Find the Best Classes for Your Child at the Great Baby Romp in San Francisco This Saturday

Marin Mommies presents a guest article from Stef Tousignant, founder of AskaNanny.com and the Great Baby Romp, which takes place in San Francisco's Presidio on March 8, 2014.

Does your baby take classes? This may be a surprising question but classes for babies are becoming more and more popular especially in San Francisco where we have over 100 programs to choose from!

You’ve heard classes might be great for early enrichment and even socialization, but why are these classes really so important? Isn’t going to the park and playing at home enough? Of course it is, but there are many added benefits to taking a class with your baby that make it a fun experience for you both!

1. Unplugged bonding time with your child—no phone, no laundry, no errand running, just one hour of time to be together. Even if the class consists of you sitting there with your baby on your lap and watching the other kids sing or bend into yoga poses your relationship will feel the benefits immediately.
2. Exposure to new vocabulary grows brains! In a class your baby will be exposed to words from outside your normal vocabulary at home, therefore strengthening their receptive language skills and growing new neuron pathways within their brain. Go to a yoga class and they will hear things like shavasana and namaste, go to a music class and play a djembe and castenets, or head to an art class to use pastels and create papier-mâché. These arent words they need to learn to say necessarily—it's the exposure to them that ignites the brain’s wiring.
3. A chance to meet other parents and caregivers—you shouldn’t underestimate the need to converse, and commiserate even, if you are a first time parent or a caregiver. These classes will be full of like-minded parents and caregivers from your neighborhood that have similar aged children with similar schedules as yourself—you couldn’t hand pick a better group if you tried!

Over a year ago I started the family event the Great Baby Romp, a once-a-year chance for parents of babies and toddlers to bring their kids to sample all the best classes in San Francisco.

What I discovered was that there were just too many classes in San Francisco that I could choose from. I felt like I was missing interesting ones that were just outside my neighborhood. Plus, I have two kids and they have totally different personalities—but who has the time to go from trial class to trial class? Problem solved: The Great Baby Romp! We would love for you to join us March 8 in the Presidio to sample classes with your kids and find out more about all the amazing choices out there! Buy your tickets today!

Stef Tousignant is the founder of the fun family event, the Great Baby Romp. She lives in the Inner Richmond with her high school sweetheart and their two boisterous boys. Her educational background includes child development studies as well as an architectural degree with a speciality in childcare design. She enjoys discovering the vast array of construction vehicles around SF, coming up with interesting book concepts with her children, and taking photos of all her adventures as a mom entreprenuer and parent. You can find her on Instagram and Twitter where you are free to ask her your burning parenting questions @askananny #thenannyisin.