Anyone gym daycare? - Page 2

[htcamommy]

Ok WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME!!! I too have ALWAYS been a SAHM, very rarely use a babysitter, and am deeply involved in my kids. We don't use gym daycare but we do use church daycare. My kids have ALWAYS been running to ditch me. My kids have never, never cried for me. I've had them cry cause they didn't want to leave however. When I brought my child to her first day of pre K, while all the other moms were trying to quietly make an exit without their children seeing them, I was standing there saying "Ok, I'm leaving now, do you want to give mommy another kiss?" and I got in return "I'm playing mommy, you can go"
I was actually a fiercely independant child and still am as an adult, with the exception of my kids. I am blessed to have a amazing dh who chants "They're fine, they know you love them, leave them alone"

[mummamilk]

htcamommy- I'm with you. DS (16mo) cries when I go to pick him up from the playroom. He loves being with all the kids. He is much more social than his siblings.

I too am very independent.

[SubliminalDarkness]

We used to, and it did take some time for them to adjust to it.
The first few times, until I knew they'd be ok, I never actually did anything. I just sat somewhere and read a magazine and waited to see how things would work out.

[OkiMom]

Theres a gym daycare co-op that is ran on the base gym where I am. So basically you go 4 days a week and volunteer for 2 hours each time then you get to use it as much as you want. I thought it would be great so I went and checked it out. It was opened into where you could work out (you couldn't work out anywhere you want) where you could see the kids and the kids could see you but couldn't get to you. I KNEW it wouldn't work out. My youngest sees mommy and she has to have mommy. I wouldn't have been able to even leave the children's area because she would be screaming for me. I ended up saying I couldn't do it since it wouldn't have worked. I was hoping though, it would be nice to go use the gym since its so darn hot where I am.

[MamaPhD]

We do gym day care and LOVE it! I first took DD when she was 17 months. I've NEVER used any childcare except DH and my parents who come and visit a few times a year.

The first 2 weeks, I went 4-5x per week because I wanted DD to get used to it. Surprisingly & luckily, our gym daycare is very empty. Even though they first explained their official limit is 1 adult to 10 kids, it's NEVER that crowded. They usually have 2 college age girls and 6-7 kids, which is awesome. First 3x, DD cried as I was leaving for a few minutes and one of the girls held her and she stopped shortly after I was gone. I kept my workout short at first which was like 20 minutes. the 4t time, DD cried for more than 10 min (their limit) so they paged me. But since the 5th time, DD was sad to see me go but did not cry. After 2 weeks, DD waved me off!!!! I was so proud of her. :smile And now I can work out a little more, like 45 minutes. Also, it's good that they have the same 3-4 girl who always work in the day care, so DD knows them. Now it's been almost 3 months, and when I say "DD, let's go to gym" she says "Alma!" which is the name of one of the girls there.

So, all in all, I am really glad I pushed through the first week. But I think it will depend on your child's temperament. Also I think it depends on your day care environment. We really lucked out because I like the gym, and when we go around 9-10am, it's mostly small toddlers DD's age and only a few of them are there. Plus the gym is nice enough to station 2 girls working the day care even if it's not at full capacity. And lastly it's soooooooooo cheap (I pay $4 for 2 hours, though I never work out for 2 hours straight!) compared to getting a real baby sitter or nanny so like I said, I'm really glad and lucky it worked out so well for us in this regard.

OkiMom, I agree it would not work for us if DD could see me working out. Then she would want to come with me for sure!

[phathui5]

I love the childcare at our YMCA. It's free with the family Y membership. The babysitters there are always playing with the kids, taking them to the gym to play or out to the playground. They do storytime and arts and crafts. If you're potty training, they have a white board where they write how often you want them to take your child to the bathroom.