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 ☹️

@KarlKennedysDurianFruit sorry I am tired . I can see now you are just saying the OP she has to crack on with things and not be completely dominated by the DC. Sorry again good night

We’ve had to book slots pretty much everywhere we since DD was a toddler because of her disability. You can’t just rock up to most places with a wheelchair.

It wasn’t a problem.

Not true in the museum where I work.

It's a one hour window in which to arrive, tour the museum and then leave.

Having said that, visitors can use the cafe before they leave but all the tables have been removed and it's takeaway service only.*

OP is talking about National Trust properties. You can arrive anytime within a 1 hr window and you can choose the time when you book. You can stay as long as you like and leave when you like.

Sorry if I’m misunderstanding but between the two of you, do you just have 1 child? If so yabu. If not, you are still being unreasonable unless there’s another drip feed about the older children too.

Even if your child tends to do poos, come prepared - this is the case that they could do a poo even if there was no time slot. Pack lots of spares the night before and aim to arrive at the start of the 1 hour slot. That way, if she soils herself en route or just before leaving the house, changing her will just take you an extra 15 minutes max and you will still be well within the slot.

If she’s pooping more than once an hour (and I assume she isn’t since this would be a medical condition and highly relevant to your OP), then I’m sure the 1 hour slot is the least of your problems.

I say the above sympathetically to you- I’m a mum with ADHD who has a very messy 1 year old and reluctant older children. I get them places on time or slightly late- and if I’m late it’s on me not on the venue. This is a good opportunity to force yourself to practice for times when there will be stricter slots (doctor appts, nursery and school drop off etc).

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

You just wake the toddler up at the required time.

[quote locketpol]@DappledThings also
Most toddlers won't nap whilst you are out [/quote]
Yes of course they will.

You may have one that will only nap at home but that’s not all children.

OP, it’s an hour; it’s not that hard to arrive within that window.

Oh gosh I’m so sorry OP. Tough crowd on here tonight.

@Fearicecream it's like the crowd that sticks up for grandparents who only want the photos and the yearly visits.

YABU. That's what pushchairs are for if she doesn't reliably nap or you can't bear to wake her.

Why would it be disastrous if your toddler took his nap while you were walking in a park?!

@StephenKong no way would my toddler sleep out in a buggy. Only sleeps in car or bed . We would just be pushing an overtired screaming baby. Not enjoyable .

So they sleep in the car on the way there.

For goodness sake, thousands of toddlers go on two schools runs a day to a schedule!

Indeed. You don't see many screaming with rage because they'd prefer to be in their cots.

@AldiAisleofCrap

For goodness sake, thousands of toddlers go on two schools runs a day to a schedule!

Ha! Yeah. I don't want to pile on the OP because it's perfectly okay to have a straw that breaks the camel's back. But baby #2 (and #3 and #4 if you have them) just have to suck it up when their older siblings have to be various places at certain times of the day.

And to be honest, that makes baby/child #2+ the much more chilled and adaptable kid/s in the family for the most part.

We'll, thanks for the advice those who have told me to be more organised. 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.
People saying how do I get her to School... maybe look up toddler in the dictionary

Plenty of people have more than one child, you know. They have to get older children to and from school, also to dentist's appointments, after-school activities etc on time.

OP, have you actually checked that the places you're interested in do turf you out after an hour? I was at an English Heritage place at the weekend and it was a 1 hour slot in which to arrive, then you could stay the whole day if you wanted to. Why not ring them and ask rather than stress?

I know what you mean, but it's a means to protect each other isn't it? We've been to places with a 15min slot...now that's tricky to time with two littlies. But we are used to meeting people out at set times so we just do what we would do for that and aim to be slightly early (in order to arrive slightly late ).

You have a whole hour that you can arrive in. A whole blooming hour.

Seems annoying OP, but I think saying “not parent friendly” is what brought out all the negative posts. Things happen when you’ve got kids, including random toilet stops and naps, and sometimes days out are stressful and not what you planned. Add covid and it’s hard. Being fair though, there are a lot of toddlers on school runs twice a day, every day, on nursery runs, commuting, getting to where they need to be at times that don’t flex. I’ve been there, I really have, I’m a veteran of the 4pm danger nap and the sudden explosion just before you need to leave the house. But plans have always been that here - plans. If something inconvenient happens like the child falls asleep, I wake them up, if they soil I clean them up and the day continues. Yes, that’s made for many a hairy moment - I’ve watched my darling offspring running through an art gallery with pee cascading from their trousers. One of them wet themselves at Library story time and created a creeping large dark patch on the floor tiles, increasingly obvious to everyone in the room. One projectile vomited all over me, themselves, my lunch, a chair and tables in a cafe and had to be carried home covered in sick. They’ve all vomited all over themselves and their car seats at least twice each. One fell into a pond fully clothed. Another had a thing for mud and was regularly hosed down in the garden before being allowed in the house as they’d lie in it full length given half a chance and once filled their wellies to the brim. One had to be removed from their own birthday party as they upended an entire bottle of blackcurrant squash all over themselves - undiluted. They’ve fallen asleep randomly on buses, trains, in the changing room at swimming, in a wheelbarrow at the allotment, on the floor of a nearly new sale in the corner under a coat, once at a medieval festival when I’d paid specifically for the child friendly show, in a stadium, more then once on the beach and once when sat ridiculously close to very loud motor racing. And yet I had one that wouldn’t sleep anywhere but their own bed in the dark and would whinge all day if that couldn’t happen. Which most days it could not. An annoying poo or badly timed nap is an eyeroll, wake them up, clean them up and carry on with the day type of thing most of the time. I know covid makes everything just harder. But one day you’ll look back - maybe not laugh but you might crack a wry smile. An hour is really OK. I hope you get to visit.

@MsEllany

YABU. That's what pushchairs are for if she doesn't reliably nap or you can't bear to wake her.

This. Being trapped indoors by the vagaries of a toddler nap is ridiculous.

I think you haven’t come across very well in your posts OP and I think that’s why you are getting harsh replies.

An hour time slot to arrive gives you lots of time to play with if you aim to arrive at the start of it or even 10 minutes early. Plenty of time to clean up shits.
If you have a child that only naps in their cot then you will need to try a bit more structure to nap times otherwise you will never be able to leave the house.
If they do nap whilst out and about I can’t understand the problem.

Cry me a river

Sorry OP, but YABU. I have a 15 month old, and we have a 15 minute window to drop him at daycare every day. If he's not awake by 7am, then I have to wake him up, or we won't make it in time. An hour window to be somewhere would be a huge luxury.

Even before lockdown, I was back at work so had a teeny window to drop him off or I'd be massively late for work every day. You just figure out a way to make it work.

Would you prefer to go whenever you wanted and get covid because it's crowded with others who, like you, don't see the point in modifying their behaviour ?

If your toddler falls asleep then she falls asleep. You have to just get on with life. I had a mate who wouldn't do anything that didn't fit round her children's badly timed naps...it was excruciating!