Night Classes
Who in the world sets up classes for young children after 6 p.m.?
I was really excited about signing Mackenzie and Aiden up for gymnastics classes this summer. I've waited a whole year, watching the schedules thinking that surely, in the summer, there would be some day time classes. Not so.
I signed them up anyway. Aiden’s class is at 6 p.m. and Mackenzie's starts at 6:45. This totally throws the schedule off. When do these people eat? When do their kids go to bed?
We hit Tumble Tots tonight. The class is for kids 18 months to 3 years. It's only thirty minutes long and the parents have to participate. As we went from activity to activity there were kids screaming and crying all around us. Moms were shouting at their children and kids were running wild. Not a good time to have an organized activity for this age.
Amazingly enough, Aiden was the superstar - at least in my eyes. He waited patiently in line for his turn. He did what I asked when I asked. He listened to his instructor and executed the activities wonderfully.
I was so proud of him and I told him so. However, at nine o'clock when we finally got everyone fed and to bed, I was wondering why a nice 10 a.m. class is not offered.
posted by Amy Parris @ 9:43 PM
2 Comments:
Well, Amy, if you work full-time, after 6 pm is the only time available to take your kids to such activities. Sadly, mothers who stay home with their tots are in the minority, so they don't always gear activities for them alone.
FYI, I've participated in gymnastics and other "mommy-and-me" classes that DID occur in the morning and the kids were, for the most part, much better than those described by you. Exceptions are boys of a certain age and personality who just don't want to follow instructions. My son, Billy, was like that for a YMCA gymnastics class, so I pulled him (he was 3). I watched another mother of a 3 year old boy in my daughter Katie's gymnastics class keep her unhappy and uncooperative son in the program for the duration. She was very pregnant and had to be exhausted at the end of the hour. I wanted so very much to tell her to just take her boy to the park for an hour. They'd both be so much happier.
It only gets better when the kids get older--NOT. 9-year-olds in my town have basketball practice ending after 9 PM! My neighbors like to have these "complaint contests" over whose child is more overscheduled.
A real effort is made in my house to keep it low-key. I think my kids have benefited from that.
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