailored specifically to the age of the child. The facilities were great - small toilets for children, plenty of baby change, a large room with small tables and chairs for the children, book corner, lots of toys, an outside area for slides/ride-ons etc aswell as a sensory garden. And it was so clean compared to dusty church halls! They also ran sessions like First Aid, Baby led weaning and I remember a lovely course I did about sharing books with your children. During the school holidays they ran sessions for older children - cooking, arts and crafts etc.

The centre was really well used. Lots of outreach work went on, breastfeeding rates went up in our area. Unfortunately the Tories continously cut the funding so gradually they couldn't afford to put on as many things. By the end it was a shadow of itself. It ended up being closed down. Such a shame.

Not much for free here, and we don't even have a library session any more. Lots of cheap toddler groups though for £1/£2 a week. They're often run by churches but you definitely don't need to belong to that church or any church to go along.

Most baby classes and groups in my area are scattered between various little villages that are a total pain to get to if you don't drive.

Unfortunately in my town a lot of the ‘cheap’ more traditional mums and toddler type groups, that charge £1-2 have closed down because lots of mums prefer to pay out great amounts of money each week for structured classes for their baby, music/baby sensory/ballet/ball skills/craft sessions etc. A lot of these groups are pay up front for the whole term and more than £5 per week.

This means that the cheaper groups can not sustain themselves and have had to close meaning there is nowhere to go for the mums that can not afford to pay out. Really sad, especially as (in my opinion) the babies don’t actually need to be going to the classes, they are more for the mums anyway, so it wouldn’t matter if they were sat in a church hall at playgroup or at baby ballet.

YABU. Lots of people are lonely, not just mums, the majority of whom have made the choice to become a parent.

There are loads of really cheap groups where I live (South Wales) I could take my daughter to one every day if I wanted

Many of our lovely sure start and family centres have been shut down or scaled down in recent years. They offered free or low cost groups etc to families. The same with HV and BF clinics and groups. It's such a shame and we can thank government cuts for that

In my area we have several children's centres that run groups for free or £1 per child/family if there are costs for materials etc. Then the library also runs a few free sessions each week, and the local NCT organise buggy walks which have no cost. That's a lot of free stuff.

I agree they are often largely attended by parents who can comfortably afford to pay one or two pounds towards it. However particularly at the children's centres I got the feeling that a lot of mums were vulnerable in other ways (I was very lonely and struggling when I went a lot with baby DC1), and they are probably a very good way of monitoring/helping those issues. I think the free sessions there are worth trying to hold on to in a time of cut backs.

But you can't expect everything for free, as others have said the money has to come from somewhere and regular playgroups aren't particularly expensive.
I also now run a local community playgroup and I have to say the costs of doing so are really high. We plough any money we accrue back into the group (new toys, xmas party etc) and we are all volunteers, but we have to really watch our costs as most of our takings are used up on standard weekly costs eg hall hire. It costs £2.50 for an adult and a toddler, and for that there are lots of toys, a craft activity, toast squash and later a snack for the children, tea and coffee for the adults, as well as story time and singing. We couldn't do it any cheaper and on quieter weeks we make a loss. I think it's really good value and pretty affordable (not least because most of the children don't want/need lunch after!). We still get complaints about the cost though

Our church one is falling apart, £2 per session £1 additional child. Too many parents turning up from miles away. Safety issues. I think they will have to start charging per term to err on the side of safety. There have been a few accidents from over crowding.

Who do you expect to pay for these events? What's stopping you organising something?

There is an abundance round my way, maybe because of where we are in London. But like a PP, I notice that so much of the free stuff is used predominantly by families who, on the face of it, could afford £1/2 and tbh I'd happily pay if asking for donations wouldn't alienate people who can't afford to donate. In an extreme version of this, the local rhyme time session, free and on a grotty and run-down stretch of high street, is attended almost exclusively by the toddlers, mums and nannies of a nearby neighbourhood where houses go for £1.5m-ish. Plenty of local estates etc nearby, but no attendees.

It’s mostly involving singing nursery rhymes with actions etc and then a cup of tea with the residents after. Apparently spending time watching the children enjoy themselves is the highlight of a lot of the residents weeks

What a wonderful idea!

I'm a mum and personally I don't see why there should be free weekly events provided by councils/local authorities. It's not the responsibility of the tax payer to entertain our children. £82.50 a month of child benefit can easily be put towards the local groups which are run my other mums - my local one is £3.50 and provides food and drink for the kids and drink for the parent as part of that - bargain!

If anything there should be more focus on groups being organised outside of time term or on a Saturday so that working parents are able to take their kids to something - toddler swimming lessons especially drive me crazy only being held once or twice mon-fri - absolutely no where near me does them at weekends

Should it take priority over, for example, the NHS or school funding?

It's not really a question of taking priority, is it? No-one is suggesting that money should be taken away from either source. Given that they tend to have both an educational and a health benefit (in terms of both physical and mental health) and they're always pretty cheap and cheerful, I'd say the cost/benefit ratio tends to favour them - particularly if you want to set it against, say, the cost/benefit assessment of Brexit.

Near me the free groups are: the childrens centre runs a few stay and plays and one baby specific group a week, local library does weekly nursery rhymes and a other group does coffee mornings and sling walks on alternating weeks. I don't do them all but that's 3 a week for free (more if I did the stay and plays). I'm sure it will vary a lot by area!

I ran a library Rhymetime for 11 years and even when we did 6 a week it was always rammed with up to 50 parents and then babies and toddlers as well. That was when there were 8 Sure Start centres in town providing free baby groups as well as more targeted groups and support work. Now there are 2 ‘Family Hubs’ run by Virgin Care who do very few groups and are mainly the base for HV appointments etc. I’ve often thought about setting up a group based on fun early literacy activities but if I did, I’d have to charge something for my materials etc. There are a few very cheap groups which are £2 or so in town and the usual branded sessions that I’ve always thought were a bit too much.

Although when people say “who should pay for it, the government?” As if it’s ridiculous, the benefit to parents mental health would be huge, and Sure Start was brilliant for promoting learning for under 3’s and promoting parents spending time with their children and advice on health, early reading, early language development etc. It isn’t wasted money, it will all come out later when that child goes to school with a fantastic foundation for future learning, with happy confident parents who are aware of how to seek support. It’s just not something people have the foresight to do. Sure Start had planned outcomes and structured groups. It’s not just sitting and chatting and clapping. It’s very shortsighted to think you don’t need to do anything until preschool. There should be more Sure Start and libraries with specific groups designed to promote literacy and language. That nursery rhyme session would be part of Bookstart, a scheme to promote book sharing between parents and babies which has been running for years. There’s so much to it but it’s disregarded as unimportant. When it’s the building blocks of a child’s whole educational experience.

Schools = no money
NHS = no money
Mental health support = no money

Who is going to pay for this?

Why should it be free? There are no activities my child can go to free or otherwise.

I think there is more than enough for babies and toddlers. Families with teens are the families who don’t get enough. I also think they’re often more needy too.

[b]itwasalovelydreamwhileitlasted[b] it’s not just free entertainment though, there was always planning and thought into learning outcomes in all the preschool activities I ran in the library.

www.theguardian.com/society/2018/apr/05/1000-sure-start-childrens-centres-may-have-shut-since-2010

Who is going to pay for these free activities, what other overstretched budget do you suggest is reduced to fund them?