Working mom vent...

[simpsongal]

swizz Fairfax County is surprisingly out to lunch on kid offerings that accommodate working parents (I'm guessing dual working families make up 95% of the county). I had to wait 3 months to get DS into swim lessons last time, this time I marked the day sign ups opened so I could be first in line.

[karinothing]

would you be willing to drive to Reston for swim? I hear amazing things about Goldfish. They might have more options - goldfishswimschool.com/

[karinothing]

Feb 24, 2016 13:29:32 GMT -5 swizz said:

Feb 24, 2016 13:21:38 GMT -5 karinothing said:

would you be willing to drive to Reston for swim? I hear amazing things about Goldfish. They might have more options - goldfishswimschool.com/

We have a place similar to that down here too, but it's like 3x the price of the county swim lessons. 

yeah this one is more expensive too, but after being in swim lessons back to back with the county for over a year now, I kind of think its worth it. DS1's current class has 7 kids in a 30 minute class they barely get any one on one time. Also the pool is freezing. lol. I am just not capable of driving to reston otherwise I would go!

[karinothing]

Feb 24, 2016 13:30:46 GMT -5 swizz said:

Feb 24, 2016 13:12:14 GMT -5 curbsideprophet said:

If you just want something to do what about a children's museum, science center, bounce house, bowling, swimming (not a lesson just free swim), etc

Those are all options, but they require planning and I like the regular socialization with a class. You get to see the same people each week and it feels way less awkward to chat up a parent after a couple weeks in a class than some rando at the bounce house place. 

Little Gym? Or My Gym?

[skib]

swizz, I'm forgetting... Does your mom or MIL live near you? We have a dearth of weekend activities here, and so my mom takes DD to her dance classes on a weekday. They get the extra time together, and DD gets to participate. Is that an option for you?

[karinothing]

Feb 24, 2016 12:33:35 GMT -5 lolalolalola said:

I know it's unpopular but I don't get the hate in weekday toddler and baby classes. Presumably your kids get that stuff at daycare or with a baby. I always saw them as ways for SAHP's to get out and socialize.

But maybe it's had no desire to do extra scheduled stuff with my kids at that age! We all just wanted to stay home after being out of the house 50+ hours/week.

ETA: also those time slots are often used for school aged kids

Because working parents want to do fun stuff with their kids too? We also might want to meet other adults with kids?

[6fsn]

Feb 24, 2016 11:24:55 GMT -5 osulori said:

I absolutely understand. SO many things are during the work week. While I don't work Mondays, that seems to not be a popular day for classes and such around here. Or maybe it's just the classes I think/know AJ would like, I'm not sure. We're in a weird area where we're not technically residents of the suburb our school district is in, nor are we technically residents of the suburb our address is in so doing lessons for anything through either suburb's rec center requires us to sign up under nonresident registration and things are always full by the time that rolls around because it's lowest on the priority scale. So I basically pull shenanigans and have AJ do any classes (which so far is just two sessions of swim lessons) at the rec center my parents belong to(20 minutes from me), because my dad signs AJ up for classes under their name. I don't like doing it, but with needing a weekend day and a later morning time (because like you, I have a late sleeper) it's been necessary. It sucks.

ETA: I'm hoping as AJ gets older and his wakeup time continues to trend earlier, the options for Saturday classes closer to home open up some more. 

Have you tried any of the Columbus rec centers?  I won't pretend to know enough geography, but the one east of me has TONS of classes- Mondays and evenings- and they are cheap. We do an evening tumbling in town that's pretty good too.  We have the odd resident issue too and still can get into those.

[osulori]

Feb 24, 2016 14:03:10 GMT -5 6fsn said:

Feb 24, 2016 11:24:55 GMT -5 osulori said:

I absolutely understand. SO many things are during the work week. While I don't work Mondays, that seems to not be a popular day for classes and such around here. Or maybe it's just the classes I think/know AJ would like, I'm not sure. We're in a weird area where we're not technically residents of the suburb our school district is in, nor are we technically residents of the suburb our address is in so doing lessons for anything through either suburb's rec center requires us to sign up under nonresident registration and things are always full by the time that rolls around because it's lowest on the priority scale. So I basically pull shenanigans and have AJ do any classes (which so far is just two sessions of swim lessons) at the rec center my parents belong to(20 minutes from me), because my dad signs AJ up for classes under their name. I don't like doing it, but with needing a weekend day and a later morning time (because like you, I have a late sleeper) it's been necessary. It sucks.

ETA: I'm hoping as AJ gets older and his wakeup time continues to trend earlier, the options for Saturday classes closer to home open up some more. 

Have you tried any of the Columbus rec centers?  I won't pretend to know enough geography, but the one east of me has TONS of classes- Mondays and evenings- and they are cheap. We do an evening tumbling in town that's pretty good too.  We have the odd resident issue too and still can get into those.

I'm planning to once we're ready for nonswimming stuff, probably this fall.  Gymnastics maybe...the more ways I burn that kid's energy the better!

[halfpint]

We have a similar issue. Loads of weekday options from 8-5. I've yet to find weekend options, and I'd love to get my kid out of the house - especially on these crappy winter days when the playground isn't an option.
When I was a SAHM, there were so many opportunities for low/no-cost weekday activities - it was awesome, I had a good, core group of mom friends, B had lots of variety to get out and make little buddies. Now, yes, he has preschool, but it doesn't connect me with other parents, or give me any relief on a Saturday morning when he's squirrely as hell and tearing apart the playroom.

[cricketwife]

I feel like there are some options, but just not enough time slots on the weekends to meet the demand of all the working parents. Music  together has classes on sat at 9, 10, 11, and 12 but you have to take a crappy time first to get into the system to register for the preferential  "current participants" pre-registration that they all seem to have.  Swim is the same.  I had to log on at 8 am when the registration opened to get the sat am swim time. By 8:02, it was already a waitlist!  It's crazy. I mean, there are classes, but getting in is not easy.