AIBU pre booking fatigue - baby class edition

[Bookingfatigued]

First I recognise that I’m extremely lucky to go to baby classes and that new parents last year had long stretches without activities due to lockdown. I’m sorry to those that missed these experiences.

I’m posting to ask if anyone else feels like this and what it’s like in your area. Pretty much everything here you have to pre book in advance. Instructors hype up bookings and threaten waiting lists so you feel pressure to sign up or miss out.

I’ve lost about £20 per month by not being able to go to things for various everyday reasons related to life with a little baby. Also £80 down due to isolating. Drop in classes would be better for us so that you could just decide on the day and would discourage people going to class with symptoms/positive contact because they don’t want to loose money.

Even the local pool is keeping their booking system as ‘members prefer it’ - but the survey sent round was online so of course those who check emails and like to book are going to be the ones who respond (selection bias?!).

I appreciate the classes running and enjoy them when we can make it. Also understand there needs to be some way to keep track of numbers. So I don’t know what the answer is.

YANBU - baby classes should revert to pay as you go or make more allowances for those that need to transfer bookings, especially if they are going to resell your place

YABU - don’t go to classes if you don’t like the booking system. There’s no other way to run them

I think you are "overbooking" yourself.
Even before covid all my baby/post partum classes were to be booked and paid in advance due to waiting list. If you don't overbook yourself you will be more prone to go. Also, how old is your baby?

Problem is, it costs the organiser doesn’t it. Hall hire, props etc. They’ve shelled out for that so if no one turns up to the ‘drop in’ they not only make no money, they lose money.

Personally I liked pre booking because I’d have found it a pain in the arse to get there and there be no space for me.

Most baby groups I went to (admittedly it wasn’t loads) were reasonably accommodating for you swapping to a different session that week if they had space.

Yes! 100% agree. The whole pre booking thing doesn't suit me at all. I'm not a particularly organised person and I sometimes like to decide on the day. Not everyone likes to plan and pay for things in advance.

Yes! 100% agree. The whole pre booking thing doesn't suit me at all. I'm not a particularly organised person and I sometimes like to decide on the day. Not everyone likes to plan and pay for things in advance.

The people running the classes will have had to pay to use the hall or whatever location the class is in. They are running a business and probably can't afford to operate with a pop in when you like policy.
Why are you missing so many classes? Don't book so many in each week if you are regularly missing them.

@marykitty could be. 7 months. Generally two or three classes per week.

One class was asking to rebook after one week of doing the activity for another 5 week block - so would have 9 weeks active bookings at once before really knowing if we like the activity.

All the baby classes we did were pre booked before covid. The organiser needs to cover costs and it avoids disappointment if people turn up and all the spaces have already gone for that day.

My DD’s swimming class does like you transfer one class per term to another day which I think is a good compromise. But this is based on the other slots having a space that day

I like the prebooked classes and think they’re much more fun, organised and educational than drop in centres which are usually just a few mums with some old toys lying about. No structure or encouragement play.

@plixy I’ve looked and there just isn’t anything drop in around here. Before I was preganant and the pandemic I imagined passing my mornings by paying £2 entry on the door to a church hall with kids running riot babies playing nicely and drinking tea from a paper cup chatting with other parents

@seaandsandcastles agree. One of the best classes we’ve been to is like this and very organised. I don’t mind paying up front for it. It’s a bit of a lottery though when you’re being asked to book again so soon sometimes from week one.

I had mine back in the days of drop-in sessions at the library/ children's centre alongside some pre-booked things including swimming.

Pre-booked everything is very tiresome, and that's without the added unpredictability of small people and their naps/ teething and all their other little curveballs.

I've taken up booking some things on the morning I intend to do it which is better, especially when it's so easy to have plans sabotaged by a child being slightly off-colour.

Round here there were enough drop in baby/toddler sessions in church halls, run by volunteers, that I could do one every day of the week. They all cost £1 with tea and biscuits plus a snack for the toddlers. They were amazing, and I made some fantastic friends. However, any activity that is run by someone earning a living from it, I think it is completely fair enough to book in advance.

Baby classes were all pre-booked before Covid, or at least the ones with props and a proper theme were. I can't think of anything I attended (in 2019) or knew about that you didn't have to book. I did one pre-booked class a week while on mat leave, the rest of the time we just met in cafes or for a walk if we wanted to hang out.

There is a drop-in near me just opened up recently, but it's literally just a pile of toys in the local hall, and it was dead when I walked past.

Classes were always pre booked so it was the same pre Covid - if you were ill or too knackered to want to sing wind the bobbin up in public you just ended up forfeiting the class.

None of the £2 church hall type things have opened here which is a bit annoying but tbh I can probably live without the NCT politics, other people's manky children licking all the biscuits and putting them back on the plate and the inevitable fight over the toy kitchen.

I agree with you. When we came out of lockdown I got so excited to do something with my LO ended up booking various classes and losing money on stuff that wasn't right for us. I've ended up with 1 pre booked class a week which my LO loves and luckily now found a church playgroup we can drop in to as and when. Maybe it's just a case of doing less?

I hate pre booking. Baby first year was covid so everything closed. I started an 8 weeks baby swim August and we have managed 3 weeks.

2 weeks emergency travel due to family
2 weeks Ds was ill
1 week major water leak at our house and I had to be around for that/ tradesmen

I’m not going to both booking the next one, as at £75 it ok for 8 lessons, but pretty pricey for 3. Il just take him swimming alone ( whole point was for him to see other children but heyho)

Maybe if a lot of people miss classes due to everyday things, they prefer the booking system to secure their income? I can see why it's frustrating though, if you don't know if you'll be able to attend for sure. We haven't had to miss classes regularly due to everyday things, but my youngest is now 7 months old, so a bit more predictable, I didn't do any classes in the very early days as we would have missed a lot too.
I don't mind pre-booking as a lot does get booked up where I am, so it means we know we have a place. If you have a look around local churches, if you haven't already, that seems to be where most play groups are held around here, and most do seem to allow you to turn up and pay on the door.

Have to say most of the baby groups I did in 2019 were pre-booked, it was more the toddler groups/stay and play that were pay as you go, could it be that to a certain extent?

Looking at groups and classes now I'm back on mat leave and it seems very similar, the playgroup PAYG are starting to come back alive after covid but the stuff for younger babies is still pre-booked things. I suppose the thing is with PAYG for babies it can be so much more variable about whether you'll get enough people who manage to get there for a session (so many times I wouldn't have gone if I hadn't already paid for it, if I'm honest) there but by toddler age you've got a reasonable chance of enough people making it to each session to cover the costs?

Also, why are baby classes so early? 9am swim start! That means leaving at 8.10am latest here to drive 30mins, park, and get us both changed.

It’s such a rush getting him up, ready and breakfast and out the house when we have the whole day free.

What would happen if there's only 20 spaces in a class and 40 Mum's turn up? You'd be complaining that you never get in.

Where I live all the baby classes book up very quickly and there are waiting lists for most of them.

Our local church does a weekly baby toddler group where you book and pay in advance but you book it weekly rather than per term but there's only 18 places.

There is also a buggy walk group which is free and you just turn up at the agreed time and place if you want to join in. It's free and held outside in the park so no limit on numbers.

Pre Covid our library did a free just turn up if you like baby book class but now due to Covid you have to book as they have to limit numbers but again you book it weekly.

It sounds like you need to be more organised, baby classes rarely last more than an hour. What is so important that you have to regularly miss your pre-booked baby class for it?

Sorry OP, I've taken ages to reply in between feeding aforementioned baby and now see that you have tried local playgroups! Hopefully some will revert to drop in again for you soon.

It's good to book one or two things that you know you really like and are at convenient times, but other activities you'll need to hunt a bit harder for. Round here we really don't have to book everything in advance, so I'm surprised there's nothing you can find at all. Church playgroups, playgrounds, coffee with friend at a place with a play area etc don't need booking or get reserved the day before for single slots. DS used to love the department store lighting department as a baby activity, nice and cheap! There are also loads of places that will have open spots a day or two in advance for single sessions such as soft play / imaginative play / gym.

All the prebooking does my head in aswell. Especially for the National Trust when you can't book on the day! Hate it.

[quote Bookingfatigued]@plixy I’ve looked and there just isn’t anything drop in around here. Before I was preganant and the pandemic I imagined passing my mornings by paying £2 entry on the door to a church hall with kids running riot babies playing nicely and drinking tea from a paper cup chatting with other parents[/quote]
Just to clarify, DS was over 1 before I find out about quite a few events near here, it really can be easy to miss stuff. I appreciate you may have other posts that prevent you doing this, but could you give an indication of where you live? It might let anyone who lives nearby help by suggesting places. Otherwise you could ask neighbours and anyone you see with a toddler, might help you find out about options.

It’s better that queuing on the day, isn’t it? No one enjoys that! And racing to be first in line is so horribly undignified

I’ve had amazing experiences this year - such as an amazing boat trip from the coast of Wales - that I’d never have had if not for pre booking because who wants to get up at the crack of dawn and queue on a quayside on the off chance?