As teased in Top things for babies you may not think about, part 1 – the pooey edition here’s my blog on baby classes I’ve been to!
First off, baby classes are brilliant! They help break up the day, get you out of the house and prepare you for the military operation that is “getting your child anywhere on time” (the amount of times Zeffen has chosen that his 30 minute nap will last 1 hour 30 just before a class makes me believe he’s doing it on purpose).
Currently, I’m going to 4 classes a week- which is a lot, but I do love ’em. On Wednesdays and Sundays I go swimming, which is both super fun and an amazing way of getting Zeff super hungry and tired for a lovely long afternoon nap!
I really do recommend taking your babies swimming as soon as the classes allow (normally 4-5 months). I mean, it’s not like Zeff is doing the Butterfly yet, but it is getting him used to the water, especially going under, and he loves splashing around.
Thursdays is Sing and Sign. I don’t know a lot about the current research into baby sign language, but I’ve heard it’s really good for their language and communication development when they can talk. Also, many babies will be able to make signs much earlier than they’re able to speak, showing that not only do they want to communicate early but they can too, given the easier medium. Zeff hasn’t yet, but I can’t wait for his first sign (I assume it will be “more” or “now!” 🙂 ).
The amount of attention he takes during the class is great to see too, and you can notice the difference in how much he will look at people when talking now – looking for the signs. Hopefully I’ll be able to keep up this class when I get back to work as it’s over the lunch break!
Finally, Fridays is Hartbeeps. Hartbeeps is awesome! It’s 45 minutes of non-stop music, stories and fun. Each week has its own theme like going to the farm, underwater exploring or visiting the pet store. Their ‘about’ page describes it better than I can: https://www.hartbeeps.com/about. Not only is it fun for both parent and baby, but they also subtly help babies with development skills like sitting, coordination and communication through the activities. Plus, you get to take some awesome selfies like these!
Not so good classes
I did try some other classes, and they really weren’t for me! One was called Gymboree, and is a baby sensory class where you take your baby round different sections to play with bits of paper and wool etc. It wasn’t very exciting and was really more of a chance for Mums to chatter about their babies. Which is fine for them, but I don’t particularly like small talk at the best of times and baby small talk gets tiresome quickly. If I want to chat about babies, I can meet with my awesome NCT friends and actually talk about the reality of parenthood. Also, at the end of the class they used the bubble machine (great) but allowed all the soapy bubbles to land on Zeff’s face – err no thanks.
I also tried some “play and learn” things where you bring your baby, you freestyle play with toys and maybe there’s a song too. On the plus side, they’re very cheap or free. On the downside – they’re at best awkward and at worst just a bit rank. I’m not a germaphobe by any means, but at one of them the toys were so dirty I thought they might just walk up and out of there like Toy Story. Pretty gross.
So there you have it, the goods and bads of baby classes. Deffo try them yourself (if you have a baby, otherwise it’s frowned upon).
Daddy Coder 