Are Baby Classes necessary?

Yes!

But why?

Baby Classes can be the first chance your Little One gets to start interacting with others of a similar age and having different experiences.

It has been shown that having positive (or negative) early childhood experiences can affect your Little One later on in life.

Some baby classes can be expensive and it’s right to question if that class is necessary. You need to look at the benefits that this session can offer you and your Little One.

Baby Classes can support different elements of your Little One’s development. Most Baby Classes will offer speech and language development opportunities as well as physical, mental or emotional development.

But also look at the opportunity it can offer to you. Is there time in the session for you to talk to the session leader or other parents? Can you relax in the session as well? Is the session age appropriate for your Little One?

Parents and Careers can also learn new skills at Baby Classes. For instance, if you were to attend a Baby Massage class, you are learning how to safely massage your baby. Some of the skills that you will learn during Baby Classes can be carried with you throughout your parenthood.

The sessions are also a time for you to leave the household chores behind and escape “normal life” for a couple of hours, which can have a positive impact on your own mental health.

It might take a couple of attempts to find the right session for you and your Little One. With everybody having different personalities it can be difficult to find a session that really suits you or that Little One enjoys.

My experience of taking children to baby classes…….

During her early days, my daughter always loved Rhyme Time at our local library and we continued to go to this session every week up until she started Preschool at 3 years old. Seeing the fun she had playing the instruments and singing each week and seeing how much she was getting out of the session made leaving the house some days worth it. I also believe that this has led onto her love of music and her want to play an instrument now she has started school.

Also, as I started training for Baby Massage while my daughter was only 6 months old, she had exposure to massage and positive touch from a very early age. This has led to my daughter understanding that massage can help with simple ailments and wanting to learn how to massage her younger sibling safely. I hope this is a skill that she carries with her throughout her life and into her own parenthood.

And I understand that all of this has been written by a Baby Class Instructor, but I have written this from through the eyes of a parent and will always continue to take my children to different classes and allow them to have different experiences.