Ling Fernandez wrote:[Hi Mommy's,
New to this forum. New mom to a 9month old baby boy. I'll be moving back to Singapore hopefully in a couple of months. And I'm hoping to find something good and affordable for my boy.
For example: Infant swimming class, Play and Child Class.
What's good? I've checked out gymboree, however it is way out of my budget. I'm intending to enrol him for playgroup middle of next year.
Any playgroup and activities to recommend?
Thanks Mommy's!
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Gymboree is way too expensive, especially since babies don't pay much attention anyway. If you're going to be living in a large
condo, there might be on-site music classes. Generally those are much less expensive. I paid $12 per class at my condo.
Parent and child swimming classes are a good option. It'll get your child used to the water and they'll get to go underwater. I went with my son to Aqua Ducks at Suntec City. There were about 5 or 6 kids in the class, which was great. It is outdoors, though, which means classes are subject to cancellation if there's lightening. Rescheduling isn't always convenient because they want you to make up a missed class that same week, so I've been to a few Sat/Sun morning make-up classes with 15 kids. However, you might run into this issue with other swimming classes as well unless you find a place with an indoor pool.
Also, meetup.com has some free and low-cost play dates.
At this age, I wouldn't recommend spending a ton of money on classes and don't let anyone guilt you into it. When I took my child to music, he was WAY more interested in crawling/walking around the room, pushing chairs and furniture, playing with one of the other mom's purses/shoes, playing with another baby's stroller, trying to open doors, etc. When I'd bring him back to the circle where everyone else was sitting, he'd scream. He was in a different place and wanted to explore. So to keep the peace, I'd let him do whatever (within reason). I'd even purposely arrive 10 minutes early to give him an opportunity to explore the room beforehand, but that didn't seem to help. When he got to be a little older, we would at least sit through part of the class, especially when they took out the instruments. I think it'll depend on your kid. If he's wiling to sit in a new place, even for a short time, then that's fantastic.
Another option is indoor playgrounds because some have free admission for kids under 1. Best to take him weekday mornings and avoid school holidays, because you're less likely to have older kids running around recklessly.
