Sunday, May 8, 2011

Gyms and Childcare

I find it so ironic that the one time in our life as women that we are most likely to want to join a gym (aside from pre-wedding) is after we have had a baby and are feeling less than spectacular AND this appears to be the time that it becomes most difficult to join said gym.

When I had H boy I could not wait to get back into it all and I persuaded the gym to allow me to hand over my 8 week old to the gym creche. It wasn't long after that that I discovered that all mother/child activities take place between the hours of 9 and 12am - the same time that the gym creche opens. Also the same time as child requires sleep - preferably in their own bed if they are to develop solid sleep habits.

Clearly there are many negatives to actually attending said gym in this scenario.

So despite all this I was planning on resuming my gym membership when little
B was 8 weeks old - given that there is around 6 kg that needs removing from my frame. I like the variety that a gym affords me! However upon running into one of the creche employees at a local coffee shop the other day I discovered that the minimum age for babies is now 5 months!! 5 months!! That is crazy!! So not only can you not actually attend the gym in the measly 3 hour allocation that they give to childcare - if you want to keep your gym membership at all then you can't take advantage of off peak memberships because you need your husband at home to care for small children thus you can really only attend when small children are in bed - so after dinner - when you are the most tired and least likely to want to go.

I swear it is a conspiracy against mums who want to look hot.

I know I know - exercising at home and in the great outdoors is an option - but do you know how cold it gets in Canberra in winter?


not to mention the hour (or so) of peace and quiet, uninterrupted alone time that you get courtesy of the gym creche.

Don't they realise that if they provided a decent service and marketed the creche facilities as a feature - they would sell more memberships??



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2 comments:

  1. Yep that sucks! I have found the same thing with my gym (now ex-gym) is that childcare was from 8.30 till 12pm. Currently Eva goes to sleep at 9.30 and wakes at 11! So unless I wanted to get down there and rush through a workout in less than an hour there is just no point!! Plus Eva has never slept anywhere but her own bed.

    I feel for you. 5 months is crazy! Who came up with that random number?

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  2. I was lucky, the hospital I gave birth at put me onto a physiotherapy practice that ran pre and postal classes. Babies and toddlers welcome to attend and play in the playpen or next to mum. It was great I it did from 8 weeks for about 9 months. Almost 2 years later though, I have finally found a gym where I can attend occasionally and do not need to pre-book or call in the morning for a child minding place.

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