To think children generally enjoy holiday clubs?

[letsgoonabughunt]

Do children enjoy holiday clubs?

I keep seeing them promoted on social media and they sound like they offer amazing activities. But I’m unsure if it’s just the blurb if you like - would most kids prefer to be home with a parent?

Well, three pages of mostly pleasant and interesting responses would suggest otherwise. Maybe move on? I really hate it when people are nitpicky for no reason.

I posted upthread saying mine does enjoy them

She goes to one holiday club that's part of a nursery. So an unstructured one. I think it's really good. They've got good facilities in my opinion. Snooker/pool table. Nintendo switches. A good outside area. And other things to do of course. One time over Easter they got a lamb in visiting!

The other one she goes to is a sporty one where they do lots of different sports all day which is the type of thing she can really get into and she like the physical sporty stuff. They do wet Wednesdays in the warmer weather and the one she goes to has a swimming pool on site so some days they go in the swimming pool.

It's a lot of money but for example I couldn't replicate those experiences to be honest. And she's the type of girl that needs to be active as well which the sporty one definitely does. So I do think they do her good. And she can be with her friends (most of the time some people she knows are there). And in a way it'll be a bit sad when she stops going due to age.

My son was generally OK with them and yes would of preferred to stay at home but me or my husband have never really wfh, maybe an odd day but we had to have childcare in place to wfh. There so many school holidays ds had to go really. We don't have lots of family to look after him

I've yet to meet a child who would choose a holiday club every day over staying home with a parent, unless they had an unhappy home life.

But what can you do? Parents need to work.

My DC really enjoyed them. They were lucky enough not to go every day though, so maybe 2-3 days a week for 2 weeks in the summer say and maybe 2-3 days of the Easter holidays. They were pretty sociable kids though and used to enjoy the variety of activities. Primary age only.

To be fair some parents have no choice for childcare in the school holidays.

My ds hated them, fortunately I don’t have to use them anymore. My dd tolerated them but she is a lot more easy going and makes friends easily. Neither of them would ask to go though. Maybe if they go with friends there is more desire to go?

I'm not being nit-picky. At least not deliberately. Apologies again if you think I am.
You obviously have a reason for asking.
I was attempting to help but I guess whatever I say isn't going to be what you want to hear.
Apologies again. I didn't mean any offence.
I will leave you alone now.
💐

Mine probably wouldn’t choose to go to holiday clubs every day of the holidays, but she’d choose to go some days. She likes to play with children her own age (not younger siblings and cousins) and she likes many of the activities on offer.

My children tried them but didn’t like them on the whole. They found them too noisy and said a lot of the kids didn’t listen to the adults, behaved badly etc.

They preferred being with us, whether we were doing something exciting or just chilling at home. They also liked to stay in bed later in the holidays.

My eldest granddaughter (11) is very academic, hates sports except swimming, very mature for her age, hates clubs. It's the regularity of them. She likes one-three day activities. Used to like the art/craft library sessions. Likes the cookery classes on holiday.
My youngest granddaughter is very sociable. She struggles with academic work and has dyspraxia. But she's kind, likes younger children to look after and likes to join in. At 8 she still likes soft play. I take her to a park in a lower income area, which she prefers, because the children play with each other. She would really miss the company of other children over the summer holidays, without stuff to go to.

DS1 loved them. He came home all bouncy and glowing, even though it was no picnic gettIng him out the door. DS2 HATED them. It was like trying to move the immovable object. He went out grumpy and came home grumpy. Weird because he’s better at making friends than his brother. Just hates ‘organised fun’. Cynical wee so and so🤣

My brother and I both hated them. He wanted to be with mum and I had extreme social anxiety. I’ve never even tried to get my own kids into them…

But most of my friends loved them. I know many of my own kids’ friends love them. It’s down to how outgoing and sociable your kid is.

I think it depends on the child. I viscerally hated holiday clubs, with a couple of exceptions, but many of my friends loved them!

I'm autistic, and I found the group activities, games, and socialising embarrassing and uncomfortable. At one club I was lucky that the staff were happy to let me sit at the table and draw, but otherwise I dreaded the whole experience. I was surrounded by people I didn't know, who were mostly loving the whole thing, while I felt like an odd-one-out trying to force myself to join in and look like I was enjoying it. Of course I would have preferred to be home with a parent, but my single mother was working full-time and my grandparents needed a break every now and then. It certainly didn't give her any joy to send me there knowing I didn't like them, so I never had to go back to the same group two years in a row if I really hated it. Instead I kept trying new ones, and it kept me supervised and occupied while my mother was at work.

The exceptions were an art club I did for two weeks one summer at primary age, where we did different art activities in the mornings and afternoons. Everything was solo, and we could chat comfortably as we drew, painted, and sculpted. The second exception was a drama club when I was a pre-teen, which had games and group activities but took everything a bit more seriously. I never felt like I was embarrassing myself to participate, and we ended the two weeks with a performance we'd developed around the year's theme. I went back to the art club for two years and the drama club for three years, and I would have kept going if the clubs hadn't stopped running for various reasons. All of that is to say that I'd imagine most children would be able to find some kind of club they enjoy, even if it's not most of them!

I used them as a threat…, that is, If you don’t behave, you’ll be going to the kid’s club

My child loved the sports based ones. Whereas his best friend preferred the language ones. It very much depends on the child.

We generally only used them when we were working so they were a necessity. It wasn’t a choice between stay at home with a parent having fun or going to holiday club.

What's a holiday club?

My dd1 enjoyed the very specific ones - we chose things she liked the look of eg a cooking course, netball improvers, bouldering. Her absolute favourite was the one watersports centre and happily went every summer until age 14! At primary she also really liked it when I organised for her to be with friends at the multi activity camp at the local private school - it has a great pool and they had good drama activities and “one offs” like hiring a massive inflatable or a load of kids go-karts.

My ds has tried and likes an outdoor bushcraft club, a coding and Lego club, golf with a friend, and a sports one that does great group activities like water fights and Nerf wars in summer weather. He detests the one in his school which is truly just “Parking” despite the young people running it being very sweet and fun.

My son did much more than my daughter, though she’s always been very shy. She always went with him though, as when she went to secondary, I was at home for 18 months due to covid and then she stayed home alone. My son is very sporty and loved the sports centre clubs.

What do your kids think of them OP? Or are you in a quandary whether to send them or not?

None of that was in your OP.... we aren't all mind readers

DS1 was very sporty so was happy with anything that kept him active. He was an only child for nearly ten years so he liked the social aspect too - he would even ask to go to a sailing one in France where pretty much nobody spoke English if we were there on holiday!

With the younger ones I found there was often a few hours of something decent if it was a themed club but before and after the main activity it was babysitting and neither child was keen and luckily I didn’t need the childcare at that
point.

You would have gotten better responses if you’d asked all those questions at the start. My kids both enjoyed the school club when they were younger. They went to after school club so they were familiar with the staff and other kids and they usually had a friend around. They went on trips a couple times a week and did all sorts of activities. It worked for us as it was full day care.

After Covid we started working hybrid so we had more freedom around care - could more easily do the more specialised ones that weren’t full day. My son loved a week of Lego camp, wasn’t fond of football camp, liked some zoo days he did with a friend. My daughter loved acro camp, dance camp and an art camp - she still wants to do that one at 13. They did both outgrow the school camp by p5, I think because it has a lot of younger kids so they have to structure activities to suit everyone. My son in particular does better with his age or older children.

I got really interesting and thoughtful responses.

Honestly, not trying to be awkward but no idea what the issue is: most people were able to work out that I didn’t want individuals to give generic responses based on what they think about most children and gave me anecdotes about their own children, or ones they know well.

All the thread was based on was me browsing Facebook and saw a few holiday clubs promoting their Easter ones. They sounded amazing and I wondered if my own children were missing out. I asked on here if most children enjoyed them.

Thing is @BudgetBuster you say ‘we aren’t mind readers’ but about 90% of the responses are, or at least were able to understand the question wasn’t literal. I don’t think posters should have to use hundreds of words in a post so the lowest denominator can understand.

when my 2 used to do them: expensive, niche ones that fit their interests- liked. Multi-sports/activity ones that were inexpensive when you think about it - hated. Makes a massive difference if their friends are there.