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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think that making children at after school club do a long walk is cruel?

80 replies

theDMsaSHAMazade · 03/09/2009 20:13

am livid after going to a trial run at dd1s after school club.

The infants are expected to do a 15 minute walk through a park rife with unleashed dogs in the cold, wind and rain (and soon to come snow, sleet and hail) to the juniors site, wait in the cold for the juniors and then do a 15 minute walk back. whats making my blood boil is that the after school centre is NEXT DOOR TO the school premises- so ideally they should be dropped off at the club in 2 minutes flat , and the supervisors go and pick up the big kids up. the reason why this didn't happen- one of the childcare workers said she had to leave work early due to paperwork and so couldnt stay on the premises to watch the children!!!!!!!!!! and apparently has had this excuse for years.(this is what one of the supervisors told me.) there is a shortcut that would shorten the trip by half the time but apparently it 'failed risk assessment'. the poor children as young as 4 and 5 were freezing cold with runny noses, and one child was so tired she fell over. when they got back to the centre after a half an hour walk plus a 15 min wait at the junior site, they were all weary and exhausted with runny noses.
dd1 is only at nursery and i feel sick with dread and guilt that she'll have to go through this for a year whilst i go back to uni. she's normally exhausted after a normal full day at school, never mind this :-(
the supervisors are very unhappy about this, they say that their manager won't do anything unless a parent complains. i am going to complain and unleash my fury in writing but i don't want them to delay action as dd starts on monday. i am just feeling so awful and angry that other children have to do this, they ALL looked unhappy and apparently complain about the walk all the time. I'm also shocked that other parents haven't complained but have a strong feeling its because none of them have ever been on the route with the children before (i'm the first parent to do a trial run).
i honestly think this is child cruelty. i am just seething and needed somewhere to rant.

OP posts:
pocketmonster · 03/09/2009 21:48

hocus - I'm glad your children were ok with it, my DD wasn't and neither is the OP's.

And no not a coach, I'd prefer a minibus.

pocketmonster · 03/09/2009 21:48

hocus - that is such a pathetic post.

Ripeberry · 03/09/2009 21:53

Oh, better report me and DH to the SS then.
Our DD1 and DD2 aged 4yrs and 7yrs spent last week walking in the mountains for 6 hours!
Almost to the top of Snowdon and they still had the energy to walk all the way back.
I think it's great that they walk the kids each day...it's only 30 mins.
If its cold or raining then they need to get better coats!
No wonder kids are getting fat. If a 4yr old can climb Snowdon, then any 4yr old can walk at least a couple of miles a day.

morocco · 03/09/2009 21:54

is there another after school club you could use instead? I wouldn't be happy either - you're paying for a service and I wouldn't rank 'walking around in the cold for no particular reason other than we are understaffed' to be a great after school activity. if I had to do it with my own kids, then that's how it would have to be, it wouldn't kill them, but it sounds ridiculous that the after school club is 2 mins from their school but they have to walk round the houses to get to it. what do the other parents think about it? think you should try and get a few of them onside and complain together

pocketmonster · 03/09/2009 21:56

Ripeberry have you actually read the thread?

morocco · 03/09/2009 21:58

should add - my childminder walks our kids all over the place to pick up other mindees and I'm fine with it - good exercise and all that. but an after school club is different - they have a lot more staff and should be able to manage something more efficient.

Ripeberry · 03/09/2009 21:59

The Op should just find another after school club then, if she is that bothered.

iamdisappointedinyou · 03/09/2009 21:59

Has it occurred to you that this could backfire on you? Other parents seem to have been OK with this situation for years. If you are the only one complaining then I can imagine that the response will be, "it sounds like this doesn't suit your DD, we suggest you make alternative arrangements". Then what will you do?

AnyFucker · 03/09/2009 22:00

hocuspontas, that post was completely un-called-for

RumourOfAHurricane · 03/09/2009 22:05

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Sassybeast · 03/09/2009 22:07

Pocketmonster rolling your cyber eyes and describing the opinion of other people as pathetic does little to convince me of your lack of hysteria

mamadiva · 03/09/2009 22:08

As a qualified after school club play leader I am gobsmacked that this club is allowed to traipse this many children out with them because of under staffing.

Point is if they are under staffed inside then they are most certainly under staffed outdoors which is both dangerous and illegal!

I would'nt say there is a problem with the 30 minute walk but the fact it could be avoided makes me wonder if they are hiding it as a kind of excercise plan either that or they are lying about staff numbers if it is the latter then a complaint may hold up but if it's under an after school excercise plan then you will be told it's part of their policies.

IMHO though we would not have done this unless we really had too because as you say grumpy, tired and most likely still in the 'frightened stage' of school children are not going to be happy being dragged around.

So getting to the point I do think YABU by getting so wound up about it at the end of the day you don't need to send your child there but I would say YANBU by worrying about how the children feel about this, not abusive or anything but less face it they are probably rather reluctant!

pocketmonster · 03/09/2009 22:12

Sassy - I like the idea of rolling my cyber eyes!

ThingOne · 03/09/2009 22:13

YANBU to complain at bad organisation but they will not take you seriously if you take anything like the tone you took in your OP.

YABU to think a thirty minute walk is cruel. Are you in the UK? There are very few parts of the UK where a thirty minute walk in suitable clothing would be cruel for a school age child. If they are cold they need better clothes. It's good for them to do lots of exercise and to be outside lots.

I would have thought the same rule applies to after school clubs as it does to other forms of childcare. If you don't like it, choose something else.

LauraIngallsWilder · 03/09/2009 22:15

I agree with the op in that I wouldnt be happy about this

But a 30 minute walk isnt a LONG walk and neither is it cruelty

I must be a cruel and heartless mother, my kids walk for 20-30 minutes twice each day whatever the weather - torrential rain, snow whatever It doesnt do them any harm

But if I was paying for them to be at after school club I would want them to be playing games or drawing etc - I wouldnt want them to be trudging back and forth

NeedCoffee · 03/09/2009 22:15

I can understand where you're coming from, and also realise you're not objecting to the actual exercise (I think) but more the fact that your child will be tired after school and a gaggle of kids walking a 30 minute round trip probably isn't going to appeal to all children.

How about you make a suggestion, that the ASC provide someone to be able to sit in with the children to chose not to go to the junior school, and those that do, can go. I find it a bit strange though tbh, the ones round here all set off at the same time to go to the different schools that they pick the kids up from.

cazzybabs · 03/09/2009 22:17

my childen stay kate at school and then cycle home..YABU...

mu great aunt had to walk 5 miles to and from and school everyday..she died at 103

sorry but I think you are being silly...get your child a good coat

cheesesarnie · 03/09/2009 22:19

my poor dc.we walk 30 minutes to get to school in the morning.at lunchtime ds2 then does it again.and then at 3pm ds2 and i walk up again then we all(me,dd,ds1 and ds2)walk back.again.

ds2 is 3 and walks for 2 hours a day in total just back and forth to school.

i am a cruel mother.yabu.
exercise is good for you!

mamadiva · 03/09/2009 22:24

I don't think the OP is complaining about the actual excercise.

I think it is more about the fact that it could be avoided and that because of under staffing these children are being dragged out for no reason on a trip that should not take that long in the first place.

As I say they are either lying about staff numbers to commision or they are saying it is a fitness program which could be deemed fair enough apart from the fact that fitness programs in after school clubs are supposed to be voluntary!

morocco · 03/09/2009 22:25

good grief cheesesarnie - that's a lot of walking!

cheesesarnie · 03/09/2009 22:27

oooh i see!

they dont mind the walking at all,its me who moans!

LauraIngallsWilder · 03/09/2009 22:30

OP I would complain on the grounds that after school club should be just that a 'club' to do fun stuff after school

Walking in crocodile with loads of other kids isnt really appropriate imho

Id definately get your kids walking more often if you think a 30 minute walk is a long way (at a medium childs pace thats a mile)

My dd is 5, she can walk a mile in 20 mins, same speed as me

Quattrocento · 03/09/2009 22:34

Gosh, a walk in the park is child cruelty?

Report me now ...

alwayslookingforanswers · 03/09/2009 22:38

well my DS's had to walk 1/2hr to and from school every day - and DS2 had just started reception. Several of their friends walk for longer than that each day - we're all cruel

alwayslookingforanswers · 03/09/2009 22:39

Laura - by the time we left the house we lived in DS2 (who was 5) could do the mile to school in 12 minutes , started off at about 20 and quickly got to an average of 15 lol

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