My 4 year old daughter attended a birthday party at Gymnastics Unlimited today. The facility was tidy and in good repair but seriously understaffed.
There were two birthday parties occurring simultaneously, our group of 4 and 5 year olds along side another group of what appeared to be much larger older kids (maybe 8 or 9 year olds?) each group had well over a dozen members. The staffing was painfully sparse and consisted of merely a front desk woman and two teens on the gym floor.
Upon arrival, we were greeted and immediately asked to fill out a waiver. I did inform the employee that this was our first visit. After receiving lack-luster instruction of rules and guidelines, we removed both mine, and my daughter's shoes/ socks, then headed to the tumbling room floor.
Once on the floor, one of the teen employees approached quickly informing me, "All parents, except birthday child's parents, are to go upstairs in the viewing area." I was very hesitant to leave my 4 year old daughter and decided to mostly obey the girl's request by moving to the sidelines near the door. Once off to the side, I noticed NONE of the other 6 "non-birthday child parents" were asked to leave!! Not wanting to make a scene, I continued to watch carefully from the floor entrance.
Here is what I witnessed: The teen girl employee only actively monitored one trampoline that was immediately in front of the foam pit. She repeatedly instructed my daughter to wait in line but did not appear at all concerned about how many children were already actually in the foam pit! I was very concerned because I did not want any of the little kids crushed by the much larger, considerably heavier older kids.
While It is not reasonable to expect two girls to monitor a whole gym with over two dozen children running and jumping; it is also unreasonable to expect a small child to understand protocol and expectations in an alien environment. Why not allow parents to monitor their kids in an unobtrusive manner? Is it so difficult to also be consistent with the application of rules? I felt singled out, discriminated against and unwelcome.
I had high hopes for Gymnastics Unlimited as a local, future scheduled, energy burn-off activity for my daughter but after today's off-putting experience, we will not be returning and would not recommend the facility to anyone wanting a safe experience for their young child. read more