Family swimming times - AIBU?

[FamilySwimming]

Just looking for a sense check on this one.

The two local leisure centres only have certain very limited times for family swimming, meaning in the kids' pool. So if I want to take my 2 year old swimming, the only times we can book are between 12 and 2pm.

My 2 year old eats lunch at 12 and then has a nap every day. Surely this is pretty standard for any child who has one nap per day?

AIBU or is this an absolutely insane time to schedule family swimming? I feel like I just won't be able to take her swimming until she's stopped napping completely.

I spoke to them on the phone and they basically said that my toddler's meal and nap schedule isn't their problem, but I was under the impression that this is most toddlers' meal and nap schedule, hence the AIBU.

YABU take her at 12 feed her then nap time job done

She won't be able to last that long for either lunch or the nap.

If my 2 year old napped past 12pm he wouldn't have slept at night.

This and also rearrange your timings slightly. Doesn’t need to be so rigid by age two.

Your child doesn’t HAVE to have their lunch at 12pm. When my child was little I spent a lot of days out etc with someone I met at antenatal classes and she was so insistent that her child had to eat at exactly 12 and then nap that it was a real pain in the arse. My children ate when it was convenient depending on what we were doing and it allowed us to be very flexible about what we did.

Is this the only time you're allowed to take a toddler swimming at that pool? Ours has under 5 sessions earlier in the day

Unfortunately it probably works around more profitable times for the pool for preschool and school swimming lessons. They will get more from people paying extra for the tuition.

I can’t believe you rang a leisure centre to ask them to adjust swim times to suit your child’s nap routine.

Are you not embarrassed at your sense of entitlement?

This is mainly during term time as they will have schools using the pools for morning and afternoon sessions. Then they often roll into swimming lessons after school.

Look from next week onwards, there should be more time available during the school holidays.

You haven’t tried though

there is no need to be so rigid. Take her for thirty minutes, lunch can be a packed lunch or a snack, she can sleep in the pram or the car

I hate losing nap time to travel, I’d rather be at home getting on with some work or relaxing- but if you really want to take her swimming it’s a day a week. If you have made a whole new nickname about it, you clearly want to go?

the turtle tots/puddleducks private sessions (if they exist near you) if the local leisure centre really doesn’t work

Well, they're right. Your rigid sticking to meal and nap times is your problem, not theirs.

Start weaning her such a rigid timetable now and then take her when she's used to having lunch and a nap at different times

Yes it is the only time.

Yanbu. Our pool has adult only swimming between 1-2 which suits a lot of the swimmers. Until 3.30 it’s generally very quiet until the children arrive after school. The majority of toddlers swim in the morning.

It’s not that simple to rearrange a toddler’s schedule. Sure you can switch it around but you’ll likely have a tired, stroppy screamer and literally nobody wants that in the pool.

This was my LG nap schedule too to be fair, but it varied between friends of mine and that was only from about one and half to 3. There are younger kids and older kids who that time wouldn’t work for. YABU for calling them and discussing your nap/feed schedule though.

Yes we have tried. She just falls asleep wherever she is and then wakes up starving and jet lagged.

If we're going out somewhere for a full day we just have to wing it and hope for the best (and accept that we will probably get a crap night's sleep that night) but for a one hour swimming slot at the crappy local leisure centre it's just not worth buggering up the rest of the day.

It wouldn't matter if there were a few different times to take little ones in the kids' pool but there aren't.

It would have been fine for my 2yo

So give her something at 11:15... And the. A bit after swimming

I didn't. I rang them up to query whether there were really no other times a toddler is allowed to go swimming. And when they confirmed that was the case I said well unfortunately like many toddlers mine needs to eat and nap at that time, and it would be helpful to have more of a choice of time slots for family swimming.

I think you'll find there are plenty of kids in the pool at the noon session.

yes that’s annoying. But not nearly as annoying as the (usually pensioner age) people who turn up at family swim and determinedly try to do lengths, scowling at any kids who have the temerity to play around. They really piss me off!

My local areas pools are tailored for exercise rather than family fun too now. In my day we had the best pool and leisure centre in Scotland. Now it's gone and replaced with a ridiculous substitute centre that is a small lesson pool and a length pool. I've never taken my kids purely because it's systematic set up and with kids (with the added supervision for asd) it would be nothing but a stress and hindrance to us and other swimmers who are there to use it for purpose. We have a large fun pool with slides and waterfalls and lazy rivers a bit further afield, could you find one the same close enough perhaps?

Haha, they'll be the same ones at the GP at 8am and in the bank at 12:30.

At our local pool the only time a school aged child can go (not to an organised lesson) is on a Sunday between 12-1.30.
All the other Family times are during school hours.

Now THAT is madness.

Just found a pool in another town which has more family swim sessions so we will try that one instead!