that i think the gym tots i enrolled in is unpleasant and not somewhere i would want to take my child to again

[MamaMaiasaura]

I enrolled ds2 in the 0-2 gym tots, envisaging a lot of fun playing on soft stuff and trampolines and tunnels etc. I thought it would be about letting the little ones explore and perhaps a little bit of organised song time.

Started last week and it was ds's first time at anything like this. To start they have a little song in a circle, which was nice. They split the room into 4 areas and the children must go on the equipment following a specific route and not leave their area till 5 minutes elapsed. They then have to form a train and wait to go to the next area. Where it goes on. To finish it all off they have another song time with sticks and actions.

Sounds rather pleasant.... until you realise that your 14 month old doesnt want to follow the route and wants to look around and see what it is all about. THe woman in my area said its fine and natural for them to want to explore. So off he goes, me in tow and picks up a rubber ring. The main instructor then rushes up, removes ring from ds's grip and states that this is all about discipline my jaw nearly hit the floor and i was at a loss what polite thing i could say. She said that the children 'must' do as we want regardless whether they want to and thats how they will learn. I was so cross as that is not what i signed him up for. I thought i'd let it go as maybe i mistook her. She made other comments through the session not just to me. She said that its better than weight watchers, comments several times that i would get hot (had long sleeved t-shirt on), commented on me breastfeeding, commented on everything...

THis week i gave it another shot as i thought it could have been me or just a bad day. In the changing room other mothers said about her too, she calls one of the babies fattie, lump etc, another she says needs a haircut and discipline (20 months), and it goes on. They also have uniform to wear.

Ds2 really didnt like it, he didnt want to go around the course after the second time and just wanted milk and a cuddle. He was crying and very upset. We are sat feeding and she comes and sits next to me when i said he is not enjoying himself and wants a feed. She then said she'll take him around and went to take him (I am feeding him) to which i said No thank you. She then tries again and says he'll enjoy it to which i said more firmly 'no, I am his mother and he doesnt want to' She then made comment that is he nearly done etc. I said (after taking a deep breath), he really doesnt like it much and i dont think this is for him. I then broached last weeks comments and said that i felt this level of organisation and discipline is beyond most 2 and belows and that i really thought it would be more fun for them. There were at least 4 other children crying. SHe said that due to having 18 cildren and 4 workers it had to be organised like this due to health and safety and would refund me. I said i am likely to take her up on this but will go away and think it over. She said that she would like us to come again and she does want ds2 to enjoy it and would try and not be so rigid.. but this whole focus on discipline concerns me at such a young age. Am i being completely unreasonable? Will be off for a bit, nap time and school run etc will check back tonight.

No, I'd take the refund and run!! Unless of course you feel like spending a lot of time helping them to restructure etc, if you do want to, then you could suggest a free term for your little one in exchange for your help?!

I took the LO when she was about 17 months to a Tumble Tots session, it was so awful we didn't go back. It wasn't the kind I'd been to before, that's for sure. It was fairly structured, they were meant to go around in a circuit kind of thing (which I and most other parents kind of ignored, let them wander to what the children wanted) and they did try to make her do things she didn't want to (I just kept saying 'No thanks, she's fine, it's her first time'). But the worst of it was they kept having 'circle time', so you'd go and join the circle, sing a song or two, then go off again... repeatedly. Which, put like this doesn't sound that bad, but when you have around 15 small children and accompanying adults, by the time you've done this about 6 times, the session is over, the children are well confused (are we singing or climbing) and are a bit wound up because they didn't really get to play on anything for more than a couple of minutes and spent more time walking back and forward to this bloody 'circle time'... twas very odd. I didn't like their attitude much either, they asked me what I thought, so I told them (very nicely!!), they didn't say much, so we voted with our feet and didn't go back again.

I can't wait until it's not a quagmire at our local park!! Bring on summer!! (We do go now, but it's all so slippery and a bit dangerous really, so we mostly go to soft play places).

Under 2 children are not ready for organised activity, My husband runs Playball classes for children aged 2 and over for the simple reason that you would be simply be ripping parents off to take money to teach organised sport to an under 2 year old.
If your going to take children under the age of 2 you have to be prepared for chaos and as a parent of a 20 month old if i was paying for an activity for him i would expect that it should be age appropriate in order for him to do it, they are simply not emotionally ready. It makes me furious as they are simply taking money from parents for nothing and some parents anxious as there is always a couple of children that can manage the activities and parents naturally compare.

Crokky - what a nightmare, poor kids!!

Justcallmegoat??? and that's why thousands of kids worldwide go and enjoy themselves. A few 'weird' organisers doesn't make the concept bad. What's so bad about taking kids somewhere they can run around and climb on things????

LOL we also went to an organised music class (one of the well known ones) where the woman was also a bit weird. She would hand out a musical instrument (maraccas, triangles etc) then she'd tell a long (and boring) story to the kids, whilst expecting them to leave the instruments on the floor, then at the end they were allowed them for about a minute then they went back into her box... very odd. The children were all a bit sad looking (but most of them were clearly used to it) my LO and one other new one were very put out not to be allowed to play with them, the other little boy really shouted and screamed... understandably

We didn't go back there again either....we have much more fun with our own music box at home!

As you can see from my illiterate post i am .
I really shood proof read before i post.

lol Should not shood.

YANBU our Gymtots is great, all soft play stuff with a bigger bit for older kiddies and a small bouncy castle, you play where you want until 5 mins before the end when they like the kidies to sing some songs, even then you dont have to you can carry on playing

14 months is too young, if you insist upon this sort of thing go to soft play.

I think this sort of thing is too regimented even for older kids, particularly since they only get about 15 - 20 minutes or so on the equipment!

Thanks for all responses. Just got back to thread

Bouncingturtle - I pmsl when i read yours weirdy bfeeding toddler mums lol. Thats us, there was another mum there who still feeds her 20month old (with long hair who the leader said needing cutting) and she is 28 weeks pregnant. She was so relaxed and chilled out too Oh and Samuel laughs at me when i say no and promptly lobs plate on floor

I had no idea really what to expect from the gymtots as didnt do taster session, i thought it would be as others have described their positive experiences. Letting the littlies have a go on everything and a bit of songtime at the end. I am going to contact the leisure centre tomorrow for how to contact the woman for refund. I might go in and speak to someone as well. I dont know if i mentioned she told me she'd be doing this for 21 years etc I mentioned something along the lines of a fresh pair of eyes, and reflected on nursing (my area of work) and important to be aware of burnout.

Justcallmegoat - dont understand why i am barking to try out what i thought would be a fun activity for ds2.. I think i'd be barking to think that what we experienced was ok. I guess there is always one though.

Funkybuddha - that is what i hoped this would be like. Ah well, at least i can see there are some good places out there too.

Totalchaos - totally agree.

Someone said about some children will do it and other parents will compare. It was really like that there too. A few little ones did do it and you could see and hear some others saying 'why wont you do what x is doing'. Also it felt like some parents who were with their first little one felt this was 'normal' and what was expected. That made me feel so [cross] for them as totally not fair on them as they are putting themselves and their babies under all sorts of pressure to comply with this womans view of what pre 2's should do.

i would get your money back if i was you

You have got loads of responses but thought I would put my tuppence in anyway.

Sometimes the organisers have unrealistic expectations of the under 2s. I took DS along to a taster session of Monkey Music specially billed for under 2s. Silly woman ( who has children herself) expected 15 under 2s to sit in a large circle, not toddle up and try to hug the monkey or play with the musical instruments except at the specific time stated by herself. Most of the other children were girls so mostly did stay still but DS resolutely refused to sit down and she made a bit of a pointed comment to me about it.

We voted with our feet.

My DD (now 27 months) goes to a gymnastics class, much like the one you mentioned - right down to the train!! She has been going for about a year, so since she was a bit older than your DD. This is at a gymnastics club, which offers preschool classes.

However, the key difference is that DD's teachers do not mind if she doesn't want to do one of the activities, or if she goes round in the wrong order (they do need to stay on the right bit though). Each section usually includes something fun too - rocking horse, house etc. When DD started, there were lots that she wouldn't join in with, and the teachers were cool with that. Wind on a year, she nows joins in everything, including walking on the beam, doing forward and backward rolls, egg and log rolls etc. She has learnt sooo much from gymnastics over the past year, you would not believe and has really grown in confidence. Today, she started wearing her leotard at 9am as she was desperate to go (class after lunch!). I don't think there's anything wrong with the course per se, just that they're too strict. Perhaps you could find a more relaxed class, where the teacher is more realistic about the average ability and attention span of a two year old. HTH

I would suggest look for a gymboree around you and do a trial class. Me and ds love it and have been going since he was 14 months and now he is 31 months! (obv he has moved on to upper levels.) It's fab!

There is nothing like a designated area they have to stay in and there is a theme that changes every 2 weeks so it's quite exciting. Plus no rigidity. They can do what they want.

YANBU. take the refund. she doesnt know very much about under 2's if she thinks she can discipline them

I run a Gym tots gymtots programme established in 1986. We aim to provide a safe, fun, experience supervised by fully qualified british gymnastics coaches. Children are always invited to explore the programme at will in the 0-2 class. I have NEVER heard of such bad practice and would invite AWEN to try our class free of charge to compare the session with her terrible experience. Our Gymtots is high profile in the South, Although not a franchise I am aware of other groups with the same name but we have received national awards for good practice and over the last 24 years we have had 1000's of participants moving on to join Dynamo school of gymnastics and suceeding in many high level sporting careers. Gymtots is a spring board for a healthy fit lifestyle. please contact me for furthur details.

DC goings to jumping gyms and they're allowed to play whereever they want. There's even a bouncy castle.

Gymtots sounds awful! Especially for the under 2's

goes not goings lol

I was about to come in and say "gosh this must be very common, there was a thread exactly like this before!!!"

But I see this is an old thread, and is in fact the same one as before...

I would get your money back and leave.

Oh is it, I didn't even look at the date just saw it in active convos

Debs I think you may have bungled this, loads of people are just going to read the OP and the bad gymtots idea will be propogated even further.

Nice of you to offer awen a free go at yours though.

Have only skimmed the thread but no 14 month old should be going to the gym anyway for 'organised gym activities'. Let them clamber, crawl, explore to their heart's content at home/nursery.

My DD did the early tumbletots classes but they were never this strict at all. They were just fun and my DD actually really enjoyed them from being about 8 months or so.

She later went on to do Gymboree when she was 2-4y and really enjoyed that too. I prefered this one but it was dearer.

I disagree that a 14m is too young for these types of classes. Depends on the child. However I do think that the OP's is a badly run class and I wouldn't be happy with DD being there.

I'd take a refund and leave. If part of a chain I'd be tempted to write a letter of concern too, some of the things you mention (esp calling children fatty or similar!) are really out of order for someone int hat position.

So Tumble Tots and similar groups still carry
on like this do they? I remember when DD was enrolled in it, I thought the rigidity was completely unsuitable and we only lasted one term. She's a teenager now.

Perhaps the problem is that as these types of activities are so short in lenght, they don't come under childcare regulations in the same way as a pre-school etc, so they never get advisers in to tell them what they are doing isinappropriate to the age of the kids. So the parents just keep trotting their poor LOs around the circuit like circus ponies, thinking they are enriching their children's lives ....

Thanks imsonottelling i can see your point... but I had to defend my business and this old thread still comes up number 2 on google when u type in gym tots !!!! That's how I saw it xxx