Whitaker Family YMCA — Local services in Lexington

I want to warn parents of YMCA Hamburg! Today, against my best judgment I went to register my child for their "Out of School" program, once registered, I went to a table outside of the large room the children were in - the lady sitting at the registration table checked us in. Two children came running out one tattling that a child made him mad for messing up his game. She told them to get back in the room, then continued to talk to me. I was disappointed with her lack of concern about the issue as I knew there was likely an altercation between the children about to take place, because he just said, "I am so mad!!" She didn't help him work through that emotion, just said go back inside. Just as expected, I witnessed this older child attack a child half his size and clearly much younger in age. He slammed him to the ground and kicked him over and over and I immediately made the worker aware and she went in to break them up. She had NO CLUE. Had I not seen it and said something she would have not known. She separated them then came back outside the room and sat back down. I asked if there were other workers in the room, she said yes one teacher who was around the corner of the room. I said, well ma'am there is more than 35 children, and it's my understanding the ratio is 1:15, is that correct? Yes, that's correct. I said okay, with that said there should be 3 workers in the room - not including you because you are not in the room, you are outside the room. Come to find out, the worker she thought was in the room WAS NOT! All 35+ children were left completely unattended!! I immediately notified the director, her response I think she went to get water as no one knew where she was - I reminded her while that is still completely unacceptable they were still over ratio. Her lack of concern about the situation was alarming. I said my child will NOT be going today or ever. As a working mother, it is so hard to leave my child with people from fear of all the unknowns and fear of negligence but when you have to work to survive you have to trust people to do right by your child. It's things like this that really make it so frustrating to work away from your child. It's unacceptable! Knowing what I know, I can not with a good conscious leave my child at a...

I truly believe the YMCA facilitates are the best family gyms in our community. They are safe and sanitary, especially my neighborhood Y at Whitaker. With that being said, I don’t know that they are the most friendly. Because the Y does cater to such a large demographic, the elderly plays an important role in these facilities. Today I had an unpleasant encounter with an older pickleball member who spoke to me rudely after my toddler innocently grabbed a ball from the pickleball court. She snatched the ball out of his hand and aggressively stated those are privately paid balls and closed the bin of balls. My son could have cared less, but she made me (a struggling pregnant mother with a toddler) feel bad for an innocent mistake. Had I been raised differently, I would have put this lady in her place, but chose to walk away. Furthermore, I have had this same kind of behavior projected onto me by the elder female front desk staff as well. They’ve scolded me for not scanning my toddler in or not being able to see him when he runs inside because he’s so small. One day, out of curiosity I asked the woman why the aquatic center closes when there’s thunder and lightening and she looked at me annoyed and firmly said, “It’s closed.” All I was looking for was an explanation. I asked the black man with long hair who works there and he was able to tell me the logistics behind the protocol. He is my favorite employee by the way, he is always so happy to be there and be working. It really makes a difference when he smiles at us as we enter and makes us feel welcomed. Unlike the elders (just the women), who are always cranky and look like they...

Friendly staff, pretty building, BUT people with light sensitivity shouldn't attempt to use the treadmills here if the sun is out. Since there are many, many people with light sensitivity, the facility really needs to tint the windows in the exercise room or put solar shades up to reduce the intensity of the sunlight for light-sensitive people or people who don't want retinal damage. In fact, I tried to get on a treadmill this morning at around 8AM when the sun was rising. I thought if I went to one of the corner treadmills that would be okay, but no relief could be found. The sunlight was painful no matter where I stood, so I had to leave because my eyes couldn't handle the intensity of the direct sunlight. The other design flaw is the narrow front entrance that won't allow for people to enter/exit at the same time. Also, the yoga room is way too small. Whomever designed it forgot that a whole bunch of people are lying on the floor, fully stretched out, trying not to get in someone else's space, plus using equipment, which takes up more space around people. From the outside the building looks HUGE, so I can't understand why the exercise facilities seem so small. I haven't had a building tour, so I'm left with the question of what is taking up all that space? It's a beautiful facility, but some practicalities were definitely sacrificed for the sake of a pretty design. I'd rather have the...