Cool or Not Cool: Using the YMCA free daycare while you run errands?

Photo by Flickr User Betty Blade

One of the great things about the Park Slope YMCA is that they offer totally free daycare for parents who want to work out, but don't want to pay a babysitter while hitting up that spin class. The "child watch" system, as it's called, is simple: parents drop their kids off in a designated supervised area, work out, and then pick them up on the way out. Easy, right?

But what you may not know is that some parents have been dropping off their kids at the YMCA daycare, and then sneaking out for some time away from their kids and their exercise routine.  

In fact, this "drop and shop" routine (as I like to call it) became such a problem that the Y had to institute a system to prevent that from happening. These days they ask you to leave your ID with your kids upon dropping them off. But according to our YMCA tipster (who asked to remain anonymous), that rule isn't stopping people from slipping out the front door. "You can get back in without your ID by just giving your name at the check-in," she tells us. "People do it all the time. You can always tell when someone hasn't been working out. But there's nothing we can do to stop them."

Now I have to wonder -- what kinds of things do you think these parents are doing while their kids sit at the YMCA childcare? Perhaps a trip to the 9th Street Laundrette? Some grocery shopping at C-Town might be a little suspect, especially if you return to pick up your kids with bags and bags of food. But I could totally see someone heading to Colson for a quiet cup of coffee and a croissant. Personally, I'd take a trip to the Dram Shop and throw back a few pints. That sounds way better than working out.

What do you think FIPSters? Dropping your kids at the YMCA daycare and slip out of the building to run errands: Cool Or Not Cool?