Bub 2 dancing with the Mini Club kids at Club Med Yabuli.
I love time with my kids however they can be exhausting, and without time to re-charge we all suffer. Many resorts and hotels offer kids club programs that, depending on the child’s age may provide fantastic activities or a nurturing safe place for smaller children (and sometimes babies) to be cared for. We have used kids clubs a couple of times to the benefit of both my boys and myself. Our most positive kids club experience was at Club Med Yabuli in China. I always want to be sure though that I have responsibly assessed the suitability of any kids club my little ones might attend. The best way to do this is to approach the resort or hotel prior to your visit. The following checklist is one suggested by Childwise in their booklet “A parent’s guide to choosing child safe organizations.”
- Is there a well advertised member/child protection policy which is given to parents/staff?
- Is there a well advertised code of conduct?
- Are staff/volunteers screened? eg. police checks, reference checks
- Do staff/volunteers receive regular training?
- Is there a grievance or complaints policy?
- Are parents welcome at any time?
- Are children asked for their ideas and suggestions?
- Are your children aware of any personal safety strategies?
I would also suggest asking whether the carers have been trained in first aid and whether they are qualified childcare workers. If the answer is no to any of these questions I would give the kids club a miss. You should also ask what the child to carer ratio is to ensure there will be adequate supervision according to the age of your child.
As well as these questions I also want to know that the physical environment of the kids club is safe, and so always inspect it for hazards myself before leaving my child there.
Find other great travel tips at Travel Tips Tuesday over at Suitcases and Sippy Cups and Walking on Travels.
My hubby would never agree to put the kids in the resort Kids Club when they were little. If I’d gone through this checklist, he may have considered it. Now, they’re all old enough (7-13 years old) that hubby is less protective, and we actually get a little alone time on trips.
It’s funny how families differ. In mine I am the protective one. We actually put our kids in a kids club once for only an hour while we had dinner, and were horrified at the situation when we went back. I think if I had this checklist then I wouldn’t have put them there in the first place.
I have not so positive feelings about Kids Clubs thanks to some not so great experiences. This is a good list of what to look for and what to ask to be sure they are safe places.
That sounds really worrying Jessica. We had one negative experience ourselves.Rather than write them off I decided I needed a strategy to assess whether all was above board, if only to get 2 hours of quiet time.