structured activities in the kids club?

[conandrob240]

I’ll bet 90% of the time the only person who wanted them to be together was the parent. The kids were probably fine apart just like they are in school all year

 

[conandrob240]

I can say from my observations as a parent and schoolteacher that while that is true for plenty of kids, it isn't true for "most kids". There are plenty (not just a small minority) who would have a hard time in an environment like the Club & Lab without a sibling or parent there to smooth the way.

From my experience in these clubs over 20 years, I disagree. Most kids don’t need their parent or sibling hovering around. Nor do they need them all day long in school. They do just fine and learn valuable skills of social interaction

I might agree with your “plenty” comment if we were talking about the clubs as they exist today. If they were separated according to small age ranges of 2-3 years with structured, age-appropriate activity most would be fine. Just like most are fine in school

 

[cheshie6]

From my experience in these clubs over 20 years, I disagree. Most kids don’t need their parent or sibling hovering around. Nor do they need them all day long in school. They do just fine and learn valuable skills of social interaction

I might agree with your “plenty” comment if we were talking about the clubs as they exist today. If they were separated according to small age ranges of 2-3 years with structured, age-appropriate activity most would be fine. Just like most are fine in school

I will say this is more what I was hoping for. When we first did DCL, this was how it was! Plus rather than having to shuffle them between 2 rooms for stuff, I'd only look at say the club or lab for activities for my child's age range. Why not list some activities with age ranges? Like Human BINGO (best for kids 5 and up), not to say that others can't do it but that it's an activity not meant for 3 year olds. Thus you could plan a day with your child a little bit easier instead of them finding out upon entry to that activity that it's an activity that's "too ____" (young/old) for them.

 

[conandrob240]

Parents convenience caused a great program to turn into a chaotic, jumbled mess. Because so many parents insisted their angels stay together, they went to a model like this. And it doesn’t work. It’s chaotic, many kids not really knowing to pay attention and find the activities they want. I think what happens now is just a bunch of kids running around, watching tv or playing video games. It’s not children’s programming anymore. It’s a big day care center.

On the other hand, NCL has age- appropriate activities that the whole group joins in. They will let them stay tot he side and draw or something if the kid really hates the activity but generally, they encourage all the kids to do the activity. They get to know the kids. They even prepare an entire show that all of the kids take part in. RCCL is similar structure and a great experience. Now, if only those two lines had Castaway Cay, then I’d never look back!

 

[gotomu212]

The Open Houses are what really threw a wrench in everything in my opinion. Before those it seemed like the kids really did self select into their own age group clubs. Occasionally there was crossover when a kid would be in a different club, but just based on the activities kids typically went to the Club if younger or Lab if older.

Open Houses though throw everyone in the same room regardless of interests, and in our experience those areas are beyond packed while everyone in secured programming is in one spot. I understand the need for some Open House time, but the new model has a lot of time every day where the Clubs are just one big mob.

We did find out that if your child is old enough to have self check out they can be in the Open House section without a parent. That was really nice since the Open House room would have maybe 20 kids in it. That only works though if you have an 8 year old or older (and are comfortable with them having self checkout).

 

[conandrob240]

Yes, the Open Houses also caused the issue. I think 8 is pretty young for sign out privileges. Even for our rule-following oldest one, I wouldn’t have allowed it that young.

 

[gotomu212]

Yes, the Open Houses also caused the issue. I think 8 is pretty young for sign out privileges. Even for our rule-following oldest one, I wouldn’t have allowed it that young.

It worked well for us, but I understand that every kid and everyone’s comfort level is different.

 

[Ravenclaw78]

Everyone's kids are different. Ours thrives in unstructured, age-mixed environments. She'd have been bored to tears if she were only allowed to interact with kids in her age group and forced to participate in a laundry list of structured "age-appropriate" activities. She had no difficulty keeping an ear out for most of the things she wanted to do, and if she got distracted doing an art project or playing a video game and missed something, that was fine too because she was still doing something she enjoyed. Our problem was getting her to leave the Club at all, not finding fun things for her to do while she was there.

 

[conandrob240]

Nah, they're not structured like you are describing. It’s not like school.

The point is the stuff used to be more age appropriate and not a bunch of baby games for 10 yr olds. And you aren’t sticking 4 year olds with 11year olds.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I think the way Princess handles is is good. If parents want their kids together, the younger one isn't aged up, the older one has to age down. Yeah, that doesn't go over very well with the older child.

 

[southerngirl528]

Personally, I think they had more structured & organized activities when they had the split age groups (younger kids in the Club, older kids in the Lab). Combining the age groups made this more difficult. But I understand why they made the change as parents wanted their kids to stay together.

As a mom of 3 and with little grands, I VERY much agree with this.