Why I Love The Little Gym Malaysia (Kota Damansara)

Photo from Google.

Hi everyone, and Happy New Year 2015!

I thought I'd start the first blog post of the year by sharing about The Little Gym Malaysia, specifically the one that Little A goes to - in The Strand Mall, Kota Damansara. (Shortened TLG for here onwards).

Little A has been a member at TLG for about 5 months now, so I think it's quite appropriate for me to write a review now based on what I saw during these months. We started looking for something like a playschool, or playgroup for Little A since last year because we wanted her to be able to mix with other kids, and not be so socially awkward, seeing as how she is currently the only child and her only 'friends' are adults. Not to mention we needed somewhere for her to channel all those bursting energy. We tried by going to 'trial-classes' that these places offered. We've been to the Gymboree in Bangsar Village, and after the first trial we didn't really liked it for a number of reasons, so we ruled that out. I mean these places are not  cheap, so if you are going to be spending money, it better be somewhere you are comfortable sending your child to.

I got to know about this place since this is near my workplace so one day I decided to drop by and  checked them out. I was happy to know that they offer a free 'trial-class', so we brought Little A along one weekend, and we felt confident enough with the teachers and the place, we decided to sign her up right after the trial session! (Bonus point - the teachers aren't pushy like the ones in Gymboree, so hooray for The Little Gym Malaysia!)

Basically, TLG takes babies and kids from as young as 4 months old to as old as 12 years old, and they use three-dimensonal learning approach to help the development of our children. Here's some info about this 3-d approach as taken from their website:-

	Get Moving! Physical activities to burn that boundless energy, plus build flexibility and strength, develop balance and coordination, and encourage agility, rhythm and overall fitness to launch a lifetime of healthy habits.
	Brain Boost! Designed to expand the mind and develop a love of learning, these exercises foster sustained concentration and decision making, prepare for or reinforce school lessons, and nurture problem-solving ability and creative expression.
	Citizen Kid! These activities teach life skills like sharing, working in a group, listening and leadership—all skills that translate to a well-adjusted, well-rounded superkid.

Or in layman's terms, or from how I understand it at least - they take things that kids love doing anyway like running, jumping, climbing etc (things that we parents sometimes see as dangerous), and nurture them (i.e. how to roll/climb/jump properly without hurting yourself) and teach us how these skills can be important in life.

Now why do  I Love The Little Gym Malaysia (Kota Damansara branch) so much?

• the teachers are qualified, trained professionals and more importantly they are passionate about their jobs and they genuinely love the kids
• I saw major improvements in Little A merely 2 months after joining, she's less shy and awkward around strangers and her confidence grew by leaps and bounds
• for each activity that they do every week (changes weekly), the teachers explained what they were doing and why they were doing it, instead of blindly asking the children to do something without knowing why they were doing it. (unlike in Gymboree)
• apart from the weekly classes, they have other activities as well like Halloween Party, Summer Camps, Winter Camps etc. Also something called Parent's Appreciation Night where you can leave your child there and go spend some quality time with your significant other, minus the toddler. (Little A is too young to go to this one but once she reaches 3 we're sending her for some alone time hehehe :p)
• the teachers are not pushy at all! (again, unlike in Gymboree). They understand that kids, specifically those around 2 years of age, are unlikely to listen to you 100% of the time, so they let the kids explore around the gym and not force them to do any activities they don't want to do - as long as they are having fun, they are learning something.
• They sanitize and mopped the gym after every session
• they have one of the most flexible class schedules I've  seen in comparison to many playschools. So if your  child is sick or you can't attend their normal classes for some reason, all you need  to do is let them know and schedule a 'make-up' class for it. That way you make the most out of your monthly fee and you don't lose out on anything. Brilliant!

So there you have it, that's why I love the Little GymMalaysia so much! I don't know about other branches but this one is good enough for us :) (this is unlikely but Teacher Clint, Teacher Meagan and Teacher Brian, if you are reading this, you rock!)

If you need more information about The Little Gym Malaysia to see their locations or check out what classes they have to offer, head over to their official website here.