Gymboree for the girls

I finally found something for both my girls to do – Gymboree! After months of searching, hunting, asking, I decided to enroll them to Gymboree at Bangsar Village. I could not find anything suitable on weekday evenings, most activities were either during the day or over the weekend.

There are many options for Harvynna, after all she is 3 years old and there are so many things she can go for e.g. drama classes, music, tae-kwan-do etc. But what I liked about the Gymboree was that they have sibling programmes, so while Harvynna attends the 2 hour drop off sessions, Rowena gets to do the Level 3 programme with me. So I get to kill 2 birds with one stone.

The family package is quite expensive – there’s a big hole in my pocket now and I would say that their rates are higher than other programmes out there, but I like the convenience of it. Plus, when I took the girls for their trial sessions on Saturday, they absolutely enjoyed it. Rowena was walking around clapping her hands and participated really well. I was quite surprised as she is normally the quiet one who observes things from far.

Harvynna was also very excited as I told her waaayyy in advanced that she will be going to a big girl class, so mummy will not be there. And to my delight, she was very happy to be dropped off and did not cry at all when I left her. This looks like a good prep for her to attend kindergarten later. Well-done Harvynna. Harvynna attended the Level 7 (for 3-5 years) and the art class after that.

Since, I do not send Harvynna to a pre-school, I think this is a good alternative. Some sort of stimulation is important for a child. I think 4 years of attending pre-school Monday to Friday is a bit too much. By the time, she attends actual school, she will be fed up of the routine. (That’s my personal opinion, anyway) She’s also lucky as there are other kids at the babysitter’s so she gets to play and socialize there. I am very afraid of those pre-schools that are very academic oriented and even have tests for the kids.