Gymbores (Tumbletots)

Member Name: Mrs-LT

Product:	Tumbletots
Date:	29/03/09 (204 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: None

Disadvantages: Smelly old equipment, unsuitable venue, people running the classes were hopeless

Tumbletots is a national franchise for children from 6 months upwards. I am writing about the classes for babies from 6 months until walking which are called Gymbabes. We started going to these when my son was exactly 6 months old, and I was really excited as the website looks fantastic. They claim to aid crawling and walking.

The cost was £5.50 a class, plus a £20 yearly membership fee which was not optional - to attend the classes you had to join. For joining, you got a t-shirt with gymbabes on (white with green lettering), a drawstring bag and a small inflatable bag. I did not like the fact that you were forced to join because if you did not enjoy the classes (as we did not), you end up paying £5.50 x 8 for the classes, plus the £20 which actually worked out at £8 a class. They invoice 8 weekly, and there is no option to pay as you go. You also cannot be refunded or receive credits against future classes if you miss one due to illness or holiday.

They offer a trial class for £5 but I found that they put huge pressure on you to sign up there and then which I was not comfortable with, although I did sign up.

For a relatively expensive class I was bitterly disappointed. The session starts and ends with 5 minutes of singing sitting on the floor with the babies. The lady who was leading the singing was elderly and did not interact at all with the babies. She was also not lively and did not make the sessions fun. There was no effort made to learn the babies' names, she just referred to each baby as 'Gymbabe'.

The sessions were held in the bar area of a cricket club, which I do not feel is the best environment. The soft play equipment was old and worn and it all had a smell of sweaty feet which really hit you every time you went into the room. There were also no baby changing facilities which I found very odd.

There was ample free parking on the road outside which was great though.

The equipment is set up to apparently aid crawling. There are tunnels, bars to hold onto and cruise, a rocker and some gymballs. There was nothing different to what you'd find in any soft play area to be honest, and it would be far cheaper. There is no structure to the main session - there is a total of 10 minutes (at the most) of songs and the other 30 minutes of the session is just parents taking babies round the soft play. With a baby who is not crawling this is extremely boring and tedious, as they cannot do anything! The sessions are promoted as being for babies before they crawl but they are not aimed at this at all in reality.

For me, the main problems were the lack of interaction from the people running the classes, the old smelly equipment and the unsuitable venue. I suppose that others may have had far more positive experiences as it will depend massively on the personality of the person leading the classes.

I would definately not recommend these classes to anyone. We actually only went to 3 classes as they were so boring I decided I would rather kiss goodbye to the money rather than forcing myself to go every week.

Summary: I would not recommend these classes at all - a waste of time and a lot of money!