Gym childcare

[kristac]

DH and I just joined a gym. It is the most affordable option that is local to us and offers childcare (the Y is twice the price). However so far I am less then pleased with childcare. First the hours aren't great M-F 9am to 12:30pm, Sat 8a-12p and M-TH evenings 4:30-8:30pm. So that leaves us no childcare Friday through Sunday evenings if we want to go after DH gets off work and no childcare on Sundays at all which is DH's constant day off (he works most Saturdays).
The other issue is the TV. The first day we dropped off (Wednesday) they had on Backyardigans. Fine. But Thursday they watched Toddlers and Tiaras :/ and now today was Spongebob. (No offense to Spongebob fans it is just not a show I want my kids to watch).
We are not a no TV household, but I do limit and monitor what they watch.


WWYD? Would you say something?

[wellyes]

Who do they have doing the childcare? Is it adult staff, teenage staff, or volunteers (moms exchanging doing childcare for a free membership?)

I'd definitely say something. Toddlers & Tiaras, seriously?! But the approach differs based on who is doing the childcare.

[kristac]

It is adult staff as far as I can tell. it has been a different staff member each time.

[SnuggleBuggles]

Some of my friends ask that they TV get turned off when their kid gets there and sometimes they are happy to do it, especially if they are the only kids there. They won't turn it off if other kids are there and watching, but maybe. Mostly they just watch movies. I would bring it to someone's attention about age appropriateness.

I quit my last gym due to crappy hours like that. I made it work for a long time though. Sundays we would alternate our workouts or dh would go by himself.

Beth

[nfowife]

Those hours seem fairly standard to me, at least the weekday ones. We are Y members and they are open Saturday mornings and Sunday afternoons for childcare.

I would have brought the toddlers and tiaras thing up immediately- that is not an appropriate show for young children to watch. I would ask to speak with the manager of the childcare area or the gym and find out what their policy is for tv. I don't have a problem with TV in that sort of situation, but it should be appropriate for all the children in there. To me that means something very innocuous like nick jr, pbs kids/sprout, or disney junior.

Hope you can get some resolution. But in regards to the hours, did you not check them before you joined?

[kristac]

Those hours seem fairly standard to me, at least the weekday ones. We are Y members and they are open Saturday mornings and Sunday afternoons for childcare.

I would have brought the toddlers and tiaras thing up immediately- that is not an appropriate show for young children to watch. I would ask to speak with the manager of the childcare area or the gym and find out what their policy is for tv. I don't have a problem with TV in that sort of situation, but it should be appropriate for all the children in there. To me that means something very innocuous like nick jr, pbs kids/sprout, or disney junior.

Hope you can get some resolution. But in regards to the hours, did you not check them before you joined?

Regarding the hours- DH signed us up (as a gift) and didn't see that childcare was different hours then thier opperating hours. (Its not very clear on thier website) Unfortunately it is really our only affordable option so I really want to try to make it work.