To think that one hour entry slots are not parent friendly?

[TotorosFurryBehind]

Feeling sad after reading our favourite place to visit as a family has just gone back to timed entry slots of one hour, due to escalating Covid risk.

I understand the rationale, but with a toddler with variable naps this turns a relaxing family walk into a logistical operation that will stress us both out.

We've hardly used our National Trust membership in the past months due to timed entry and now our other place to visit has gone the same way ☹️

You obviously know how to organise it better. Get in touch with them and give your suggestions.

Oh please OP, you're acting like you're the only person in the world to have ever had to deal with a toddler

Is there nowhere locally that you can go, less formal but still outdoors and pretty? There'd be no queues for that and your toddler would enjoy it just as much.

@positivepixie did I say anywhere that this was the one thing that was stressing me out? That's an assumption you've made.

Perhaps you might use some lateral thinking and consider that I might be one of the many people in this country you mention whose life has been massively detrimentally impacted in recent months and that maybe this loss of the one small thing that I look forward to each week has tipped me over the edge?

@DappledThings how silly , OP already said toddlers naps vary .

I'd like to take this opportunity to remind you that people are starving, there are wars and climate change will get us all. So you can't complain anything ever.

I agree, it would really annoy me too. I just keep it to myself these days though because we have to spend 98% of our time worrying about coronavirus don't you know.

I would give your head a wobble if this is what you are sitting home tonight feeling aggrieved about.

You're in a little bubble. Is there a first world problem covid slant term yet? If not, we need one!

I have a 21 month old, been getting him to nursery on time since he was eleven months, drinking lessons on time since he was twelve weeks, music group since he was six months and DH and I both work full time, is it stressful sometimes, yes, does he sometimes defecate at inopportune moments, yes. Organise everything you need the night before (spare clothes, nappies, packed lunch, water bottle etc) leave way before you really need to and if you're ahead of time, treat yourself to a coffee en route.

I'll just have a talk with 16 month old DD about her tendency to take a massive smushy shit requiring a bath and clothes change.

Have you had her checked for gastric-intestinal issues? Could it be her diet? Regular blowouts requiring a bath are not normal.

😂 swimming lessons, he's too young for drinking lessons

[quote locketpol]@DappledThings how silly , OP already said toddlers naps vary . [/quote]
What, varied throughout the whole day? To the degree that a journey there can't ever be timed round one? Or for arriving and then napping while there? Seems unlikely to be that difficult to predict within a general window.

Yes it's annoying having to book and I get very frustrated with websites which don't have a good system for booking but it's hardly insurmountable.

@KarlKennedysDurianFruit oh here we go there's always one , Stop bragging and trying to make the OP feel inferior to your superior parenting ( it isn't superior by the way ) you are just a show off .

@PlanDeRaccordement course doing this randomly is normal!

@DappledThings yes sometimes by toddler naps at 11 sometimes 1 or 2. How am
I supposed to
Know what slot to
Book ?

Christ, you’ll cope. You’ll get little sympathy, most of us have a lot more to deal with because of Covid than booking ahead for a time slot. FFS.

@locketpol 😂 I'm showing off because I have to work for a living and don't have the luxury of having a child rendering me housebound. Brilliant

@DappledThings also
Most toddlers won't nap whilst you are out

You seem very defensive... I'm not sure AIBU was the most appropriate place for your post if you can't take views that you are indeed being unreasonable.... 🙈

Booking stuff is a pain but probably better than being turned away due to places being too busy surely!

Sometimes DS naps at eleven, sometimes twelve, if really tired he's been known to want to go back to bed by ten, it doesn't stop the fact I have to leave the house!

I was an hour late for a National Trust visit last week; they weren't busy, the frenzy to book slots died down weeks ago - so they were fine about letting us in.

@KarlKennedysDurianFruit I think you are rubbing it in people's faces that you clearly " have your shit together" and that if people find it a little stressful to plan for a one hour timed slot then they are inferior to you.

[quote locketpol]@DappledThings yes sometimes by toddler naps at 11 sometimes 1 or 2. How am
I supposed to
Know what slot to
Book ? [/quote]
10? If you have a child who will only sleep in their own bed then that is rather more difficult but most adapt to sleeping in the car/buggy when necessary.

I did not say that at all, I work bloody hard and it's not easy, you have a choice, pull your socks up and organise as much as you can to remove as many variables as possible, leaving only the toddler to worry about our stay at home and moan about it, your choice. It's not rocket science.

I think time slots are for the most part parent friendly. They're perhaps just not friendly for your life style (no judgement here).