gym daycare vent

Our pediatrician finally gave me the green light to take our twins to daycare at the gym (yay for getting out of the house!). They are 7.5 months old now.
I used to be a member of a small, community based gym near our home. I picked up a free pass there and used it for the first time today.

The gym requires 24 hour notice to use the daycare. They limit the use of the daycare to 2 hours per day for a flat monthly fee. The morning hours are from 8am-1pm. I told them yesterday (when I was taking the gym tour) I would be back around 11 am today. I asked if I needed to be there exactly at 11, since we always run late (I used to never be late, until we had twins! ). They said "don't worry, we just need to know for staffing purposes."

Today I was running late and had to wait to pay for daycare at the front desk. By the time we get in the daycare room, it was about 11:25. There was one person on staff. She seemed upset when we came in the room (escorted by the manager), and said I didn't have reservations. I told her I did have reservations, but I was running late. She said "Oh, your reservation was for 11, not 11:30. I said, "Yes, I know. I'm sorry I'm running late. I told the worker yesterday that we would probably be late today, and she said it was okay." Her response was "Well, she's not here now. I'm the one in charge today." She seemed flustered and told me 2 of her volunteers didn't come in today, and she was expecting another Mom with 2 kids to arrive at noon. She asked me how long I wanted to workout and I said one hour. She said "can you cut it down to 1/2 an hour?" I commented that was pretty short for a workout, and she said "okay, how about 45 minutes?" We settled on 45 minutes and I told her to come and get me if she had any problems with them.

There were 3 other toddlers there. The daycare worker asked me "Okay, so what do you want me to do with them?" I was a little surprised by the question. Today was our first day using any kind of out of home care, so I didn't know how to answer her. I said "Well, they like to play on the floor a lot at home." She said loudly "Well, we can't do that here. Can you bring them at 8 am from now on? That's when the other babies are here." I said I would have to think about it.
We agreed to have her leave them in their stroller for a while, since they were content for the moment.

I went to workout, but I was completely bothered by this interaction. I spoke to the manager. I asked him if there was some reason babies are asked to come at 8 am, and told him that will never work with our schedule. I discussed my concerns about the staffing level and her reactions to us being late. He reassured me that today was an off day, and I just happened to be there when the childcare worker was stressed out.

I cut my workout short and went to pick them up after 40 minutes. They were still strapped in their stroller watching a video. She apologized for being short with me earlier.

Is this a normal experience for gym child care? Would this bother you? I really wanted this gym to work for a lot of reasons, but I'm not convinced they are prepared to handle infants/twinfants very well.

thanks for reading! Beth

 

QUOTE(betha @ Apr 14 2009, 07:52 PM) [snapback]1273216[/snapback]
Is this a normal experience for gym child care? Would this bother you?


No, and yes. If you are paying for childcare, it is their job to provide it. I wouldn't expect a preschool-like scene, but I also wouldn't expect them to be strapped in their stroller for an hour or two either. And I also would not want to be told that I had to work out at 8am or for only a short amount of time.

I would probably give it another chance, and then ask for my $$ back if things were the same the next time.

 

I would be fuming! I may give it a second chance, but wouldn't give it more than that. There has to be a better place.

Also, big kudos to you for going to the gym at all!! :banana:

 

Yep, I would be mad :angry: and have a hard time enjoying my workout. But, I would try one more time and see what happens. Could be that it was just an off day.

 

Wow...I would be just a little upset. Since you are paying for daycare, it seems that you should be able to bring your children in whenever you wish to and you should be able to expect them to care for any age child at any time of the day. Isn't that the point of childcare? It's a shame that the manager seemed to be making excuses for his worker. I would give it one more chance, but if anything close to the same thing happens, I would be out of there and expecting a full refund.

 

no it's not normal and yes i would be upset. it's up to you to decide what you want to do, but if it were me i would start putting serious pressure on management to work out their schedule and accommodate my needs. you're paying them for a service, it's not a partnership.

 

I would have been miffed too and like others said, I would give the gym daycare another chance and see if it was just an off day for an overstressed worker. But I would be annoyed that they had to spend all that time in the stroller doing nothing but watching a movie.

 

When I joined a gym, I brought my two in when it was convenient to me.. mornings. They were just over a year and just barely starting to walk. There was one staff and she had 2 kids in there. She told me that all the other kids "Their age" came in the afternoon and that would be better. GMAB! She was fired not too long afterwards. SHe has no right to dictate when I can come in and work out nor how long. As long as you have a reservation... it is NOT your fault that two people didn't show up for work. I may not stay as long because of that. Once there was one staff and clearly too many kids. My ds was having issues with staying in there, so I sat in there with him just to help him get used to it. I certainly was not going to leave my kids with someone who didn't have enough help.
I would really seriously consider quitting the gym in your situation. I'd at least talk to the manager and see what can be done to remedy the situation.

:hug:

 

Back after my first child, I did the gym with childcare. It was not at all like that. I didn't need a reservation...and I was more than welcomed each time. I did, however, get called out almost everytime after about 20 minutes because my baby wouldn't stop crying (but, that was a normal thing...I continued to try). It cost me $1 per use...so not a huge deal. So, yes, I would have been :angry: . I'd give them a second chance, but if it happened again, no way!

 

WHOAH NELLIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That is absolutely incredible! I cannot believe that it REALLY happened, in real life!!!

NO~ it's not okay. And on sooooo many levels...

My gym needs reservations for newborns ONLY. Is this a minature gym or what?? I would be beyond mad and I'd change gyms immediately. Piccolo is right, it's not a "deal/partnership" you're making here-- you're PAYING THEM!

Good luck and keep us posted.

The stroller thing is mind boggling!

 

Okay, here's my follow up. I decided to call and try it one more time this week in case it was a big fluke. Nope. I called at 11:30 today and said I would like to make an 11:30 appointment for tomorrow. She asked who I was, and she said, "oh, yes I remember you." Then she checks the schedule and says "oooh, 11:30 is not good. I have two instructors in class at that time and each of them have 2 children. We have a total of 7 children, so that just won't work." I asked her how many childcare staff are scheduled for tomorrow, and she said two. Then she asked if I could come at 10 am instead. I told her No.

I'm not officially a member yet (thank goodness!). I have a free trial membership this week. I called the manager and told him and won't be joining specifically because of the problems with the childcare. He said "thank you for the feedback, we'll get back to you when we find out what the problem is and can fix it." Thanks, but no thanks :angry:

This is a small health center/gym that is supported by our community taxes. It prides itself on providing a smaller, friendlier experience than the national chains. I know people who have said good things about the child care in the past, so I'm wondering if they hired a bad egg?

One other thing from yesterday--the woman said Claire was such a "good baby" while she was there. Claire is usually the mellow one. She said Evan did okay, but he was a little fussy. Well, duh...after spending 40 minutes strapped in the stroller I'm surprised he wasn't screaming his head off!

Thanks for all of your feedback!! This was our FIRST experience with out of home care, and it was a doozy! I'm going to check out some other gyms in our area and hope for a much better match.

 

OMg I would have gone off on her....if I'm paying her it's her responsibility to care for my kids and just leaving them in the stroller is not caring for them that is ignoring them....I would have just told her to stick it where the sun don't shine and left but that' just me

 

I would have been angry with that situation especially the part about leaving them in their pram watching a video for that time. However, I agree with other PPs: give it another shot and see how it goes. If you don´t get a good vibe then I´d find somewhere else. KUP!