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Gym Childcare Tips and Considerations
A Safe Place to Play While Mom Exercises
By Teri Brown
Women everywhere know they are supposed to exercise, but what are busy moms supposed to do with their children while they do? More and more gyms are offering childcare as a benefit of membership, but just like choosing childcare while you work, deciding who to watch your child while working out can be daunting.
Nataly Blumberg, mother of two from Great Neck, N.Y., found a gym that catered to her children's needs. "Basically, the preschool program at my daughter's school was double the price of gym membership, only for two hours two times a week, and didn't really free up anytime for myself," Blumberg says. "At [my gym], he still colors, gets to socialize with other kids and even works on a computer!"
The kids club at her gym can be utilized two hours a day a day, seven days a week and both her children really enjoy it. "My kids, Amelia, 5, and Alec, 2, love the gym because 'They have cool toys.' The Kids Club is the reason why I joined the gym, and that gym in particular."
Priscilla Dunstan is a renowned childcare expert who has been on the Oprah Winfrey Show and The Today Show and has given advice to parents everywhere in her book via her hit DVD, Dunstan Baby Language. She says that parents need to realize that gym daycare workers will not have time to really get to know their child and their needs in the brief hour or two they will spend in their care. Because there is more room for error, parents must be particularly aware.
"When checking out a gym daycare, looking for cleanliness is very important," Dunstan says. "A lot of gym daycares are pretty grubby. And because there is such a high, daily turnover rate of children coming in and out, staff may not be able to tell if a child has a cold or one coming on, or if the chicken pox are about to break out. So sterilization and cleanliness in gym daycares need even more special attention than traditional daycares."