Harvey Howard is the owner of My Gym Children’s Fitness Center in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. He is a certified special education teacher, elementary teacher, guidance counselor, and student assistance professional located in New Jersey. Here he spills the secrets to a children’s gym that fits your needs.
There are any number of things that parents should be on the lookout for when selecting a gym for their child. When talkig about the main considerations, you are going to want to check out the gym’s staff, the structure of its classes, and its equipment and safety considerations, among other issues.
Staff
Parents are going to want to look at the friendliness of the gym’s staff and instructors. It is important to see for yourself how they interact and relate with the children, and whether they are building relationships with those children. Is there only verbal instruction, or does the instructor offer a hands on experience? For younger children especially, a hands on experience is best.
Class Ratios
The ratio of instructors to children is important as well. When you are starting to get more than 1:10 or 1:12 you are way off the mark. Of course, the ratio of instructors to children depends on the age group you are dealing with. When you are in the 8-and-under realm, you are looking at a 1:6 ratio—something in that zone—with a maximum 1:8. When you are talking about kids who are 10, 12, or 15 years old, however, that is a different story. With older kids, they are going to be able to handle more verbal directions, so you can have a different ratio there than you would with the younger groups.
Consider both the types of activities that are going on at the gym, as well as the age appropriateness of these activities. Are the instructors expecting too much out of the children, or expecting too little? That is one example of something you should be aware of.
When you are looking at a gym that offers classes for kids with a variety of ages, parents are going to want to see whether there are individual challenges as well as group activities. So if even when a child is working with a group, are the kids who can do better challenged a bit more? For the children who are not as capable or strong, are they challenged a little less, but still within their ability to achieve?
Safety
When judging a gym’s safety, parents should be looking at the appropriateness of apparatuses and equipment in terms of safety. Does it appear there are good safety protocols in place for children? Is the gym, padded and safe or does it appear to be a dangerous situation? Obviously, if a gym appears to not be safe or have dangerous situations, this is not the place a parent is going to want to send their child.
Enrollment
Before signing up, parents should ask whether there is any flexibility in terms of if a child needs to miss a class because of illness or another obligation. In these cases, can the child make up the class for free? If the specific class is only offered once a week, for example, then making up a session may not be an option.
Other Considerations
Some gyms require that there be one parent per child in attendance at each class. This might not be an issue for most parents. But for someone who has triplets, for example, that could be a major problem. So that is something to watch out for.
Another thing to watch out for is gyms that require everyone in the class to take a bathroom break at the same time. I believe that is totally unnecessary. Instructors who make this a part of the class are missing the point of learning—if a child needs to go to the bathroom then that is something that should be worked out individually and not as part of a group event.
