A Safe Haven For Your Child After School
After-School Child Care Clubs & Activities
Many of us worry about our teenagers and what they are getting up to, for sadly in today’s world there are many problems teenagers can encounter when just hanging out on the streets. Younger teenagers can feel peer pressure from older ones and will often be led into crime, smoking, drinking and sometimes even drugs. So what options are open to parents with teenage children to help keep them off the streets and out of trouble?
Youth clubs
Most towns or local estates will have a youth club, these are generally run by volunteers who are often parents themselves who will provide a few hours of entertainment and a place for your teenager to go perhaps two or three times a week.
If you are lucky some clubs will open every night, clubs will have equipment such as TV’s and video recorders where your child can watch a movie and some will offer various team sports in which your child can take part in.
Most youth clubs will have a snack bar for your child to purchase soft drinks and snacks and clubs such as these will normally charge a minimal fee to help towards costs.
If the youth club is run by your local council then these will usually work out dearer and you may have to book your child in, in advance. Council run clubs will usually offer a wider range of activities and sometimes trips to leisure centers and they often have a sports team such as a football team or badminton team.
Youth clubs are generally open from about 6.00pm to 9.30pm and your child will have to make their own way to club and back home in most cases if you can’t take them and bring them back yourself. Some youth clubs will take any child from the age of 11 to 16, others will split children into different age groups over different nights.
Skateboard and Bike parks
Due to the increasingly popularity in skateboarding and biking, some councils have built skateboard and bike specific parks, these are specially designed areas where your child can go and meet with other children and ride in safety without endangering themselves or annoying other people.
Some are small and cheap and built on nothing more than rough land while others are more elaborate and costlier and will feature such obstacles as ramps and jumps. Children usually have to pay to use these facilities and they will be open for a few hours after school, the children will have someone to supervise them and make sure of their safety and the parks are inspected to meet safety standards.
Some parks of this type are open all year round but some only during the summer months, during school holiday times and weekends the parks are often open all day and are available to use on an hourly or two hourly basis.
Sports clubs and activities provided by school
Most junior schools now provide after school clubs in some form or other, these clubs are run by the teachers and will be run in school. These are usually split into various activities such as music lessons, art and crafts, reading clubs, chess clubs and drama.
Outside activities such as football, rugby and basketball are also generally offered for the sport oriented child. The clubs will usually last for roughly 1 and ½ to 2 hours and will not cost the parent anything.
Schools will often have team sports such as football or basketball and children will play in a league with other schools and train on certain nights of the week for a couple of hours. If your child is in such a team and they are playing away at another school then the parent is often invited to attend the match and give support.
