Life Time Fitness review: lack of supervision! 19

And to top it all they are now increasing the family fees to $6 per child because of their daycare facilities and other programs... This is ridiculous, the family membership is already $100, and for those families in the midwest who have 3 or 4 children, it becomes less tangible.

why doesnt everyone lock there kids in there room so they never get a scratch or bruse on them. My gosh kids play rough get over it. tell your kid next time someone kicks or bites him to punch him in the mouth. you kid is going to be a big wimp

What I can tell you is that the ratio of 1:12 is only an approximate ratio. Lifetime Fitness child centers are not licensed child care centers. They are only licensed as a drop of center so they do not need to stick to a stick ratio except for in their infant room. I would recommend going at a time of day when it is not as busy and there are not as many older children, but I know that's not always possible. It sounds like they don't really know what they're doing at that specific Lifetime. Legally they should have revealed nothing about the child who bit your son. However they do have a very strict policy against biting so make sure they're enforcing it and sending the biter straight home. I think most employees do their best, but there's always a chance of something like that happening. I know this comment is a couple months late sorry!

Apparently I can't spell. Approximate should say approximate, of should say off, and recommend should say recommend!

Well, I actually interviewed at the child care center at a Lifetime Fitness in Texas and let me tell you there's no wonder the staff don't really care about watching the children. After having the supervisor tell me I was an "awesome candidate for the job" with all of my extensive background and experience in childcare, she told me that we would be responsible for 12 kids at a time, only 4 babies at a time in the nursery (the nursery holds 8 babies) and a lot of the times I'd be responsible for up to 35 kids from anywhere from 5 mins to an hour! That is a huge gap of time, first of all, and 35 kids at one time! That's insane, right? Well, that was not the worst of it. After she told me all of that, she quoted my pay at $7.50/hour. Yes, in this day and age (November 2007) I'd get practically minimum wage to watch anywhere from 12-35 kids at a time! Yeah, I don't think so. Obviously Lifetime Fitness cares more about spending money on lavish waterfalls than paying their employees.

i just joined Lifetime in McKinney Texas. I dropped my daughter (2 and 10) off at the childcare center for the first time this week. i went and worked out for about 1 1/2 hours. i was then paged to the child care center. my two year old was hysterical and hyper ventilating. she had obviously been crying for much longer than five minutes. She was sobbing and asking for her sister. i asked where her ten year old sister was and was told that they hadn't been able to find my older daughter for over an hour! They lost my daughter! They proceeded to tell me that she was ot in the childcare center and that she must have left. they then said that they had checked all the children and there was not another child with the same last nume in the facility! I was in a total panic and started calling for my daughter while holding my two year old. my nanny came behind me and asked why i was upset and was told the same thing that they could not locate my ten year old! they didn't page me for this reason however! after about ten minutes which seemed like a decade, my ten year old came strolling up and wondering why i was so upset...oblivious to the fact that she had been LOST for over an hour. when i went back to address the situation i was met with a wall of executives who all denied that it ever happened! they said it must be a mis-understanding. PARENTS BEWARE---LIFETIME FITNESS LOST MY CHILD and then lied to cover it up! They are not a licensed facility at all...they have no legal responsibility whatsoever! don't leave your precious children there!

If you need information on lack of supervision, enforcing rules etc. Then additional actions that are not followed through such as at the clubs I have been at, then these will also prove your point by the overall bad management and supervision of these clubs.

There seems to be a lot of problems with the LIFETIME DAYCARE, I also have a complaint to post.

It will all catch up with LIFETIME FITNESS. I think it is already, I have had two mailers "$0 to join". They don't care how it is ran! It is the numbers!

We've been a member for a little over a week. Of the 5 times I've been in- 2 times I was extremely anxious about their "child care" area. This is a platinum club, in Allen/McKinney TX. The first time I saw a 3 yr old fall about 5 feet off the playground onto his face because the "supervisor" was running around with a little girl on her back. (She was too busy playing to do her job)
The second time was yesterday- when I overheard a panicky manager talk on his walkie talky. "Code 100 in child center" he said... When I asked what was going on- I was told a boy hit his head on the playground and the paramedics were on the way...

I emailed the club today and told them they need to get their staff to be more proactive at preventing accidents than just responding to them... If they don't listen, they'll lose another customer...

Tehy left my son unattended in the pool during the parents night out program

My husband and I joined a Lifetime Fitness in VA, last week. The gym itself is great, but I feel the need to write a review of their child care, or lack thereof. We have three teenage daughters using the membership with us, and a son who will be 2 in May. When we went to check out the club, we dropped our son off at the child care center, so we could tour the gym and go over all the paperwork. There was a woman manning the front desk and two more in the play area. I took our son into the play area, and waited for one of the attendants to introduce themselves to him. Neither of them ever did. They simply didn't care that he was there. My poor little guy just stood there looking at us. I didn't want to leave him like that, neither did my husband or the girls. The salesman kept telling us he would be fine. We asked if one of our teenage daughters could stay with him, since no one there seemed to have any intention of interacting with him. They told us no, because all the girls were over twelve. My husband and I looked at each other, and we were both thinking the same thing, that we would just take him with us, but then the salesman kept saying, "Oh, he'll be all right, we won't be gone long, it's tighter than Fort Knox in here, yadda, yadda, yadda..." Reluctantly, we left our son there. After about a half an hour, we came back to check on him and he was indeed fine. He had found a little friend to play with and this put my mind slightly at ease. Due to some computer problem, the paperwork took over an hour to complete. We finally went back to get our son, and he was still doing fine. However, we all noticed that again, none of the workers were interacting with any of the children. There really weren't that many children there at the time, so I am unsure why they weren't playing with them. A few days later, one of my daughters and I decided to go work out. We took our little guy to the child care area. On this occasion he started to cry a bit, because he didn't want me to leave. There were two workers and neither made an attempt to come talk to him or reassure him that everything would be all right. I made a point of saying to one of them, "Hi, This is my son, "so and so" . One of them briefly acknowledged me with a nod of her head, then continued to carry on a conversation with her co-worker, while straightening up the area. I noticed a little girl about a year old sitting on the ground, quietly sobbing, with tears dripping down her face. As a mother, I wanted to pick her up and console her, but I knew it wouldn't be appropriate. (I know I wouldn't want to come in and find some stranger holding my child.) Still, none of the workers paid any attention to her or any of the other children. Just like the first day we went, there weren't very many children there. At the time, I think there were about five, including my son. Again, I felt conflicted about leaving him in their care. I finally got him to play with some toys and I was able to leave. My daughter and I worked out for an hour, and when we came back he was having fun, playing by himself in the outdoor area, kicking a ball around. By this time there must have been thirty or more kids and only two attendants. It was very chaotic. One attendant was sitting on the ground, and to my surprise, was actually interacting with a few of the children, however, the other one was walking around aimlessly. I was glad that my son was having fun, but it was clear that there was not proper supervision taking place at this establishment. With a group of children that large, and a staff that doesn't pay attention to the kids, there are a lot of things that could go wrong. There was also a big age difference among the children playing outside. There were kids who looked to be as old as ten, all the way down to little ones like my son. In this type of setting, it's just a matter of time before something bad happens. I worked at a Mother's Day Out in TX for four years, and the children were always separated by age groups. All of us interacted with each of the children. When I drop my son off at the nursery in church, someone always comes to greet him and tries to engage him in some type of activity. This is what I expect to happen and I don't think it is unreasonable. I don't understand the lack of interest these child care workers have in the children. The place is staffed, but there is no way they can watch and play with that many kids, or take care of the individual needs of children varying in such different ages. This place truly is just a "drop off center". Children, especially the young ones, need to know that they can trust the people taking care of them. Trust is built through spending time together. I need to know I can trust someone to take care of my child. This place does not instill a feeling of security in me. It stinks, because I was really looking forward to being able to work out, and not having to worry about my son's well being. My husband and I decided that we aren't going to use the child care center unless we absolutely have to. When my son gets older, quite a bit older, I don't think it will be as big of an issue, but for now he is too young to be able to stand up for himself, and he ACTUALLY NEEDS someone to take care of him. I have been a mother for 21 years, a youth worker for 16, and I have taken care of other people's children since I was a teenager. Believe me when I say this, I know what I am talking about when it comes to the needs of children. This place is severely lacking in the proper care and supervision of children, and if all Lifetime's gyms are like this, I would not recommend their Child Care Service for anyone who has children under the age of five.

I have taken my children (3yo & 5yo) twice to their child care center. No problems so far. There was a time when I was at a park with them and closely watching. A little kid climbing a ladder above my 3yo shoved her foot in my kids face. I was there...watching. You think you can control other kids even if you're there?!

I don't know about you guys but the Lifetime Fitness in Las Vegas is well-renown for its child care program. The staff members are friendly, helpful, and most importantly, know how to watch kids. They organize activities every thirty minutes and its continuous. Not once have I gone in and have seen kids fighting or just hanging out nor have I with their staff. My child loves going everyday and I have seen her develop tremendously since the club opened in April. I'm particularly impressed with the relationships my daughter has made with team members. She loves coming back to the club to play games with them especially in the gym where one time the staff was even instructing her on how to hit a baseball or kick a kickball! They know exactly what they are doing although most of them look too young to have gone through college. I'm proud to be a member of this club as well as my wife and we love how the child center is run. I recommend this club at least if you come to Las Vegas.

Hi, I am a lifetime fitness kids activities team member. I see that most of the issues that parents are concerned with involve the staff. Unfortunately lifetime only offers team members minimum wage and does not offer scheduled raises. Raises are based on performance. I have been working at life time for over a year now and I have received three raises in that year. There are employees who have been there much longer that have yet to receive a pay increase. I have over 5 years of experience working with children and I am always enthusiastic and energetic. At my particular location management does a great job assessing employee performance and dealing with any issues parents or children may have. I receive positive compliments almost daily from both parents and management regarding my performance and engagement with the kids. Although lifetime strives to maintain high quality programs through each of its locations, the sad truth is that quality can greatly decrease from just one or two poor employees. I would not sell the child center short until you have tried a different location. There are 3 locations within a 10-15 mile radius in my state, so I hope you have the option to try a different club. Try contacting corporate for any issues that are not being resolved at your specific location, it may take some time, but lifetime truly does care about member feedback and addressing member issues.

Requested to close an acount, but LifeTime continue to charge a fee, threatening me with with Collection service. I finally pay them just to stop this madness. Well, if you think, to join LifeTime, there "exit ticket". I find this is very mob-like business practice.

I agree with many of the sentiments here. Tonight. While picking up my children, there was an unsupervised infant in a walker that he was too small for just sobbing. A few six year olds were trying to console h, but that was not their job. All the attendants were too busy doing close down procedures. It can get crazy in there, and they never do organized stuf every 1/2 hour like their schedule says they do. They look overworked and upset most of the time. Lifetime needs to increase the quality of their care for children.