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.
