Putting My 2 Year old in Kids Club on Holiday

[dor77]

Hi All,

I'm off on holiday in May and my 2 year old will be 34 months, too young for the 3-5 year old kids clubs "officially" but does anyone have any experience of puting a child in these clubs if they are just under the official age?
She goes to nursery 3 times a week and is with the 3 year olds there and joins in all of the activities there with them and if I put her in creche (as I did before) she will become bored very quickly?

Not sure if you have to complete paperwork etc and have official documents to prove the ages?

Would love any opinions or help? :)

Can't really answer properly as my 23mo was clearly too young for the 4-12 kids' club when we went away last year - however she was allowed to join in if I stayed with her. I had to fill out forms for dd1 (7) but no-one checked the details.

Oh thats good. The last one I went to they wouldnt entertain the idea even if I stayed with her

pretty sure kids club wont be packed to the rafters in May so likely to be more flexible, if not just ask one of the kids club staff if they would like to get paid for an extra shift, because as its may, none of them will be on full hours yet..

I've worked as a kids rep , we had strict rules about ages and if you turned 3 during your holiday you couldn't come to club untill the day of your birthday . I don't ever recall having a younger child stay with a parent - but then we had a creche that started at 12months . If there is a creche you will be told to use it , as its highly likley that you will have to pay extra for creche whereas kids club is already paid for .

popflos I worked for F.Choice and we were not allowed to 'work' for parents - even if it is low season .
If kids club is run by the hotel animation team - they will have 'activities' to run out of kids club hours (but then from experience I don't think they are as strict on ages to start with )

It'll depend on the owners/management of the club, the terms of their insurance and any legal requirements in the country where it is located.

They may be diligent about checking and keeping good records of the children under their care, or they may be totally lax. UK parents tend to prefer the former, so I think it is more likely a club will be strict. Especially if you attempt to pre-book, as your DD's age may be more apparent on paperwork than in person.

But it's possible that if you just drop in, and she is not particularly small, they might not ask.

I wouldn't count on there being spare staff to try to employ one-to-one: they will have arranged staffing to fit likely demand and will bring in more staff for the main school holiday weeks. If linked to tour companies, they will know the ages of children booked for holidays and will tailor staff levels to that.

When we registered ds for first choice kids club they had his details already so it all tied in with our booking which included his date of birth. That was just last month. They already know the ages of the children so I am not sure hoping to bluff it will work.

Plus what if there was an accident?

Gregs is right - the kids reps get copies of the rooming lists so they can prepare the arrivals list each week .That list contains ages (children and sometimes adults ) pre-booked creche sessions , requests for ground floor rooms etc. We would ask to see the passport if parents brought a child to kids club that was on our creche list .
Its the same with the other groups - we weren't allowed to let a 5 year old join siblings in the 6-8yr group .Although as long as there are spaces available older siblings can come to the younger group .

Just a thought dor77 ( don't know why this didn't cross my mind before)- As its not high season , there maybe a chance that some creche sessions are empty . If you book your little one in on an empty session that runs alongside the 3plus group ask if they can take her into the club to play . Our creche nanny sometimes did this with an older child and if the 3-6 group wasn't overly boistrous .

Thanks for all of your replies, I guess I hadnt really thought of her name appearing on the Room lists. I put her in the Creche last year and pre paid before resort, unfortunately she was the only toddler, the other children were babes in arms and she was bored and hated going. I think I will book in resort this time so I know how many children are there and what ages they are.

And ds got mail to the room. Invite to kids club meeting, drawing and colouring stuff which was all age appropriate so they must know.

dor - could you swap your holiday to a resort with facilities specific to that age group? e.g mark warner, neilsons etc?

or another idea - you could spend the special holiday time together. Don't think I am being provocative but I think when they get to 5yrs upwards they can benefit from kids clubs for couple of hours but at your child age they really just want to be with you - in the pool/on the beach etc. Enjoy your holiday time together - before you know it children grow up. K.

it is a bit rude of you to make that comment katiewins22. You don't know the op's circumstances. We used kids club so dh and i could spend time together alone. we don't have family so no babysitters without weeks of notice for my cousin to travel.

hello sausageroll - thanks for comment but actually was not intending to be rude and didnt make any assumptions about circumstances. What I said was whether the child would enjoy/benefit from time in club - just an opinion and i think a valid one considering the age of the child and the fact that OP has stated child would not benefit much from being with young age group which they fall into. I recall using a kids club once when my oldest was 4 and I spent half of the time checking the time and walking along near the club to see iif all ok - from then on didn't bother and we had just as good a time.

Not making judgements just offering considered opinion.

Lots of people don't have family or babysitters - our situation is the same. K.

Hi Thanks for your comments. I do spend lots of time with my daughter but she is a sociable child who likes being with other children. As an only child I think interaction with other children is important for her and want to encourage her social skills. Stilla I like your idea of asking if the Creche will run alongside the kids club and might email them and ask if that may be an option.