Gymbaroo - worth the money?

[CluckySC]

Spin off from my own thread ;)

Who has done gymbaroo with their kids and would you say it's worth the money?

Ie much more helpful than playing at the park every day?

[Cordelia]

DH took my first child from around when she was 3 to 9 months. It was great for him to take her on an activity and also be the one to tell me about parenting techniques etc. for a change. It really helped him feel involved (and gave me a break!)

For our 2nd, I decided to take DS as a switcheroo sort of thing. I HATED it!!! I felt like they treated me like an idiot (like, what the leader had read it from a book so she must be clever) and was really frustrated with them saying that babies had to develop in a certain way and order and by this time. Babies will do things from when they're ready!! And also the emphasis on tummy time, you couldn't use a dummy ... like why not... i'm the mum, if I want to put a dummy in my baby's mouth I will....

Having said that, I think it would be great for first time parents. (or dads) But just remember, that you shoudln't take it so seriously!!! All these parents crowded aroudn the leader worried because their 5 month old wasn't crawling and couldn't do a rolly polly correctly.

sorry!

[Babblings]

I absolutely loved it and so did DS!! Each and every week i could see that all the things we tried/learnt whilst at Gymbaroo that he would than apply to our home environment/setup.

I'm educated in child care and can certainly say that even though i had ideas and stuff planned for him each day that having the fresh ideas and plans which were not obvious to me or somthing i thought off given to us during each weekly 1 hour session very beneficial!!

We attended the one in Canberra and i can not reccommend it enough!!!:D

I'm actually quiet disappointed there isn't one in Darwin.

I do think though that it wouldn't be too beneficial for children who had not yet started to walk, as there was quiet a large obstacle course set up which ds loved to use.....apart from the group time activities i couldn't think what they would do with the non-mobile bubs. I'm sure they do have a planned class for them though.....ask for a trial run.....i know the canberra run gymbaroo allows this.