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What' your opinion on classes for kids? How many is too many? Does everyone here their kids in classes outside of preschool? Where I live it is class mania. There is a class for everything. The problem is that they are very costly. I called about a class for my daughter and they were asking $530.00 for the early spring season...no we didn't sign up. In the the cold weather months, I love a fun class like tumles because you can get stir crazy from being inside just with kids in a not so big house.”

Asked by mo2 on 5th February 2008

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I have a toddler and he is not in classes outside of daycare. I feel like I already pay money for him to have somewhat structured playtimes, so I don't want to spend more to be running around on the weekends. Instead I found a play gym that has 'drop in' availability. So when we feel up to it, we can go there and pay just $6 per visit (as opposed to a several month commitment and several hundred dollars). I do enjoy being able to play with him and see him with the other kids, so I'm glad we found something fun. There are also children's museum type places where you can get a membership and not have to pay for each visit. Maybe when he is older we will do some outside classes with sports or something.

Flag as inappropriate by sdbab on 6th February 2008
Heather Mundell - thanks for responding and you said it very well. I recently put a stop to one of my son's favorite class. I enjoyed it for him. It was a drop off but I never dropped him off. I sat and watched or just caught up on magazines. I stopped because it was just too much money. I went to the local YMCA and got three classes for the price of one. My son is very active and sporty. All the classes are sports related. My little petunia is in music mommy and me classes. She loves it and I do too for the same reasons you mentioned.

I have friends that enroll their preschooler in sooooo many classes. I meet up with them and sometimes you can just see the child is spent.

I asked the question becasue I was soooooo blown away with the cost of $530 and when I balked at the price the person on the phone said "oh and this is much less expensive than the same class in the city..it's $750!! I have never heard of a class costing that much.

Anyway - to each his own and if money is not an issue - have at it.! For me - there's no havin it because I just don't have it!:)

Flag as inappropriate by mo2 on 6th February 2008
I think classes for young children can serve two purposes - 1) they get to do something fun that maybe you aren't interested in or set up to provide for them yourself, and 2) you get some time to yourself. Or if you're there, you get social interaction with others.

I don't think preschool age kids *need* classes, but they can be fun. The answer about how many depends on your kid, the offerings and your budget. Some kids are homebodies, and some are social butterflies. I think there's a lot of fun and social time you can give kids by simply setting up playtimes at kids' houses or at the park in good weather.

My kids are in grade school, and they take some extracurricular classes. It's sometimes hard to balance their interests with homework requirements, my interest in shuttling, and our budget. It's easy to get sucked into the mommy mania of classes and summer daycamps.

My advice is know your kid, know your needs and wants, and forget about what others are doing, to the extent possible! If you think your child might be missing out on bonding time with his buddies because he's not in a class, invite the buddies over.

Good question!

Flag as inappropriate by Heather Mundell on 6th February 2008