Child Care at the gym

I just joined a local ymca and they have drop-in child care for up to 2 hours. I was nervous at first to drop her off, as my daughter is only 12 months, so I gradually got her used to it. I started with 45 minutes and am now up to working out for 1-1/2 hours and, for the most part, my daughter likes it and has fun. I am learning that this is helping her to make friends and get used to other kids (she's an only child and will be attending mother's day out in the fall) and it is nice to just let go and not stress while working out. I used to fit in workouts at home around naptime but was always stressing about her waking up and me having to stop but I don't have that problem anymore.

I've been doing it for years now and love it. My kids like it too as there is a slide, crafts, and video games to play with

My kids LOVE the gym! They are 9,6, and 2 1/2. They are in one room, though sometime they let them go and run around the raquetball room or have organized active games. They love that. They play the whole time with the other kids, watch movies, play tag etc. They are disappointed when they can't go! It's the ONLY way I can get a workout in, believe me. I commute an hour to work and own a business with my husband. We are pretty stretched timewise. Find the right gym with a good daycare worker. Everyone who works at the gym knows my kids! Now if I can only get them to stop slipping my kids treats when I'm not looking! :laugh:

Thanks so much for your responses everyone! My son use to attend daycare and loved being around kids but now my mother watches him but he loved being around other kids and playing with them. I read online this gym (Gold's) offers crafts, exercises and playtime for them. I have heard good things about them just nervous. When I use to drop him off at daycare, for the longest time he would scream when I left. Overtime he got better and when I leave him with my mother he is perfectly ok so I think I am just more nervous about how he will act when I drop him off! I try and work out in the morning (5am) before I wake him up but I really miss doing classes and all that at the gym and I don't want to ask my mom to watch him when she already does during the day.

It's hard being a full time mom while juggling a full time work schedule. I work 8:30-5, and by the time I get home with my son between 5:30-6, as much as I wanted to work out, I wanted to spend time with him more, and it wasn't worth it to me. I started going to the gym at 5:30am while he is still sleeping. I miss my body bump and spin classes a LOT, but I don't want to look back on my son and his child hood and regret not spending more time with him.

I send my 8 month old (since he was 4 months) and my 3 year old and havent had any issues granted my gym is the YMCA so I wouldnt expect any problems. All kids are different though there are some in there that are 3 kicking and screaming for mommmy and there are 12 months that are in there screaming in a corner for mommy. My kids dont do that so I have no problem leaving them! If you are already gone from him from 7-4 he might have not have an issue or he very well could bc he is used to you an him time after 4 so really the best you can do is give it a try. I know with the Y when I toured it they let me put them in there to see how they would do neither had an issue.

I wish my gym had this! I can go weeks without being able to go to the gym due to having no one to look after my children. I would most certainly use this facility if it was available to me.

I have a membership at American Family Fitness -- and they have whats called Kidzone... where they have age groups separated by rooms and set activity schedules. They take 6 weeks on up. I dont know where you are, but if you are in the US and have one of these around, they do tours and all that for people considering signing up. I was iffy about sending my kids there, but after I toured it, I love it. They have a snack area that also has tables and tvs -- where they can bring their favorite G rated movie and watch while coloring or eating, then they have an outdoor play area, indoor gym, space maze (which is like the play areas at McDonalds with the tubes and all). There is a separate toddler area for little ones who are learning to walk and toddling around, there is separate infant area with swings, cribs, changing tables etc for the babies and ones who arent quite walking yet. My kids love it. My son has just started going to Pool Play (which has set age requirements and they provide life jackets and take the kids, watch them, bring them back.. .all while you work out!). Our particular kidzone also does Parents Night Out - where, for a small fee, you bring your kids and they keep them for 5 hours while you go out with your siginificant other and have a nice date night. I think they also do Moms afternoon out once a month too, but since I work I have never done that. Again, I dont know where you are, but if you are in the US and you have one of these gyms around you, go check it out. Ours is fairly new so everything is new and well kept, my experience has been very very positive.

Oh yeah, they even do incident reports in case there is an accident and they follow up on stuff. And there are also rules about how they behave etc (of course). But, all in all, both my 5 and 3 year old love it and my 3 month old is well cared for while she is there.

I do utilize my facilities child care but only now because my children are old enough to talk and share their experience with me afterwards. When they were younger I had concerns and would not leave them as I was afraid that if something were not right I would have no way of discovering that. I am the type of person who has never had anyone but a family member watch my children either because I am over protective so it was a tough decision for me to start but they seem happy and they keep them active while I am working out so they benefit too.

The biggest benefit I forsee going forward is that they are becoming aware of the time committment I make to my health, and becasue I take them with me they are making the same time investment which I hope leads to their own decision to do so as they get older and are able to transition into the gym. As they grow they will not have to "make time" to go to the gym, it will be part of their routine on a daily basis and getting them involved with their own work out routine hopefully will come instinctually....just a father's dream maybe, we will see.