Apparently Kindermusik is for kids who don't like to move around. So, if you have an active boy, Kindermusik is NOT for you.
Too bad nobody told me before I wasted an hour of my time.
Chad LOVES music. He loves to dance, he loves to listen to music, he loves to play with the instruments. So, we thought we should try and foster that as long as he likes it. So, Kindermusik is the perfect place, right? In theory...but here is how is played out in reality:
First, they did not have cubby's for your shoes so everyone lined their shoes up against the wall. Guess what Chad wanted to play with -- yep, that's right. He brought everyone's shoes to me.
Someone had a baby in the room in the stroller (they had an older child in the class) so Chad wanted to push the stroller around and play with the baby's feet.
The teacher had a shelf that was exposed that had papers on it, etc. and Chad wanted to pull all of that down.
He wanted to stand on the drums we were playing. The teacher about freaked out and told me he was going to break it. Who gives 17 month old kids a drum that can break?
When she was reading a story, she set down a blanket and Chad refused to get off of it until she gave him a ride on the blanket. Then, he happily got off.
So, needless to say, we won't be going back there. But, Gymboree also has a music program so we are going to try that out as well. Gymboree seems to be a little more kid friendly.
On the positive side, as my mom pointed out, it could have been worse. He could have screamed the whole time. He was very happy and content in everyone else's business.
Hi Allison.
ReplyDeleteI’m Shawn from Kindermusik International. I stumbled across your blog post. I was really sad to read you had a bad experience at Kindermusik. We sincerely apologize for this. It's very important to us that each parent and child who attend Kindermusik have a positive experience and gain from it.
I was also sorry to read that Chad’s active nature wasn’t more welcome in the classroom. We strongly believe in letting the child lead, which means whatever the child is doing is okay and right as long as they are not putting anyone’s safety at risk. In fact, we even made a video about this exact topic. Here’s a link to it on You Tube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzZYdgVVr9c
The purpose of the video is to let parents know whatever their child is doing is perfect. Whether they are dancing, running around a bit (as long as they are not in danger of injuring themselves or others), or sitting perfectly still and listening, we know they are learning. And that’s what’s important.
Your post sparked an internal discussion here about making sure our educators know what parents expect in a classroom setting. While 99% of our educators do an amazing job setting up a safe, welcoming classroom environment, it’s clear this classroom did not meet your needs. We plan to put together a webinar and some other materials on this topic to share with our educators as a reminder of what expectations should be.
We did find one bright spot in your post – it sounds like Chad enjoyed himself! We only wish mom would have had a similar experience. :(
If there is anything I can do for you, please email me scurrie(at)kindermusik.com.
Shawn
Kindermusik International