Cancelled Afterschool Activity

[CancelledActivity]

Hard hat on, I've been on here for years but don't think I've ever braved an AIBU post before.

DD1 is 4 and started school in September. DH and I both work FT, and she goes to an afterschool club everyday. They're the same company as the nursery she went to for years and are thankfully very accommodating. They collect from many schools in the area and run a fleet of cars and do a huge amount of work to make sure everyone is picked up when they need to be.

Once a week DD does football after school - outside company, held at school, advertised through school but paid directly to the company. Afterschool club very nicely put on a car to collect DD and a few others from football, and when the day changed at one week's notice recently they adjusted as well.

It's miserable here today, and we got a text at noon that football was likely cancelled and they would confirm at 1pm.

AIBU to think that two hours notice that DC have to be picked up an hour early is taking the piss? I was embarrassed asking the after school club to make a change to their schedule at such short notice, which thankfully they can do as it would have been difficult for DH or I to make it on time.

Surely an outdoor activity in November needs a contingency plan?

But it's the club's fault for not getting an agreement. Or if they can't, running it only in the summer term.

If you're going to collect thirty four year olds, accept payment for doing so and not allow parents to attend - why don't we as parents have enough power as consumers to say actually, that is childcare as well as football

Lol. Good luck with the next 12 years or so of school and clubs and activities with that attitide op.

Outdoor activities are always at risk of cancellation due to poor weather. No, the football/rugby/netball/whatever coach doesn't usually plan a nice afternoon of colouring instead to turn the extra curricular sport into generic childcare. 🤦🏻‍♀️😂

Op says she’s grumpy with club and school. Club I understand she’s paid for 60 mins football coaching and they haven’t provided it or refunded.
It’s got nothing to do with the school though. The school staff might not even be there or might all be in a training session etc - it’s a 3rd party company nothing to do with school.
Same setup in holidays some childcare clubs or sports providers rent school facilities and offer holiday care but there won’t be any school staff involved.

I think the school should provide access to a classroom for inclement weather. Which they used to do before covid, and which (I've remembered) they do for the children to store their bags for the hour.

Presumably if a music lesson is cancelled that's for a genuine unforeseen circumstance like illness in which case absolutely fair enough. Rain in November not so much.

The school wouldn't need to provide staff to supervise as the football coaches would be there. Obviously. No one is expecting teachers to do yet more work for free.

I had a polite conversation with the man who owns the company. I got the impression he agrees with me. There was no animosity although I admit I got a bit short at the suggestion that grandparents could pick up as we have no family support.

Not everything has to have working parents in mind. This is an enrichment activity for the sake of the children.

YANBU.
When my kids did after school football we were told if it was rained off. We had the option to pick up our kids, but if we couldn't then they would keep them and do something indoor. Often it would be drawing or something which my kids didn't like, but at least they were looked after.
Parents factor after school clubs into their day, and unless staff illness unexpectedly occurs, there should be a back-up plan put in place by the club provider. After all, the staff doing the training would still have been available.

* I think it is reasonable to be annoyed with the football club as it doesn't sound like they actually said "we will frequently cancel so don't rely on this for childcare"*

Why? It's an extra curricular activity - it's NOT childcare. If OP needs the ASC as back up childcare in case a hobby activity is cancelled - they frequently are - then she needs to pay for both activity and the ASC.

I'd guess because they'd be accountable to OFSTED if they were childcare.

Ive obviously repeated what everyone else has said But OP really no one uses hobby activity clubs as their regular childcare for this very reason. Pay for the ASC in football days. And don't demand they set themselves up as childcare - they're not. There would be no activity clubs if they had be registered as childcare as well.

The school wouldn't need to provide staff to supervise as the football coaches would be there.

Insurance-wise, you cannot just have kids in a school classroom supervised by Mon-school staff, without properly putting in place (and paying for) insurance.

I agree it's an issue running a purely outdoor activity in November; however, my DC do many outdoor sports, they only stop mid Dec, resume early Jan & they are rarely cancelled.

Today in Ireland there was exceptional rain which probably meant the pitch was unplayable. That's not usual.

Is he refunding you op? The club owner would need to pay for the room but not all schools rent rooms. What about providing materials - colouring sheets/pens. The young lads who taught sports clubs my dd went to wouldn’t have been up for supervising in a classroom.

I've been reading through the posts and thinking on one hand OP is being unreasonable because this is just the way after school activities work, but on the other hand it's not unreasonable to expect services to move with the times and adapt to the fact that many families can't drop everything to collect their child an hour or two early because an activity is cancelled. Then it occurred to me that the difference between a child care provider and an after school activity provider is that the former is registered with OFSTED/the Care Commission and has to comply with various standards as a result of this which drives up the cost, whereas the former is a more informal arrangement and tends to be much cheaper. Informal clubs are perhaps less likely to put contingencies in place because they are not regulated, but also because they are cheap and hiring a room in a school on top of the playing field would drive up the price of the activity. I actually think OP is really lucky that her after school club will accommodate other after school activities and do the pick ups an hour later. That's actually the sort of adaptation in service that working parents should be pushing for so that our children can do different activities and have a back-up when they need to be cancelled.

He isn't refunding and I'm not making an issue out of that, it's a small local business and I don't care about the few pounds.

if you can’t handle last minute changes like this sack off the after school activities and just do the one after school club. Sounds like a load of faff anyway and I’m sure a 4 yo doesn’t get that much out of it especially after a long day of school
take her to little kickers or diddikicks on a weekend

This
If you are both at work and don't have a mate or a grandparent who can pick up and transport dc places at short notice occasionally, and you don't have the flexibility over your diary some working parents do and you don't work at home like some parents do, then it might make sense for you to just stick to the OoS Care for now. A 4 yr old is hardly missing out if they don't go to this football. Start after school enrichment activities when they get into Junior school and you have built up a bit of a network of mates who would happily take your dc home with their ds in the event of an unexpected pick up like this.

I actually think OP is really lucky that her after school club will accommodate other after school activities and do the pick ups an hour later.

She is.

I've had many childcare combinations over the years. None really worked. When I used an ASC, they were utterly inflexible. I kind of understood, but one activity was literally around the corner from them, finishing at the same time they were collecting a group from the hall beside where my DC was doing a different activity. They said no, and so DC couldn't do it.

I also used child minders and some didn't drive; they couldn't hang around to collect 1 DC who was staying on to do an activity, while waiting with the other 2.

It's crap but that's the way it is.

Occasionally I see families who strike gold with amenable & flexible childminders. Like gold dust & paid accordingly! Thank goodness mine are more or less beyond that stage, nearly.

Then pay for the ASC as well then as money clearly isn't an issue!

I do. Every week I pay the football and the after school club to collect from 2pm but they collect at 3pm. Frankly if they charged me extra for the inconvenience of a different time of pickup I'd happily pay it. As others have noted, we're very lucky with them and they are indeed worth their weight in gold.

I feel like a dick messing them around when their schedule is a logistical nightmare.

Ye gods, I expect you are one of those people who believe that teachers are glorified childminders who are there for your convenience while you work.

@honeylulu why can't you bok after school club & if the sport activity is cancelled he goes to ASC?

I would love you to point out where you think my posts say this as nothing could be further from the truth.

It’s an activity club, not a childcare provision.
“Surely an outdoor activity in November needs a contingency plan?”
The contingency planning is on your side, and it’s you!
These activity clubs are often franchised and self employed leaders with small teams - can get cancelled for their sickness, for example.

Btw - I had one short conversation with the man who owns the football company, and I won't be contacting the school. I'm venting on here because I think it's just another example of our broken childcare system and the way working parents aren't supported, and as someone above has noted these activities and the like haven't moved with the times to account for working parents with no family support.

No real person is feeling the lash of my tongue, I'm posting here while I cuddle a sick toddler (who goes to the equally amazing nursery associated with the amazing after school club).

@SkylightSkylight

@honeylulu why can't you bok after school club & if the sport activity is cancelled he goes to ASC?

To be fair son only went to hobby club when I was on mat leave so it wasn't an issue but if I'd booked both it would have cost £12 for hobby club and £18 for after school club so paying twice. (Cost of living, anyone? )Also after school club was very heavily subscribed and had a waiting list so it would have made me very unpopular to have booked/hogged a space that I probably wasn't going to use and a dinner would be prepared that would end up in the bin so the club staff would end up blacklisting us 😂
Until covid we did have an after school nanny 2 evenings a week - she would drop off and pick up from cubs etc. It majorly messed her around if it got cancelled (cubs very rarely cancelled to be fair) as she'd plan the schedule to accommodate my son, my toddler and her own two children. If it happened too often I'm sure she would have given notice pronto. When you have good reliable childcare you can't risk taking the mick. If she'd resigned my whole career would have been up shit creek.

It just meant the flaky hobby clubs were untenable once i was back at work.

because I think it's just another example of our broken childcare system and the way working parents aren't supported,

But, as posters have been trying to point out to you for 5 pages now, this isn't childcare. It is a hobby club. In the same way that you might take your child to a sports club on a Saturday morning, or, when they get older, to Beavers or Anchor Boys or something at 6pm. If it doesn't fit in with what you can arrange, then you can't do it. It's a bit frustrating, but hardly the end of the world. As I have already said, once they get older and you've got to know others with similar age dc, plus the dc themselves are a bit older and more comfortable spending an hour here and there with other people's parents, then you work with other parents to help each other out in these circumstances.
4 is really very young to be doing something like this, so if you can't work it with your other commitments, it doesn't matter if he doesn't do it.

It isn't an example of a broken childcare system.

It is a hobby. An optional club.

But you don't want to listen to that fact.