24 Hr. Fitness's Daycare Lost My Baby

I would find anyone and everyone willing to listen and report this. Take it to their corporate office, call the police dept. ask them who you should take it to. That is BEYOND unacceptable. All the things that could've happened!? I wouldnt let it go, not for awhile. Somthething needs to be done before there is a tragedy.

I would expect ALL of those employees to be fired immediately and that a new set of rules would immediately be enforced!!! That is so beyond unexcusable that I cannot find words to say what I think about it. Is this a chain fitness center? If so, I would be going BEYOND the local manager since you do not feel you were satisfied by what happened after you reported it. I would also be contacting the local department that deals with licensing these type of businesses. This could have had such a tragic outcome, while those three young girls visited with each other about their plans for the weekend

Wow, what a terrible ordeal! I would report t
Hem immediately to the state (Children & family srvcs, or whatever the regulating authority is in CA). From my experience the staff at fitness centers are often more interested in socializing with each other than truly watching the kids. must report it!

Yes she should fire everyone in there and she should lose her job too.
I agree with the others, report this to the director oof the fitness center and the state's department of children's services.
Unfortunately, we are so caught up in the moment and needing to get our child to safety that we don't call the authorities right then and there. I hope someone is able to help you. I think I might also go to the media, this is a good start.
Oh and I am sure if they lost your baby they have had similar negligences with other people's babies.

Mom, I'd contact the corporate office of the gym on Tuesday and tell them you want to file a complaint about the childcare center at your gym? I'm sure they ahve an 800 line if you look on their web-site on internet. Let them know what location you were at and exactly what happened and let them kjnow you plan to contact the state childcare lisensing dept too. Pls do this 1st thing after the holiday weekend, your situation was very scary and it needs to be addressed by corporate mgmnt. Policies regarding care of the children in this little center need to be out in place coprprate wide so that no other child is put in jeopardy there. Regarding contacting your state childcare licensing dept and filing a complaint tI would do that for sure too. Google " CA state childcare licensing dept"call them Tuesday too to report this gym facility. A registered complaint this will cause and stte inspectors to come out and investigate the childcare facility for safety. I would not use this child-watching center in the future, get a sitter our have family or friend come over to watch your child at home when you go to the gym. I would seriously consider cancelling my membership there. Hope this helps Mom. Hug that little one for me.

Unacceptable on many levels. The first thing I would do is write down everything that you remember. Details get lost sometimes....expecially when you are very upset. List names and times to the best of your recollection.

Second, contact the corporate office...immediately and often (every 24 hours if you don't receive a response)...though they'll likely jump all over it.

Third, do contact your state daycare licensing agency. But also be prepared to hear that they can't help you. Not every state licenses these types of facilities...not all are considered daycare since the parents are in the buidling.

Three caretakers is plenty for 10-15 kids, but they should be dividing duties by age groups so they are each responsible for a certain number of children.

At a minimum, I'd like to see their procedure for dealing with an instance like this. The manager should have been contacted the minute they couldn't locate your child. In my company, there are lock-down procedures that go into place if a child goes missing from the play area. Kids get into the darndest places, but there should be back-up procedures to mitigate the circumstance.

find out of they have a twitter and post it on there. You could also try contacting them this way: http://www.24hourfitness.com/company/contact_us/index.html but Twitter generally gets noticed because their customers go there.

ETA: Here is their twitter: http://twitter.com/24hourfitness
I know the lady from www.thespohrsaremultiplying.com had results from Delta Airlines when a bunch of her friends flooded their twitter acct after they lost her laptop.

For one thing, I would not return to that gym with my child. But are they following the laws of child care licensing. Are their ratios off? Because the seriousness of this particular mishap, I would report it to licensing. You are not going to get satisfaction, but licensing will come snoop around and that should help them clean it up some. Did the manager go down to the child care? It may be kind of hard to do that if they need to be caring for children and there are not enough replacement staff to watch the kids while they are reprimanded.

I think you need to take this a step higher... in other words, corporate... They need to know exactly what happened here... what IF (god forbid) your child was found dead... I mean.. seriously... there is TERRIBLE and yes, those girls need to be fired but moreover, I do wonder what kind of training they were given... this is terrible.... some other person's child could be next.
additionally, I would NOT go back to that gym..

That's extremely dangerous. You need to file a report, and let whomever the authority that regulates daycare in your state know about this. If you want your money back for your membership, I would say that you have every right to demand it. I wouldn't put my child back in the daycare either. Thank goodness your little guy is okay, that could have been a very dangerous situation, to have a toddler locked in a bathroom unsupervised. The staff to child ratio is correct, but if you are calling them "girls" I am thinking they're just teenagers and may not really be responsible enough to handle this.

I'm so sorry you had this experience, K.. This is why I don't let strangers watch my children. Honestly, they don't care about your son. They care about their paycheck. I would insist on more retribution for this. I don't think I could ever leave my child there again. Seriously. A first time indication that things in there is a warning to you. The second time, you would leave him KNOWING that they don't really watch the kids. If something goes wrong, you will always blame yourself. Insist on some sort of rule change there. Bathroom door must always be locked when not in use (so child can't get in there). How did the door get locked in the first place? Can your 15 mo really lock the door? Did they lock him in there for some reason? Do they have cameras in that room so that the workers are monitored? Were the workers teenagers? They need an adult in there. Teenagers probably are more interested in chatting than watching the kids. We only leave our kids with trusted people. Ever. But, I know that most people don't feel that they have someone like that they can leave their kids with.

Omg playing in the toliet?!! Not only could he have drowned, he could have bumped his head on the porcelain or floor. Not to mention all the germs and disgusting bacteria in a toliet! I would let everyone i know not to use their facilities and then i would seriously sue the s*%# out of them for child endangerment if an attorney would take my case! How could there be 3 girls and they lost him?? That is absolutely unacceptable.

It doesn't sound like anyone was aware that your child was missing until you came to check on him...?

File a report with the local governing licensing agency. I don't know what the child to provider ratio is, but perhaps they were over the limit or the girls were just incompetent or it was just an accident. Whatever the reason it needs to be on record. Maybe it will never happen again, or maybe another child with be seriously injured or worse. But if no one reports such things then nothing will be done.

I'm glad your little guy is ok...

Why did the girl have to unlock the bathroom to look for your son? How did he get in there if the door was locked? In my experience, a 15 month old can't lock a bathroom door by himself. Did they put him in there for some reason?
I would be furious no matter HOW he got in there. Teenagers that are old enough to hold a job are responsible enough to look after kids in a 5 kids to one helper ratio.

Don't feel bad about making a stink! This should never happen!

What?? OMG! First, I would call Corporate and document whom you speak with and what they say. 2nd, call like a daycare licensing department because this IS a business and surely they are licensed. 3rd, I would call and/or write the local news agencies too because this IS a real horrible thing that happened to you and if a business is going to offer childcare to their customers, they BETTER provide it. Losing a baby isn't childcare. The child/caretaker ratio does sound okay, so to lose a child was total negligence and stupidity. Lastly, for crying out loud, cancel your membership and go somewhere else!

I do want to thank you for telling us too. Now I know where NOT to go. But please, inform the news media outlets to see if they would be interested in covering this story and get them fined by the licensing board.

sorry to say.. you should call a lawyer on this... your child could have drowned.. many kids do around toilets.. they can fall in and not get out.. also these people watching children should be better trained... they let him slip by unnoticed.. what if someone came and picked him up.. like the wrong person.. would they have let him go... i think this place doesn't sound to good... you should also talk to the owners... they don't sound to good.. time to find a new gym?? and get your money back..

What an arrogant answer that manager gave you. How dare she respond like that do you. What should she do, fire everyone? YES! If it turned out your kid got hurt or (worse) died on her premise, her whole operation would be shut down.

That is disgusting to me. I would find a way to report this. Look online to see if day care regulations in your state cover places that also watch children, like churches and gyms. Or, contact the bureau that grants the gym their license to operate, and report there.

Not much you can do but be thankful he wasn't hurt. Stop going there and ask them to refund any portion of unused membership. Take care.

I had something similar occur when my son was 4 where he was in a swim lesson, daughter was in a tennis lesson, at an outdoor pool club. Long story short, the teens let my son leave the lesson early w/o an adult while I was picking up the daughter. Times were staggered to avoid this, but it happened just the same. He was almost to the parking lot when I got to him. Manager blamed ME. Police wouldn't do anything as it was a "private" club. Unfortunately since, I've never had them both in an activity at same (or nearly same) time like that again. Nor have I trusted fitness daycare before or after.

Exercise options: I have a newborn again and do kettlebells at home and go for walks. Alternate care w a friend or two?

I would call your local child care licensing agency, department of social services or whatever it's called there. Ours is at the local Department of Human Services. The licensing worker can go in with the complaint and force the ladiws to answer the questions about what happened and make sure they hae the proper training to be working in the classs they are responsible for.

I will tell on a friend of mine who is the Director of a child care cneter. I had a family come in one day and ask if they could start their 3 children the next morning. I found out later from my friend that their child had walked out of her center and went and sat in the parking lot and played in the gravel. That's where mom found him when she got there to pick up her kids...oh yes, he was about 20 months old. they had security gates to keep the toddlers in the classroom, they had camers's on every door and securty alarms. They had no idea how he did it.

Kids are going to find a way to do things. That being said, it's the adults job to make sure they live through it. My chid wouldn't be going here again.

Even with a low flush toilet a child can drown in a matter of seconds. It is a life threatening situation that happened there.

omg!!!

thanks for telling me,i go to 24 hour fitness sometimes, i will be much more diligent now

Not really a question but I would discontinue your financial support of this business. Hitting them in their wallet will send a message. But an even stronger message is to report them. I have to assume they are a licensed daycare provider? If so, report them to their licensing board. If not, call the police and lodge a complaint of child neglect.

I hope you get better results than I did- I belonged to a gym and somehow signed a 1 year contract- well my son was miserable in the childcare and no one consoled him, I could hear him cry throughout the entire gym. They had a huge climbing structure and he would get in it which I felt was dangerous for him. In the end when I attempted to end my membership after a month they made me pay for my entire year because I did not attend some sort of orientation. Unfortunately those fitness center daycares are TERRIBLE- I finally feel comfortable leaving my 5 year old there because he is old enough to handle it- they don't really do anything except stand around for the rest of the kids.

Yikes!! I would have a really hard time putting my child back in that situation the next time I went to workout. Not sure how much you rely on this type of childcare, but you might want to consider hiring a babysitter from your neighborhood to watch your son on a set schedule (like M-W-F from 5-7) while you workout. Call your pedi and find out if he should be put on some antibiotics as a preventative measure for anything he was exposed to in the toilet.

I wrote a paper about this for one of my early education classes. I observed and interviewed childcare in a few gyms and retailers in my area. It is true that because the parents are in the buildings, they don't have to meet certification criteria(including first aid/cpr!) that regular childcare facilities do. The worst place I observed was a gym/video store that rotated teenage clerks in the childcare room and had only 1 adult for the 25 toddlers that happened to come in that day.(a regular daycare has to have 1 adult for every 4 toddlers) Some places have stepped up and hire people with childcare credentials and schedule parent workouts to be able to staff appropriately, but not many have done this. I am so sorry you had to go through this! I would get a lawyer and sue for negligence. Things won't change any other way in my opinion.

Please do not go back there. It's not worth a "workout" to jeapordize your child's life. Clearly they have idiots running their center. Even if it was a "mistake", it could have cost your child his life.

If needbe, join somewhere else. But do get a refund and get out of that place. There is NO excuse for that kind of neglect.

OMG, immediately cancel your membership there. Immediately get on the phone with a higher up since that manager OBVIOUSLY is not worried about it. Make sure to get the names of those three girls so that when you call someone who SHOULD care about this you can give them their names. Make sure that when you talk to that person that you don't have to pay any kind of "cancallation" fee or lose any money! I don't know if you could get a lawyer, I highly doubt there is anything they could do. But don't ever put your son with them again! Anything happened to him and the owness would be on you, and you certainly don't want to live with that!