To loathe toddler music/dance/tumbling classes and never take DS again?

[YankNCock]

Am I just grumpy? Does anyone enjoy or even feel neutral about these things? I only took him because other mums were banging on about how much their DC enjoyed these classes.

First we tried the one about climbing all over stuff. Maniacal women with fixed grins but unsmiling eyes shouting 'YAAAAAAYYYY!' at top volume. DS, normally very outgoing/friendly/can't-keep-him-away-from-strangers wouldn't go near them and clung to me through 5 sessions before we gave up.

Then we tried the music/movement one with the stupid doll (buy your own stupid doll for £12, oh no, it's not all about selling crap ). The woman running it is a proper loon. Her CD player was on so loud, DS would startle every time she turned it on. Again with the maniacal fixed grin, ridiculously loud voice, forced cheerfulness. Made it to 3 of those before giving up as DS wouldn't move from my lap (this is NOT normal behaviour for him!).

Went to a birthday party today where the latter had been hired for entertainment. From what I could tell, at least half the kids and most of the parents hated it. DS hardly smiled and just looked overwhelmed the entire time.

That's it really, I hate these things. I can appreciate it must be a hard job to do, but I really think a lot of kids would enjoy it more if they toned down the fake cheerfulness, crazy grinning, and general volume that seems to be the norm.

Keep trying. There are some odd ones I agree but we have now found the besets music one which dd adores.

Even the odd ones got us out of the house in the early days though which was good for me.

This has made me giggle on a Monday Morning.

YANBU - I know just what you mean about these classes. I have been to a couple of brilliant ones with the DC over the years (sing and sign and dinky dancers) but most of them classes are franchised and the quality depends completely on the talents of your particular class leader.

I have found the main advantage of this type of class is that there is something specific to do and everyone joins in together, as opposed to church hall type toddler groups, which can be a bit lonely unless you go with a friend.

Also, if you don't have tons of local family and friends it is good to go out and do something structured.

YANBU. We went through a few of these types of classes and DS1 hated them, until we found one run by a lovely lady - her own business and not a franchise. She is a qualified music teacher and also works in a local special school, so was very aware of the different needs of the children. DS2 is going too now and really enjoying it. We also liked baby sensory and DS1 goes to a council run tumble tots type thing - it's cheaper and more chilled out and now he's three I don't have to go in with him any more

We've been to a few of these, including the one with the 'stupid doll' . I think it really depends on the person running the class. We must have been lucky as the worst experience we had was with a slightly uninterested class leader, I think she might have had better things to do than entertain a handful of toddlers! The class we go to now is brilliant, the woman running it is as far from inane as you can get. She's quite strict in a way, a good way though. I love going and so does DD. We do organised stuff 3/4 times a week and just do park/river/woods walk on other days. Seems to work out.

To be honest most of the time I see the flyer go "HOW MUCH?!" And don't go.

But now DD is a bit older and a proper toddler she really enjoys non-manic slightly structured singing/dancing along sessions, so I take her to library/sure start/church group sessions and she loves them. (They are also miles cheaper).

I hate most classes but my DD loves them and gets loads out of them so we continue to go.

Oh dear, I'm probably one of the women you see shouting Yay with dead eyes.

Rest assured I really am crying inside

I'm with BsshBossh on this. It would be a push to say that I enjoy these classes but the tumbling one tires DD1 out and the singing one lets me sit and feed DD2 while DD1 practices her withering sneer. By far her favourite was the signing one but she's outgrown that now. She's quite shy and while we do tend to have one or two playdates a week, we don't know that many people locally to fill up a whole week. This is quite a good way for her to get some structured activity in a small, controlled environment where I don't have to keep running after her. It also helps structure our day, as we always try to get out in the morning, and the classes are in the morning too, and gives me the assurance that we WILL get out of the house this week even if the weather's horrendous.

Agree they're not for everyone though. I have friends who prefer soft play or playgroups and we do those two. They all tend to be heaving as the weather turns though.

Central heating, snot and chicken pox-tastic.

we've had to stop going to a local tumble tots type place as he hated it.

We are going to Jo Jingles on Thursday. I have a 3 for £10 offer. If he doesn't like it then we'll stop.

We go to toddlers once a week. It's ok, he likes it & most of the parents are ok.

Trouble is, he gets really bored so I'm trying to do stuff with him. He's 2 and a half.

Some parents though, why are they so loud?! I am not interested in what you are doing with your child. I will not give you a round of applause!

There is one where I live (I went for a trial) where I swear the leaders are all hoping to get talent spotted by C-beebies. It's like Tumbletots on crack.

not unreasonable at all, i went to one this morning with ds4 who is 3 and dd who is 9mths, it was HIDEOUS, loud and very full on, ds4 refused to join in and dd buried her head in my shoulder the whole time.

it also was frequented by um an interesting group of mothers, who obviously all knew each other and they insisted on talking the whole way through the group, making more noise than the kids, there was also a mother and her daughter there who were wearing MATCHING disney clothes and the little girl was called Ariel!! i mean WHY, just WHY.

tbf it was free and is run by surestart, so i cant complain about cost tho.

I hated them, neither of my children have 'missed out' because they have things to bash, things to climb and music to dance to at home.

I'm sure some kids get a lot out of these sessions, and though I won't tar every parent with the same brush and say its full of helicopter mums with no imagination, the 3 classes I tried were.... ugh.

I enjoyed the baby signing taster session, but on the other hand, both my babies have been very good at communication without offical gestures. I found it interesting, looking back I'm not sure if either of my boys actually cared!

YANBU. We get on much better at the casual "Drop in and Play" than we do at the organised Musical Mini's etc.

The maniacal grin is down to the Hokey-Kokey. Every group plays the Hokey-Kokey at some point and these poor women must listen to it every day, several times a day.

It gets into their heads without them noticing, like a brain worm and eventually it just plays constantly, getting faster and faster and faster on a never ending loop. They have to shout at people because otherwise they can't make themselves heard over the silent to everyone else warp-speed hokey-kokey playing in their brain. The grin is the Hokey-Kokey's self defence mechanism. It stops them mouthing the words "help me" and getting the help they need to live Hokey-Kokeyless lives.

In all honesty I think it is like most things child-related. Do it if it suits you, don't if it doesn't. Expect to judge and be judged whatever you decide

YANBU at all. My DC only did this stuff with nursery [guilt] - but I am willing to bet that the ones they did were non-maniac led as the nursery leaders would have thumped them.

Certainly no need to do something every day - what you need is a like-minded friend to do coffee and general small-person rioting with occasionally.

I take my DD to a music and movement class once a week. Its pretty naff, very expensive and the woman who runs it is one of those smiling maniacs... but my DD loves it. Once a week is enough, though!

I have to say, its the bad-coffee-in-a-cold-church-hall playgroups that I cannot force myself to do.

i agree. we went to tumbletots twice and that was 2 times too many