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?

@UsingChangeofName

No it isn't childcare per se but it's secondary function is indeed thus for working parents. Like school '"isn't childcare" but if I looked for a term time nursery or childminder for my 8 year old there would be NO provision because children are being cared for at school by default.

It's cool, I get it. But it's not viable to send my kids when we're both at work full time. I am a bit hmmmm when I get the emails from head teacher griping about the risk that the providers might cancel the clubs because there aren't enough pupils to run them profitably. Well, no shit Sherlock. If they aren't doubling up as reliable childcare working parents won't sign up their kids and they won't get the desired numbers It's hardly rocket science .

So is the football presented as year round or seasonal activity?
It is only November now, how would they deal with the winter? Cancel every week till spring, because who could have expected rain, snow, and cold?

Sorry I think yabu.
You said yourself that this isn't exactly unexpected. Rain happens in November. The organisation are not promising childcare come rain or shine, they are offering a football club, with no obligation to join it. Having a reliable wet weather backup would massively increase the costs and make it unviable. It's on you to ask what the rain contingency plan is and either work with it or don't use the club. You are responsible for deciding which after school options work for your family.

I believe it's year round although we book in blocks of 8 weeks or similar. It's been cancelled (no charge) in advance for parent teacher meetings and similar which is fine as we can let after school club know in advance and they know what's what when they do their schedule. The day was changed with a week's notice recently which was less fine imo but ho hum.

If it was a sports club at a different site then of course it's not childcare. When you're collecting the children from the classroom to train them on school grounds then parents' arrangements change from "pick up DC at 2" to "pick up DC at 3" and I do think that blurs the lines.

Also, again, the school used to provide a classroom and no longer do "because covid". I'm guessing the prices haven't been adjusted to allow for that, for any of the parties involved!

I'm venting on here because I think it's just another example of our broken childcare system

But it's not childcare!!!! It's an activity club! The ASC is childcare - which you now appear to pay for on football days in order to have cover if the club is cancelled. So now I'm not sure what the problem is and am confused at your ire.

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

I couldn't agree more with you; and as a single parent working f/t, no family support, I have cried on so many occasions trying to make it work.

But this is not an example of 'broken childcare'. It's not childcare. The people running it have no responsibility to provide an alternative service. The same way my DC GAA team at the weekend is not required to or their soccer team or their music teacher. The exact requirements are part of their contract with you, but no, childcare is not one of them

I don't pay the ASC to cover the football. They collect at 3pm after football and we collect from them at 5:30.

When you're collecting the children from the classroom to train them on school grounds

It's simply a matter of the people running the activity using the school grounds. 🤷🏻‍♀️

It's not school. It's not childcare.

I'm not sure what the problem is and am confused at your ire

Because she's having to mess around the after school club staff at very late notice. Trust me, not great. After school club staff are human too. Ours is run on a not for profit basis by a church. Our school hobby clubs are run for profit by external providers.

YANBU
If parents expect their kids to be occupied at X time, they will need more notice on cancellation.
People are so quick to snarl at OP to accept it because 'that's just how it is,' and that's how nothing changes.

Again, lucky you! (But you are taking a risk!)

Most ASC I've used require a flat payment, you use it or don't but it's not by the hour. (I know it's different in the UK, but thought NI might be more like it generally is here in terms of payment).

You are trying to use the activity as childcare, and (again), it's not.

But that's just the way it is - booking DC into the activity comes with that risk.

The activity couldn't know that rain would make the pitch unplayable. And they're not required to provide an alternative activity.

Oh yes, sorry, the ASC price is the same regardless of 2pm or 3pm. But I meant I need it for the 3-5:30 bit so I don't pay it purely as cover for football. I'm grateful they will do a different pickup time once a week and have no problem with them not adjusting the price. It's the same price for older DC who finish school later.

If parents expect their kids to be occupied at X time, they will need more notice on cancellation.

But that's not true of any other activity - if your DC has music lessons on Saturday or tennis on Sunday, you would not expect an alternative arrangement to be made if the activity could not go ahead.

There's lots of challenges around working + childcare. But this isn't one that's fair to blame either the provider or the school for

But WHY is that the risk? It happens in school, feet away from the classrooms. No, they couldn't know in advance that it would rain today but entirely predictable that not every Monday would be dry. And, again, the school used to allow them use an indoor space, presumably for exactly this reason - a very simple solution to a predictable problem.

@CancelledActivity

I can agree that if a room used to be available then it's a bit frustrating that it isn't still.

But (and I think I'm running out of ways to say it!) there's no requirement for an activity (run exactly the same as any other activity offered for DC) should be expected to make contingency plans like this.

I know this affects you because you work; but a SAHP could similarly be affected if they had made a specific alternate plan based on this activity. It's inherent in the situation that^^ sometimes things get cancelled & parents (working / stay at home) have to adjust. Challenging but it's parenting.

Maybe their plan is to cancel the activity? As pp, it's not childcare.

TBH, if you're child is going to play outdoor sports, you're going to have to get used to short notice cancellations.

@EarringsandLipstick
But that's just the way it is - booking DC into the activity comes with that risk

Yes that's why we no longer book the clubs. Then the clubs whinge that numbers are too low to justify the cost of running them. 🙄

Well then that's what you need to do

Have you asked school why the change? Is it just Covid hangover or did an external club leave classroom in a mess or not pay room hire. Perhaps there’s been a change in policy about schools renting out rooms eg having to book by term not rent as and when needed meaning it’s not affordable by football club. Hire of school classrooms tends to be expensive around here (we were looking at alternative venue for an activity club as church hall is expensive but school wasn’t an option)

Look you're clearly thinking the football club is killing two birds with one stone - minding your kid and providing an activity, and that therefore they should fulfil the requirements of looking after kids in any way shape or form regardless of conditions. But it's a football club, and most parents probably send their kids to play football. If they can't play because it's raining, they're not interested in having the kids sat in the hall colouring in. They send them there to play football outside on a muddy field.

Just book your kid in between the 2.00 and 3.00 slot. If she goes to football, then the ASC has one less kid to look after. If footballs cancelled your have childcare sorted. Job done.

Think about WHY you chose to put your DD in football one day per week OP. Probably it was because she enjoys it, she might get better at it, she might learn something new.

The second two things are NOT childcare. They’re teaching, which is above and beyond childcare which is feeding, keeping safe, keeping entertained. There’s no education involved.

The football club isn’t childcare. You’re dumbing down what they do.

That said, the world is increasingly populated by a two-working-parent model and childcare options haven’t evolved much. There’s more reliance on after school clubs but there’s not enough for everyone. And it’s not affordable to everyone but that’s a different matter.

The issue is handover. ASC is picking children up, normally after school, on Monday after football.
It is technically paid for the time (flat fee), but they might not be always flexible with pick up time on a very short notice.

If the football was providing backup activity in the classroom in the past (for those who prefered backup over simple cancellation), it is easy to see, why the change to just cancelling is hard for OP.

It sounds that several children are in this situation, so maybe it will be worth finding some solution (maybe even on the football's side) so those children would be able to keep both.

This.

Football was cancelled due to the weather.

But really you want a babysitter not a football activity.

Newsflash: the two are not the same thing. You pay for football session not a childcare service.

I understand your frustrations. I wonder though if maybe you’re expecting the club to have put a plan in place for inclement weather which, as you say, is entirely predictable in November, while you haven’t also planned for the same predictable outcome?