When Chris and Mary Southard arrived at the Eden Prairie Life Time Fitness childcare center to retrieve their four-year-old, Michael, he was not easily persuaded to pack up and head home.
“He never wants to leave,” said Chris, “He just has a great time here.” The Southards have been members of Life Time for several years and note they take advantage of every opportunity to go out when Life Time offers an event like Back to School, Back to Fun or especially the Parent’s Night Out.
“We’ve signed up for every single Parent’s Night Out they’ve had,” said Chris. The Southards live near their suburban club, and many of their neighbors are also members. “Everyone we know really likes the idea of these childcare nights…but right now the per child rate makes it hard.”
Danya Baken, the KidLife Manager, helped Michael gather his backpack and said they offer Parent’s Night Out twice each month and are trying something different than other clubs. “We want to make the events more affordable for parents by moving away from a rate that’s per child and instead a rate that is per family since families with three kids are at a financial disadvantage with a per child rate.”
“We just lost our babysitter to college so this is just perfect for us,” said Chris. Mary concurs the value is better than hiring a babysitter and for their son, the activities are exactly what he needs because he gets to expend energy with a new circle of friends and have fun. “We pay $12-15 per hour with a sitter, and this is just $15 for the entire 4 hours…you can’t beat that.”
Beyond Michael’s night of fun, Chris and Mary were able to enjoy a date night. “We went to Kincaid’s [a seafood and steak restaurant]. We saw some other parents from the club there, too. These four hour stints are nice where we can go out, just the two of us,” Chris remarked.
And while the Southards were gifted with an evening away, Michael engaged in all sorts of fun. “They watched Race to Witch Mountain, went swimming, played dodgeball, ate pizza, had free time, played on the computers and we got out the parachute, too,” said Danya, “It was a fun night, a fun event.”
Mary is so pleased with the Life Time Fitness childcare staff: “They are wonderful. Really. The staff here are phenomenal and very understanding. Michael has fun and we really like the small environment.”
Michael, with a shock of red hair and a sweet smile, siddles up to his dad and, excited, announces: “We played dodgeball! And I played! And somebody got me out!”
Back to School, Back to Fun was a perfect way for the Southard family to begin the Autumn season with a fresh start enjoying a night they’ll not soon forget.
