Name: Tess
Home: St. Louis
My Wiggleworm
Today I took Ben to his first "class." I put the word in quotation marks because I'm not sure I believe in classes for children this young. But I need to get out of the house and meet other moms, so I signed him up for the Inchworms/Wiggleworms class (for ages 6-24 months) at the local YMCA.
The class was held in the Kids Gym, which Ben has been to before for free play. He was ecstatic to see the ball pit again, but he didn't have much interest in sitting in a circle. He much preferred to run around, so while the other moms sat with placid babies on their laps, waving their hands and singing a song, I tried to herd Ben back towards the circle.
Other highlights of the half hour included trying to get Ben to walk on a balance beam (he much preferred to sit), and rolling him down a ramp (he grinned a big goofy grin). At the end, the instructor got out a large multicolored parachute and encouraged the parents to stand in a circle and wave it over the kids' heads. Many of the kids toddled underneath, looking up in awe, but Ben just trotted back to the ball pit, and my side of the parachute sagged as I ran after him.
As far as I could tell, there doesn't seem to be much of an advantage to holding a "class" as opposed to letting kids run around and play. Contrary to what some of the Gymboree ads would have you believe, classes don't seem to make babies smarter or more coordinated--at least, the first one didn't. In fact, I just ended up feeling stressed because Ben (perfectly reasonably, I might add), didn't see why he needed to do what the woman in the red shirt told him to.
But at the end of class, I got something that was more than worth the $29 I paid for the six-week session: a friendly parent gave me a card with contact information for a local moms group. I achieved my goal in the very first class!
I hope my little wiggleworm grows to like his class. My goal for next week is to relax and let him enjoy his time as much as possible.
****
Speaking of Gymboree, I have still not heard back from the company regarding my complaint about their ads. I just followed up with another email, and I hope to be able to post their response soon.
posted by Tess | 11:11 AM
6 Comments:
Yay, Tess, for the foray into finding new mom friends! And I kind of like the fact that Ben went and did his own thing! I'm sure he'll join in the group fun sometimes, but sometimes you just have to go your own way!
Have fun!
I totally agree with the "class" idea. I can hardly sit still through a class, much less expect Aaron to. But, alas, he is also enrolled in Kids Day Out, more for my sake than his. Although, I do believe he benefits from interaction with other children.
Isn't it funny how you pay for something, only to get out of it something free? *sigh* I guess that is the way it goes. Good for you for taking Ben though. YMCA sounds fun! I may have to check into that myself.
Cheers!
Amber
I have real problems with the class thing. Children this age have about a 34 second attention span. Ben appears to be right on target. I want to know who the other simpy, placid kids are and what there problem is!
OMG...the word verification below is havnszzt (isn't that a bit excessive?)
He's SO cute. Kinda like MY Ben.
I agree with you that "classes" can be detrimental, however, I think that playing and sociallizing and making friends and exercising...that's a different story. :)
Hh
P.S. My "word" was rocmmkal
Yay, this is fun. My word is "anjmsf." Okay, but about your post. Well written as usual. I'm not so sure about the classes thing. Thomas (15 mos.) has just begun pre-school because my wife teaches his class. Really all they do is socialize and learn how to listen. I can see it being detrimental if the teacher is too harsh or strict but so long as the teacher recognizes the limitations of the children, namely their very short attention span, I think there is a lot of benefit to be had from these early classes.
i just wanted to say that my word was vphat, but then i signed in, and it's qlegfjv, which isn't nearly as good.
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