The diary of Dad

It’s that time of the week again, Wednesday morning is almost upon us which means one thing, Hartbeeps time!

There are, of course, many places that my Son Robbie loves. None of these offer the same structure and developmental benefits that come along with our weekly hour of fun at Hartbeeps.

We have now been going to Hartbeeps for around a year and Robbie has moved from Beeps class onto Happy house, meaning he is now playing with toddlers who can walk and it is all a lot more lively. Most of this review is focused on the Happy house age group, though he certainly enjoyed his time in Beeps too!

Lauren runs the class and Robbie is simply mesmerised by her as he watches every action, dance and action with such focus. The other kids and their mums (and the odd Dad) are the same each week meaning that the kids and family can make new friends and however silly things may get, and they certainly do, everybody feels comfortable.

The session always starts the same. Building blocks all over the centre of the room for the kids that arrive early to go and play with together. We always make sure we turn up 15 minutes before the start as Robbie loves building and playing with Lauren before the chaos begins.

‘Welcome to Hartbeeps the happy house,’ a song so catchy that you end up singing it all day, starts off proceedings. The adults sing along whilst the kids copy the actions. Having been using Hartbeeps for a while now, it is clear for us to see how Robbie is developing and joining in with the song more each week.

This is not what Hartbeeps is all about though. The educational side is just a bonus that goes alongside the fun and laughter you will have with your child. The more that you laugh and join in, the more you will get from Hartbeeps.

There are crazy outfits to wear and catchy songs and dances show off you lack of rhythm (or is that just me?) Robbie has always had a strange hatred of wearing hats so many of the costumes end up being worn by Mum and I whilst he just laughs at us!

There are a number of regular songs and actions that can be used at home aswell. The ‘listening ears’ song often brings us a few minutes of relative peace as Robbie will sit silently and take everything in.

It all ends with possibly the most helpful song sequence ever created as ‘tidy time’ encourages the kids to run around the room and clean up all the mess as fast as they can before the celebratory chorus of ‘we did the tidy time’ has the parents and kids congratulating each other on the nice clean room with high fives and more dancing. We have used this in countless occasions at home and it is a real winner!

There is absolutely no doubt that Robbie awards Hartbeeps a 5 star rating, but it also top marks from his Mum and Dad aswell, we all love it!

Hartbeeps run award winning classes from newborn babies all the way up to pre school and with over 100 centres nationwide there is sure to be a centre near you.

If you are interested in finding out more about Hartbeeps and your nearest centre, you can find their website at www.hartbeeps.com/.

Thanks for taking the time to check out our review. If you would like to see more of Robbie’s thoughts on our favourite places, you can find them in the link below.

The diary of Dad series focuses on the very early days of becoming a father and will hopefully give you a good giggle, if you would like to check out the story from the very beginning, check out the links below.