So my Mom and I wanted “something to do” this afternoon. We didn’t want to spend money, so we did some investigative work instead. What I learned was:
Pools are expensive, yo. Even the one I THOUGHT was $35 a year is apparently $35 before they will allow me to pay the $44 for eight swim classes. Seriously, I ask of you, what is my 9 month old child going to RETAIN from a “class”? I’m sure he’ll always remember that the woman named Patty in the red swimsuit taught him to blow bubbles and kick his legs. He’s not at the age where you can tell him, “Kick your legs.” I’m not even sure if he knows that those things dangling from his torso are CALLED legs. So that’s $35 + $44 + a pain in my rear.
But if I want to JUST have a pool membership for him so that I can go try to get him to kick his legs on my own, it’s $35 + MORE money for me to go in with him. Because I am a separate person. Neveryoumind that if I put him in the water alone he will DROWN to DEATH. Extortion I tell you.
The other places are all quite a bundle for a “season pass.” I’m not sure I’ll go enough to make use of a multi-hundred dollar season pass. I just want to pay a reasonable amount of money to take my child and dip him in a large(ish) body of water once a week so that he learns to swim. We’re talking…20 minutes a pop.
Arg.
What do YOU do for swimmy time with your pre-toddler? I think I may have to just go to the beach. I can walk from my Auntie’s house and then it’s FREE. Except for all the chocolate soft-serve…And the two and a half hour drive…
Oh, and PS! I am totally shocked at the lack of playgroups in my immediate area. The only one I found was 45 minutes away. I thought there might be some “unadvertised” groups at the local churches. So I hit a few up. The Church of Christ (or whatever that castley one is…) told me to go to the Methodists, who told me “We don’t have anything like that,” and they both told me the Episcopalian congregation around these parts is rather elderly. There weren’t any Catholics around today (except for one, he was praying, we did not interrupt) and so now I’m back where I started. No swimming. No playgroups. Watch there be a swinging toddler scene at the Episcopalian Church and I’m missing out because I was told they were too old and I couldn’t find their “come on in and visit us” door.
Arg again.
And that’s how I feel about that.
Tags: playgroup famine, stupid money, summer activities, swimming
yah, but at least we spent no money! All that agravation was FREE! LOL
This may not be as helpful NOW but maybe in a year or so…
Also, I’m not sure how much you’re into taking your baby to movies or how much you let him watch TV BUT I thought I’d at least let you know about this just in case. :)
Every summer my sisters take their kids to “Summer Movies” at their local theatre. Every theatre has different deals – Harkins has 10 movies for $7, AMC is $1/movie, etc. They show kid movies like Madagascar 2, Kung Fu Panda, etc. and they get a deal on concessions. You should check it out at your local theatre. :)
http://www.amctheatres.com/smc/
OH! I forgot! I used to work at a Gym as a receptionist and we had an indoor pool and hot tub. I wonder if you could find a better deal on some sort of gym so you could take Camper swimmin with you there?
I will call you with the number of a lady who was telling me about a playgroup there in ***. Also I know it is a drive but the library in *** has a great storytime Tuesdays at I believe it is 10 or 11 followed by their outdoor concert series in the summer which is also geared towards kids. Jeanine did this a lot last summer. A little further away but it includes time in a pool is the 3 ring circus at the rec center in GB. I had a whole schedule of things I was going to do with Smiley but things changed drastically very quickly. I will get the info together and call and chat at ya.
Ugh, it is SO frustrating to try and find things to do with your little ones that are CHEAP!! Have you tried calling your local hospital for info about a Mommy Group? That’s how I found mine after Zoey was born. Also, we joined the YMCA here so we could go swimming. I think some of them will do your membership on a sliding scale, depending on income, and I just look at it as a good investment in our health. (But then, I can justify just about anything.) Anyway, the Y offers childcare so I can drop Zoey off and work out, AND we can take her swimming. Bonus!!
Good luck!
Ok everyone…I totally checked ALL of your suggestions out! Thanks so much!
The gyms around here don’t have pools (LAME, I KNOW) and i checked out that website, we live a little too far west for the movie thing. That sounded great, though! We officially live in the PODUNKVILLE. But we DO have a YMCA, which let me sign Camper up for $3 a month, and an adult can come with him FREE. So he’s the only member of the Y in this house, but at least I can take him swimming for the whole year, as many times as I want (the Y has open swim every day, multiple times a day) for just $36 bucks. Total. No extortion.
Also, I had totally forgotten about the library thing. It does start at 11am which is right between his two naps…It’s a little further away but the music would be GREAT for him, he loves it already. So that’s on my calendar now, too!
Thanks everyone, looks like we figured it out.
For parks, what about Pinegrove? It is right around the corner from me. There is also a front and back playground at Craneville school. Pinegrove has baby swings and always some Mom’s to meet.