Are gym playrooms really safe?

[Anonymous]

I went to a local gym this morning on an a trial/guest pass, and brought my 19 month old to the kids' playroom. I had two concerns: when in the room, there were obviously toys for older kids, and I didn't check to see if there were things with small parts that my little one might choke on. (One girl had a bead necklace, for example, which is what made me think about it.) I realize the caregivers don't have time to monitor each kid all the time, so I wondered if anyone else has thought about this.

Also, when I picked her up, no one seemed to care which kid I took. There was a different caregiver than when dropped her off, so the caregiver didn't recognize me, and the sign-out sheet was at the front desk, and there was no number-matching system, or verification of anything. I don't know what I expected - a sticker on my kid with my name or number that would be verified - by someone - before they let me just take her? It freaked me out a little. Am I being paranoid? If you belong to a gym with greater accountability, what's their system?

[Anonymous]

Is it a small gym where the employees would recognize the other mom/child matches? While it's not ideal, sometimes knowing or not knowing the parent makes it easier for the workers to keep track of the children. My gym has a little section of the kids room just for the younger kids that o's constantly supervised. I'd probably go back and ask. Worst case, you won't be returning.

[Anonymous]

No, it was a big gym. I think I'll call the childcare director and ask more questions about the pickup verification issue. Unless its tightened up, I don't think I"ll be joining.

[Anonymous]

I think it depends on the gym. I've been taking my daughter to my gym (Golds) since she was 8 weeks old. Yeah, sometimes there are a LOT of kids in there, and that gives me pause. But they're pretty good about staffing, and they will turn you away if it's too crowded. They require sign-in and sign-out with driver's license and they remember her name from visit to visit, so I don't think just anyone could take her out. My daughter's old enough now to play independently and she enjoys the other kids there, so I don't worry too much about her being there 1-3 hours each weekend. We've been using this child care for 20 months now and she's never gotten hurt or upset about being there, so I feel ok about it.

we mostly go to the gym nearest our house, but the few times I've taken her to other branches, she's been fine. if we do that, I try to pick a gym I know is less crowded at the hour we'll be there.

[Anonymous]

love our golds gym (s arlington). i'm a SAHM so the love the exposure to other kids of all ages for our kids and as weird as this sounds i think it's good to expose kids to germs so they can build up a stronger immune system.

[Anonymous]

We've been taking our kid to the gym daycare since she was four months old (she's now 22 months). It's been the same staff that entire time, and they are vigilant about the pickup policy. My husband, the SAHD, goes every day, so on the few occasions I've gone with him, they won't even release her to me since he was the one who signed her in. There's a mix of ages, but they just do a really good job of looking out for the little ones.

[Anonymous]

The childcare at my gym (WSC) was so horrible that after 4 visits, I stopped taking my kids. There was one or occassionally two staff memebers watching anywhere from 3 to 10+ kids of varying ages at a time. Yes, there were toys young kids could choke on and no, the worker(s) didn't seem to be paying much attention to any of the kids. They also didn't seem to enforce the no food rule and I once saw kids eating PB&J, which my child is very allergic to. They didn't pay attention or really even acknowledge me when I dropped my kids off, so I'm not certain they would have noticed if someone else picked them up. And finally, I heard the caretaker yelling rudely at a child for crying, rather than trying to sooth her. I called the manager and he responded that he had never had any prior complaints (which I find surprising).

You can't expect a gym day care to provide the same level of care as a preschool or daycare, but they should at least employ people who are somewhat friendly, like children and are willing to keep an eye on them. If a gym doesn't offer that, either switch gyms or find a sitter to watch your kids at home (which is what I did).

[Anonymous]

like anything you have to research and find one that "fits". there are obviously terrible ones but there are wonderful ones as well. good luck!

[Anonymous]

I have used Lifetime Fairfax's childcare and really liked them for when my child was under 1 year. After 1 year, she was in the big kids area and it was too much for me. The people who worked there were great. They knew her, knew us, check in and check out system was great. I just was a worry-wart about my 1 year old playing in the same area as a zillion big kids. We recently started bringing her to Golds when one of us travels or when we have signed her up for a class. She really enjoys it. Golds is a bit more lax on the check in/check out procedure. They know us very well though. Also, I recently heard one of the managers counseling one of the staff members to insist on the proper check out procedure.