I taught and managed a huge martial arts school for several years. The kids were the instructors' responsibility until a parent (or other responsible person) picked them up. My instructors knew the policy and also knew that I had a zero tolerance policy for those kinds of things. In our regular classes, the instructors were expected to keep track of the kids in the class and to make sure they didn't leave the building without a parent. In our after-school and summer (daycare) programs, I required the parent to sign the child in and out, and the instructor initialed the sign out. If the kids came directly from their school, the van driver was expected to take attendance before leaving the school. And we checked the kids in as they got off the bus. Most of the time parents were pretty good about calling if their child wasn't going to attend that day. But if not, we called the parent.

As backup, we always had one of our black belts (either an adult or older teen) at the door to make sure no one slipped out.

In other words, there is no excuse for what happened to your child. The person running the program should immediately apologize and explain what he will do to prevent it from happening again. Like other posters, I wouldn't leave the premises during a three year old's gym class. But that really isn't the point.

I have been taking my son to gymnastics at Woodmont for two years. While he has moved on to the level where parents are not actually participating in the class, parents are still welcome to wait for their child. I never leave. I always wait in the hall with my younger son. Bring a book or something to do and just hang out. Never leave your child, even at a class in which parents aren't participating. Parents are not allowed to be out on the floor while class is going on, because there are those parents who are "too involved." But if you hang out in the hall you will catch some great shots of your child in action!

[quote=AnonymousYou can call it "low-key" or "no-key", but what they actually have here is a major legal liability. By having a policy (or really no policy) and allowing parents of young children leave the premisis, unattened, they have a major law-suit on their hands if anything were to happen. MANY places such as gymboree or places like At Play Cafe have a SPECIFIC policy stating that the parents NOT leave the premisis, or else CPS will be called. You are either a facility who allows parents to leave and takes responsiblity for checking kids in and out or you are a facility who requires parents to stay on site. There should be nothing inbetween. If you are running an inbetween establishment, you are a complete idiot and should not be in a business where small children are involved.

To me what the mother could of or should have done is completely irrelvant.