Baby College!?!

[Catz]

Has anyone heard of/tried baby college here ? It is advertised in the stuff that gets given to new mums in my area and I thought it sounded comically pushy parent ("yes my 7 wk old is doing very well at college actually"!) but some friends are going and I'm wondering whether to overcome my scepticism and tag along....

I suppose I'm also wondering what you're supposed to "do" with a baby in their first few months (apart from the obvious sleep/feed/change!). My baby is currently 7 wks, I do chat to her, show her things, carry her around in a sling etc but she also spends quite a bit of time in her bouncy chair just staring whilst I get things done around her. Am I being terribly neglectful in leaving her there? It seems to me that when you're first born everything is new so just seeing the world happening around you is interesting. I realise that's probably a silly 1st timer question!

i would say s*d the college, sorry if thats crass but you seem to be doing exactly the right thing, spending time talking explaining.

a few childless friends took the p out of me for explaining to my 7week old how to make a cup of tea...now hes 10 month he can point me through it!!

interaction is the key, get out and about, roll in the grass and nud, look at trees and birds! thats all they need!

Don't worry about what other parents do - you are doing all the right things already. At this age they just benefit from being with you, you chatting to them etc.

Baby College?? Whatever next!? I can't believe the mumbo jumbo on the company's website. Yuk.

The cynic in me thinks this sounds like it is designed to push the buttons of working parents who feel guilty about leaving their lo's - 'structured time' sounds very much like 'quality time'.

Just sitting watching the world go by is a very cool thing to do when you are 7 wks. Talking, hugging and singing are wonderful, as is looking at books once your dd will focus. Babies also like smells and textures.

Probably no better / no worse than any other baby class but I personally wouldn't go purely because of the name and marketing.

Love this line (from their website) about the 0-9 month odl class: "This class aims to help your baby have the correct neurological building blocks in place (vital for all subsequent development and learning)." Um, those blocks are there when they're born.

Yes daisy maybe that is what wound me up so much about it. I DO classes with ds (although not at 7 weeks as we didn't have the energy!) but the focus is on fun and being together not really all this gubbins about development really.

I think maybe they've just gone a bit too far with their marketing blurb as you suggest

Isn't that sort of stuff what normal people do with their babies anyway?
Surely this is all common sense....

Is this another sign that we have lost all confidence in ourselves to bring up our children?

ROFL and PMSL that one aim is to 'prepare for your child's entry to nursery education at 3".

Err, the point of nursery is to prepare for infant education....you're not expected to actually, like, KNOW anything

oh deary me.

We'll have to set up an unborn baby college, attendance compulsory, in order that they are prepared for baby college.

Yes we used them and initially i had the same sceptisms as you had but it is really good. Both my kids enjoyed it very much and the ladies who run it Donna and bea are very knowledgeable but also 'normal' if you know what I mean.

Thanks everyone - I agree that the marketing of it is comical!

Pickle what kinds of things did they do with the kids? You have to pay for the whole term in one go so I don't want to go and hate it but it'd be nice to do something with that group of friends if it is a fun thing to do.

Thanks

I did 2 terms with dd until she was 6 mo and crawling - it's not very tolerant for moving babies and I didn't want to make her keep still.

It was fun and the main thing was that I met a really nice group of other mums there and we kept on meeting up after we quit the class. We all rolled our eyes at the 'theory' part. But it was something to do out of the house and we used to go get sarnies and tea for lunch afterwards. Especially useful when the babes are way too young for anything else. Jill

Thanks Acinonyx, I think if I went I'd see it as a social thing too. What do they do BTW is it baby massage/music etc or do they do anything more off the wall? Am intrigued by the idea of a 'complete development workout' to build essential 'neural pathways'!

Catz, call them as we had a free try session and then you can make up your mind. BTw it is singing at start & finish, games, also some time to catch up with the other mothers

lol... you don't need things like that.

Pick a few local baby classes/ toddler groups that interest you.

Hmm (tries very hard to remember dd's babyhood which is now a blur). There was singing and dancing (we danced with the babies), looking at pictures and talking about them, listening to music, using and shakers bells, rolling the babies - some signing and rhymes I think.

Soemof the stuff about learnng sounds etc pretty off the wall IMO - but harmless. Jill

I always find that the parachute and bubbles are the two most popular activities!! And you are all right about the website, it's pretty rubbish and needs completely re-writing. Yes and the name too, but it's too late to change that now. Neither really gives the correct impression at all. Fortunately plenty of happy parents have discovered the classes are great fun, but then I would say that. And no the parachute does not involve real planes.
If your area is Oxford Catz you are welcome to a free trial session and you can judge for yourself. Bea

Bea - I'm very embarrassed now! It's very kind of you to offer that. I am very concerned not to put pressure on my children to be high achievers and so I do think the baby college thing and the website set my alarm bells ringing (but they may well appeal to other people). I'm also interested in knowing what it is that you do (it's not so clear from the website). I am in Oxford so I will email you.

Ha, me and dp affectionately refer to dd's nursery as 'baby college'. Read the thread title and thought it was someone I know taking the piss!