I love seeing my daughter experience something for the first time. Sometimes she gets a little shy and will hide among my legs, but other times she gets so excited, smiles and looks up at my like, 'Mommy, do you see how much fun this is?'
Unfortunately, I've noticed that classes for children seem to fall in the Monday to Friday daytime range. I can't take my daughter to parent/child swim classes at either of the two high schools near me because they're held weekdays during the day, when both Keith and I work. Sometimes you can find an evening or Saturday class at the YMCA.
I've noticed classes at Presque Isle State Park (which are too old for Autumn anyway) often are held during the day for kids. Asbury Woods (which also has classes too old for Autumn) will sometimes have a mixture of daytime and evening/weekend classes.
But too many classes for kids are not at times good for working parents, unless you're a teacher and you have time during the summer to take your child then. So unless your child is watched by grandparents who can take him or her, or you're a stay-at-home parent, your child misses out.
This morning I had to take a half day off of work to take Autumn to a class at the zoo. We attended the Zoo Tots Animal Friends class. It's designed to help parents teach their children how to be nice to the animals and is geared toward kids 6 to 24 months old. We were able to touch a bunny and a chinchilla, a turtle shell and feathers. The zoo staff also brought around a live turtle and a chicken, but the kids were to look and not touch at these two since they can carry salmonella.
Autumn had a great time. She meowed at the bunny, quacked at the chicken (so she thought the bunny looked furry like a cat and the chicken like a duck) and reached to gently touch everything. She also loved watching the feather fall through the air when she tossed it up.
Taking her there and seeing her get excited and hearing that little quack was definitely worth using some vacation time. If you're interested in any classes at the Erie Zoo held this summer, visit their Web site.
And if anyone knows of any other places that offer classes or programs for toddlers that are held weekends or after work hours, please let me know!