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Wondering if others have chosen not to do paid activities with their toddler?
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Anonymous
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DD, our second child, is 20 months old. With our first child, I feel like I did every activity known to man--Gymboree, playgroups, Mommy & Me, Musikids, etc. Because of her older brother's schedule, I haven't done any activities like that with DD. Fall is approaching, and I had figured that we would do some activities now that our son's schedule will permit it. So I looked into some activities and they are way more expensive then I remember from DS, and I'm having sticker shock. More importantly, DD is extremely easy-going and I'm sure would be content with things like the library, zoo, parks, etc. With DS, I feel like the activities were as much for me as for him, and this time around I'm not sure I need them, but I don't want to deprive DD. So I guess I'm just looking for validation that it won't harm her development to not do these paid group activities. We do plan to enroll her in preschool a year from this fall, when she will be almost three, so we're just talking about this upcoming year when she will be two-two and a half. Thanks!
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Anonymous
| It certainly doesn't harm a toddler to not be involved in paid group activities! These are a recent innovation in the child-rearing world and, as you accurately noted, they're more designed for parents than for children. My son has opted out of most of them, which is completely fine with me. |
Anonymous
| I have done classes, etc with my daughter but only to get her used to being around other kids. If she had a sibling at home to play with, I'd skip it for sure. |
Anonymous
| Ditto as PP. My kids are home with a nanny and get minimal interactions with other kids. Plus, we wanted them to learn to follow directions from others (they are 2.) We just do Gymboree. It gets us out of the house and we often take advantage of open gym. |
Anonymous
| I wonder why your schedule has been around your son's activities? Shouldn't there be some kind of split there? Sorry but music together costs around 150--that is not back breaking-maybe one activity for her a quarter or ever other quarter but I think that some sort of organized activity for her is fair. |
Anonymous
Umm, gee, perhaps to some people the costs of all these activities is more "back-breaking" than to you, PP? I took our son to Mommy & Me at a local synagogue and it was over $400 for just twelve sessions of an hour-and-half each; I can totally see why people find these things expensive. |
Anonymous
With our second child we absolutely arranged our schedule around our older child as well--he had "real" activities like soccer, T-ball, etc., and a preschool schedule to deal with, whereas a baby/toddler's schedule is flexible and they don't need the activities. "Fairness" has nothing to do with it, and the idea of a "split" between activities for an infant/young toddler and a preschooler is, with all due respect, laughable. In my circle of mom friends, every one of them did the same, BTW. |
Anonymous
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I can't imagine it would hurt her development to not do classes. I certainly never did any classes (before pre-school) when I was a kid, and I think I turned out fine!
But if you are feeling guilty about it, maybe you could look into classes at your local rec center. For example, I was just looking at swimming classes in Fairfax County, and they are $66 for the whole session (7 classes). We've also done Little Gym, which we LOVE, but it's over $300, if I recall (lots more classes...but still). |
Anonymous
| $150 is a lot of money to me! That is more than I am paying for a month of preschool for my son. We never did these activities as kids and we all grew up to be okay. The only activity that I pay for for my son (who is 3) other than a few mornings a week of preschool is during the winter when he is stuck in the house. In my opinion, it is a waste of money (even if it is ONLY $150) to do indoor gym classes when it is nice outside. |
Anonymous
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Wow! I can't believe how much other folks pay for activities. I must be a cheap skate - I paid $30 for 6 sessions of Open Play through Fairfax City and I thought that was a little pricey.
OP- like you said, the free activities will be just fine. Your DD won't know the that there was $300 difference between My Gym and free story time at the public library. Your DD is content and easy going, correct? So don't fix something that isn't broken especially if it is so costly. |
Anonymous
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I don't make a concious effort to not go to paid activities, I just don't do them. There is enough to do without paying for it.
We go to the park, go to the pool, go to friends houses, go to the library, and go to the community center. All of this seems to keep my 2yr old quite happy. Heck, a bottle of bubbles and a wand keeps my guy entertained forever. We also have now started "watering the plants" hours of fun and free. |
Anonymous
Completely agree. Sidewalk chalk, water balloon toss, throwing rubber ball into bucket are also big hits. And for my 14 mo. old - a sponge and a tupperware full of water entertained her for 45 min. under the tree. Plus the neighborhood kids came to check out our "festival" as it was somehow called so we ended up getting lots of interaction. |
Anonymous
| There are also loads of free or low cost activities around DC. I guess it depends on where in the area you live, but there are usually free story-times at your local library, kids shows like the Discovery Theatre ($4-6/ticket) at various Simithsonian museums, free kids classes or events at the National Gallery of Art, etc. I think there is a website (gocitykids or something like that) that has a good listing. |
Anonymous
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I'm having #2 soon and am counting on avoiding most of the paid classes, etc. In retrospect, taking a 6mo old to music class at the Levine School was pretty ridiculous... I mean, much of the point of these things is to meet other moms in any case, or to enable socialization for the children once they are at an age to appreciate it (which is a whole lot older than 6mos!)
So long as your #2 gets time with other children (which by definition she must if she has an active sibling!) and so long as you spend quality time with both children, I don't see why you should even consider the whole paid activity scene.... I can't imagine at 6 or 10 or 15 or whenever it is that kids learn to guilt-trip their parents that your second child is going to feel deprived because she missed out on Gymboree! |
Anonymous
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I honestly don't even get the appeal of gymboree - I've done a few free preview classes amd feel they would be a complete waste of money. And yes, that amount of money for so few classes is a LOT to us!
Check out our-kids.org. I have signed up through our local moms club for the weekly newsletter - lots of great free and low cost activities listed. This morning, we walked to the Burger King and my daughter had fun in the playarea - and I didn't have to pay or sing songs or anything! Check out your local rec centers and the county/city/town activities. I went to Herndon Community Center last week and paid $4 for hours of fun in the gym - they call it "Open Gym" time. Also, Borders and Barnes and Noble have free story times. Seriously, the paid classes are such a racket - every child does NOT need them! Plenty of enrichment to be had for free! |