To wonder why baby groups aren’t open in school holidays?

[crinklyfoil]

Obviously have only recently started going to baby groups and am back to work in September, so a bit disappointed they won’t be on july / august - anyone know why this is?

Everyone who has their pfb says this! I remember saying it myself 12 yrs ago

They would either gets loads of siblings there, or insufficient nos of their regulars if siblings barred.

A baby and toddler group i used to take mine to tried staying open over the school holidays, virtually noone turned up as older siblings weren't allowed and they had trouble getting staff as school aged dcs had to be looked after.

Then there's the issue of hall hire, many that run in church halls aren't available in school holidays as clubs for older children have booked whole days .

@crinklyfoil

I’m not sure how I’ll break the week up!

There are sure to be others in your position. Ask a couple of them round to yours for a coffee while the groups are closed. Hopefully you can develop an informal circle to keep things going during the holidays. It's a nice way to develop friendships with other mums.

The people running them often have school aged kids so can't commit during the holidays.

The venues aren't available during the holidays (some are used for holiday clubs, others - such as those on school premises - are closed.

Attendees have older children besides their baby or toddler. This means that either:
A) they don't come because the older children would be bored stiff which means that the group becomes too small to be viable during the school holidays

B) they bring the older kids which isn't great either as the toddlers get knocked over and everyone has to listen to little Jonny playing his loud game on the Switch / iPad during circle time

Thanks ann, it’s more for ds than for me really. And I don’t know anyone very well as they’ve only been going on for a couple of week. Plus, DH is WFH!

Bloody covid!

I used to run a baby group before covid. We only closed for Christmas week. Our breastfeeding cafe ran all year round too.

School holidays tended to be quieter as anyone with an older child couldn't come. August was super quiet because everyone was on holiday.

Does anyone know of any groups open during the holidays in the north-west please?

Check out your local library, ours still does some rhyme times! Plus other free activities throughout the summer
.

Check out sure start centres.

I’ve been to one that was open in the summer holidays and it was awful. It was supposed to be for under 4s only, a little room in our local gym set up with some soft play equipment for toddlers but was full of kids up to age 8, running around, jumping over the little ones, knocking them over. I can see why they are usually not on during the school holidays!

I run one and we’re keeping it open over the holidays because people asked me to. It’s for kids up to 4 and the mums with DC older are obvs home with them but we had families where the parents work teen time come along this week so the numbers still stayed up and it was lovely to have new faces.

Before we decided to keep it open the plan was for anyone around to meet at the park at the time the group’s on to keep people in contact.

That sounds awful! I had a couple of people ask about slightly older kids joining and said no. We gave separate areas for babies and bigger ones as it is and when you’ve only got a small baby even a 2 year old looks massive and potentially dangerous!

I'm in the North West -lancashire. Our NCT one is still running. The local children's centre is still running some of the baby/toddler classes too.

You’ll probably find all the mums in the local playground with their older kids and babies!! Check it out, bet you will find at least a couple of mums happy to chat even if it’s not the ones from the group.

Also look for library rhyme time as pp said. And stay and plays, we used to have one which ran in school holidays only, using a nursery premises.

All the baby groups I went to were in church halls run by volunteers who were retired. They need a break and chance to go on their holiday

Years ago I asked the leader at my son's playgroup why they didn't run groups in the holidays, and she said that they had tried it, but people just turned up with school-age siblings and expected them to be welcomed - "She really enjoyed coming here when she was little, and she is so excited about seeing you again!" Then the parent would be offended at being turned away. It was easier to close.

Some of ours are still open. North London. X

I used to hate this too. If the numbers don’t stack up then fair enough but it’s shit for first time parents or parents of only children.

I run 2 groups a week, all year round on top of a busy life too. People underestimate how much work is involved. I run myself ragged with very little help and get barely an acknowledgement, much less a thanks. I also have young school aged kids of my own I'd have to juggle whilst simultaneously carting tons of boxes in then out, buying and sorting snacks, cleaning up etc. Im knackered and need a break from it for a few weeks 😬🤦

At my church, we run two baby/toddler groups which are term-time only as all but one of the 5-6 people running it are volunteers with own DC or grandchildren. We do offer a couple of "stay and play" sessions over the holidays but without the craft, story and singing we normally have, so only need a couple of volunteers. We also encourage meet-ups in the local park. But we also run a baby group (for under 1s) which meets in the holidays as well, as that doesn't need a whole team to run, just 1-2 people, and there's fewer older siblings causing the parents not to turn up. So if you find a group that's more baby-focussed they are more likely to run.

There are one or two playgroups that do keep going near me (might be worth asking around?), but not many; too low attendance with people away or needing to look after older children.

Some of the classes run 'Summer Specials' - our Sing and Sign class does, they also run an online summer school.

Someone reccomend Sophie Pickles YouTube baby classes to me today and I think we'll try some out at home.

Our local library Rhyme Time still runs and the family centre run Stay and Play sessions for a wide age group so we will go to those.

We run a breastfeeding support group and it's dead in the holidays!

We ask people not to bring older children as the goal is to have young babies around, possibly on the floor and we want to keep it a safe space for mothers and young babies.

We wouldn't turn any one away though who came with older children though as they still require support, but it seems most people understand our policies. It's hard to come if you're responsible for childcare of older children in the holidays.

My area actually is trialling one during holidays so if it has a lot of interest maybe it'll spread! I had no idea what I'd with my son otherwise because that's his time to leave the house most days lol. He's only 16 months so doesn't have anywhere else to be 😅 and this gives him some kind of routine

Yes, always been the case of closing groups during school hols. Have you not had time to make friends with mums & babies to meet up during break?