Today Bethany and Meagan started a gymnastics class at a YMCA near us. I'd been looking for some sort of summer program to give the kids something to do, and something that involved some sort of exercise was even better. I thought about soccer--every time we see kids out playing soccer when we go to the park, it's all I can do to keep her off the field--but I don't think she's quite ready for anything that structured yet, especially considering how competitive some people around here get. I also thought about summer preschool, but I did want to get them up and moving, so I finally decided on the gymnastics. Based on what they did today, I think it was a great decision. They both had so much fun! Bethany loves running and jumping and hopping around, and she got to do all of that. They did some warm-ups, then went through an obstacle course where they jumped up on a huge pile of mats, then hopped through some hoops, did somersaults, rolled and crawled through a tunnel. They did that course a couple of times, then moved to a second course where there was a balance beam, bars to go hand-over-hand along, more hoops, and this bar where they hung from their hands while putting their feet on the bar at the same time for at least three seconds. Meagan had a hard time staying in the line and taking her turn--she just kept running from station to station, and not necessarily in the right order. The teachers were really patient with her, though.
The only bad part was at the end. They gave all the kids a stamp on their hands, which Bethany did NOT like at all. She immediately told me she wanted it off, and kept trying to rub it off. I ended up giving her a diaper wipe in the car, which she used to get it off. Also, on our way out, we passed by the swimming pool. It looks just like the pool I tried to have Bethany take swimming lessons in last year (or was it the year before that?) that ended so badly, so I didn't think she'd want to have anything to do with it. Both the kids kept asking to go swimming, though. They stared through the windows for a while before I got them moving again. The YMCA offers a discount on the gymnastics class if you sign your child up for swimming lessons at the same time. If they keep bugging me about going swimming, I might just try it out. I'll probably take Bethany to a real pool first, to see if she's okay with it before I try the lessons, though.
All in all, they had fun, and I think this will be good for them.
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2 comments:
What a fun idea :) I can't wait to see pictures! I remember taking swimming lessons when I was really little too-and it didn't go well for me either. After going under a few times in the deep end, I remember crawling through kids legs to get off the diving board.
Fun! I want to see pictures too.
Haha, I remember your swimming lessons too Pamela, because we used to sit on the cement "DONS" outside the fence and eat Alphabits cereal while waiting for you.
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