Reflections on a busy summer
This has been our first summer as a Hive. The early days of my role were spent welcoming families into the Hive and getting to grips with all the new systems and paperwork. Quite quickly we were nearly full with a variety of different families and children of all ages.
Once the summer holidays were on the horizon, I knew that it would be really important to offer my families support at this time. Children and carers can find the lack of structure in school holidays a challenge. It can also be very expensive to keep planning activities to keep everyone happy. I planned weekly activity days, some local and a few further afield, and sent out details to the Hive members. Most were low cost (or even free!) and I tried to cover all the ages.
One of our first days was a meet up at our local park. We all brought picnics and the children played together. It went really well, and we stayed long after the original end time.
In the following weeks we went to Moors Valley and Finkley Down Farm Park as well as a few more trips to the local park. The children cemented friendships and the adults offered support to each other and enjoyed a little bit of a breather while the children were occupied playing.
As well as these activities we had a Family Fun Day with the Basingstoke Hive. We hired a Community Centre and invited the children to come along and get involved in arts and crafts as well as sports. They made their own pizza for lunch and spent some time chilling on the playing field. The adults enjoyed the chance to chat, and several did a bit of art and craft themselves – very therapeutic!
It was a bit sad when the holidays came to an end and the normal routines took over. I am already planning things to do in the Christmas break, and it has been lovely to hear that the children have kept in contact with each other. The Hives are definitely helping foster families to support each other and enabling children to find new friends.