WHAT? Family Prime Time is designed to enable your whole family to use the YMCA at the same time! Family Prime Time is more than just babysitting, we offer structured activities that involve children in arts, crafts, story time, games, coloring, painting, puzzles, and other interactive play. Our YMCA believes families are an important part of our community, and it is important for the YMCA to nurture and support strong families. We are proud to offer this essential member service to our family members.
WHO? Participants must have a Family Membership to participate. Children must be six weeks of age to participate in Prime Time. We ask that you fill out child information sheet and bring it to the Activity Room with your child. We suggest that when using the Prime Time Rooms for the first time, you visit and play with your child for a minimum of 20 minutes before leaving. This will help in making the tranisition easier and help your child become more comfortable with wiht Prime Time staff and their surroundings.
WHEN? The Prime Time hours vary throughout the year, but for the most part morning and evening hours are offered Monday through Thursday and morning hours are offerered on Friday and Saturday.
Children respond differently to seperation from a parent at different ages. We will make every effort to facilitate a smooth transition from the parent's care to Prime Time. Please consider the following times as developmentally appropriate expectations for a child to respond well to seperation. As all children are different, these are only recommended guidelines:
- 6 weeks to 1 year: 45 minutes
- 1 year to 2 years: 1 hour 15 minutes
- 2 years to 3years: 1hour 30 minutes
In consideration of other members we ask that you limit your child's participation in Family Prime Time to a total of 2.5 hours per day. However, for younger children we ask that you follow the guidelines given above.
Please have your child arrive in a clean disposable diaper and have older children use the bathroom before they come to Prime Time. Parents must supply disposable diapers and wipes for each visit. Children are not allowed to eat in the Prime Time Rooms, with the exception of the Infants / Toddlers (bottles and non-spill "sippy" cups with milk, formula, or water only).
Please mark personal belongings (jackets, bottles, diaper bags, car carriers, etc) with your child's name prior to bringing them to Prime Time. Please do not bring personal toys or games to Family Prime Time. Parents must remain in the building while participating in Family Prime Time. Infants who are unable to sit unassisted must arrive in an infant carrier. For your child's safety, we request that they wear socks and soled shoes to participate in Prime Time. Although shoes are not worn in the Infant Toddler room or on Jungeland play area, we do offer activities that will require secure footwear.
Additional Information
If your child has difficulty adjusting to the Prime Time, we will make every effort to calm him/her. We can do this best if the parent leaves the child's sight for at least 15 minutes. We will ask parents to attend to their child if the difficulty persists longer than 15 minutes.
If your child is ill with a cold, cough, fever, and /or runny nose, please keep your child home. If your child develops a communicable disease and has participated in Prime Time recently please notify our staff immediately so we can take all necessary precautions to limit the spread of the illness.
Our behavior policy is to prevent negative behavior by offering fun and active options for children to participate in. Redirection is our first approach to correcting a poor choice. If your child displays unacceptable behavior he/she will receive an age appropriate time out from their activity. The staff will inform the parent(s) if a situation occurs and will work with you to prevent future incidents.
If your child is 9 years of age or older, with their parents permission, they will be able to use other areas of the facility without being supervised by Prime Time Staff. A parent must give written permission for a 9 year old child to sign themselves out of Prime Time. That child can then use the building unsupervised. If they choose to come back to Prime Time, they may do so once, but they may not leave again.
Prime Time staff will take children to and from the Prime Time Room to other activity areas. The staff will escort your child to a program in which they are registered and a parent will be required to pick them up at the program's end. To participate in this service you must notify the Prime Time staff at the time of drop off.
*A special note concerning swimming classes: children must wear their bathing under their clothes. Due to the nature of the Prime Time program, one-on-one attention is challenging so assistance is limited.