City of Tucson Parks and Recreation

I attempted to sign my twins up for little movers and shakers. I was told I could not because I do not have another parent to bring with me to supervise and allow the parent child ratio to be 1:1. After asking what kinds of activities this curriculum involves that allows it to be so exclusive, I was told nothing in the curriculum calls for the requirement of 1:1 ratio. I was told there is a safety hazard because there is gymnastics equipment around the room the children could hurt themselves on. Couldn’t babies who were born alone also hurt themselves? My first thought is hmmm lets fix the safety hazard, not turn away twins. I was also told that a lot of moms that are in this class are overweight and struggle to control their child. I was blown away. So many things wrong with that statement… First, don’t disrespect moms by calling them fat. Second, don’t judge my parenting, my physical agility, my ability to control my children and my children’s behavior based on what other children and parents do. Disgusting. I spoke with several people, including Fred Gray’s right hand man, who apparently asked risk management if we could come to the class who promised me answers why, I got nothing. Apparently being a twin makes you a risk and a liability. When I was finally called back, I was told this is the was it’s always been and that they are following the guidelines of some national recreation department. It doesn’t make good financial sense to turn away people who are willing to give you money for a service, x2, no sibling discount, nothing… You would think since it is public knowledge that the city is so broke, accommodations could be made. Please Tucson Recreation Department, stop discriminating against my children because they were not born alone! I am calling on Fred Grey for answers. With twins and triplets becoming more and more common, I am afraid the strict regulations will eventually not allow a lot of young children to participate in Tucson Rec activities. After being turned away at 15m, do you honestly think I will put them in ANY other Tucson Rec programs when they are older that do not require 1:1 parent to child ratio? No way!!! You are causing your own bad reputation in the community– I have never seen such a self destructive organization.