Rant about cost!

And I'm sure a lot of you feel the same!
Why the blimmen heck does baby stuff have to be so expensive!!!!
My coffee group does things together 4 days a week, and it involves spending money. Monday is Gymbaroo, Tuesday is Lunch, Wednesday is Swimming.
They rave on about how excellent the gymbaroo and swimming is, but I just cant afford it! (gym is $11 a session and swimming is $90 for the term) I feel bad like Thomas is missing out - all the other babies seem to be developing faster as a result of going to these things (they go to a variety of other free things on other days too)
I just get so pissed off that people charge so much for things. What with nappies, formula etc etc.. Yet another reason why I wouldnt have had kids yet if it'd had the choice!

nah the partners all earn heaps, the kids are all in expensive clothing etc so yea.. I highly doubt it!

Ah that sucks. We do swimming but we stopped doing jumping beans cos it was too expensive for what they do. We have found a playgroup though that only charges 50c and a piece of fruit for 2 hours of activities, maybe you could look at something like that to take him along to. There is always baby time at the library as well, I think that is free.

Doing expensive activities won't help with development, as Bizzy said you can do all the same things at home.

Is a shame your group doesnt' just have coffee at each others houses really cos that costs hardly anything and the babies get good social interaction as well.

We've done jumping beans, tried gymbaroo and swimming but never all at once. 
i personally thnk its too much for Tom.  He doesnt "need" all those activities.  Swimming was the only thing we did 2 terms in a row because he just loved it and I thought it was teaching him some valuable skills. 

 

Now we have moved we cant swim at the moment (pool caught fire and is being rebuilt)  but we have been going out 3 days a week and that is mainly for me to meet people and fill up my day rather than Tom's development.  He learns great just rolling around on the floor with me or crawling through a tunnel, climbing over a homemade obstacle course etc.   I thought $11 per session was a lot also.  Here there is a form of gymbaroo that is only $6 per session and I think that is much better.  Our music and movement class is gold coin donation which is EXCELLENT value for over an hours worth of music, dance, stories and snacks!

 

perhaps you could put an ad up at the supermarket
"wanting to start a coffee group that largely consists of mums getting together once a week for a coffee and catch up at each others house with the hope of starting some good friendships and a place for our children to get social interaction , please ph ......"

Hey , worth a shot ! im sure you'll find a lot of women out there feel the same way .
Social interaction doesnt have to be going to gymbaroo (whatever that is) or the rest, its just kids spending time with other people .

Man, our coffee group is the budget sort - we only ever go to each other's places or to the park for a picnic lunch (packed ourselves) if the weather is nice! Paid for outings are reserved for Christmas/the joint group birthday! And our kids definitely aren't challenged developmentally. Thomas will be fine. Personally I would be put off by meeting up with the same people/kids four times a week - too much! At least Thomas isn't just set in one little social circle, you guys can meet and make lots of different friends.

If you look around there might be more cheap/free things to do, and you could suggest those to your coffee group. Our local library does a great kids corner session once a week for free, reading stories, singing and dancing and crafty stuff (which you can have fun with until Thomas gets into it ) . Our local pool also has a play session once a week, where for two hours they have the kids pool full of toys and activities, music playing and an instructor just hanging out helping and giving ideas for play. It only costs the normal admission price (so $4 for me and nothing for the kids as they're under 2). Bargain!

I know what you mean though - kids can get expensive and there are soooooo many things that you feel like you 'should' do. Hard to find time to do them all too. Personally I think you can do most of it at home. Much cheaper and easier!

I don't understand why anyone pays $11 a session for gymbaroo etc, it only takes a bit of googling to find out what you should be doing.

I don't think your sons development would necessarily be noticeably different from the other kids already... put it this way Jack goes to music ($4) every week and our coffee group once a fortnight and he was the first to do most things. A lot of the others go swimming, to music, gymbaroo etc and aren't ahead. I think a lot of it is just people buying into this thing about you needing to formally educate your child how to roll etc. It's a crock really unless you've got the money.

our coffee group meets every 2 weeks at each others house and who ever is hosting provides refreshments. To me it makes more sense and I find I am less likely to go home early if my girl is cranky as I can just feed her..I feel more comfortable feeding her at one of the mums houses rather than some cafe. Also dont have to worry about the babies crawling/walking over to a paying customer.

I do take my 10 month to a few things (which are only on during term time)mainly music $3 a session and you only pay if you go..she also has swimming lessons and thats about $9 a lesson (but pay for the term in one go).

another group I go to is MOPS (mums of preschoolers) again only during term time and $4 (covers the creche and any arts and crafts we do).

I might suggest to our coffee group once our babies are walking we can meet at a park etc give our babies a chance to run around hopefully most if not all of them will be walking during the summer months next year.

but yes I do understand somethings can get quite expensive..one things the mums in my coffee group used to go was jumping beans..casual was $15 or about $110 a term..I felt that was a bit much for me to pay

Edited by MegansMum

Our coffee group alternates each week which I think is great! One week is at someones house the next week is out somewhere. Last week we went to the zoo and it was lovely, we had a picnic and thoroughly enjoyed it! More often than not, the outing is to Chipmunks as its free for under 1's, the kids have a ball and romp around and we can natter and drink coffee till our hearts content and all its cost is a cup of coffee and bit of petrol! We have been known to stay at Chipmunks for hours though, as it entertains our bubbas so well

MissAngel wrote: nah the partners all earn heaps, the kids are all in expensive clothing etc so yea.. I highly doubt it!

I was always up front when going to coffee group and if I only had $3.50 for one coffee then taht is waht I had. I also used to take a museli bar from home to have when out for coffee so it was like having a slice from the cafe except mine was much cheaper and a few times I would buy an afchan fromthe bakery at $1.50 and have t with my coffee at the coffee group meet up where the afchans would normally be $4 plus.

For the swimming just go to the pool when the sessions are on and from the public part of the pool just copy what they are doing. Our swimming was $110 per term and for 25mins I couldnt afford it either.