Time to vote in Metro Parent Magazine's Family Favorites annual contest!

Now through August 14, Metro Parent Magazine is asking their readers to tell them about their “family favorite” destinations. They’ll announce the winners in September.   One reader, selected at random, will win a Family Fun Package that includes a $50 gift card to the “Family Favorite” restaurant, a $50 gift card to the top children’s book shop and other family fun items. 

We would truly love it if you would vote for The Little Gym in both categories:

• Birthday party venue

• Children’s Gym

The URL is http://www.metro-parent.com/family_favorite/    Please vote by Aug. 14; one entry per household.

Thank you!!

Greetings from Australia!

Well... not from me!!  One of our The Little Gym kids sent us a hello from Australia.  Phoenix moved to Portland about 2 years ago and joined us for summer camps (at age 4 yrs 9 months).  She loved it and showed an aptitude for gymnastics, so her mother signed her up for classes.  It was fun having Phoenix in class (I was the Lead Instructor) -- she's a fun girl with a cute accent. 

Phoenix stayed in our program, moving up to our advanced 5-6 year old Mini Jets class before she and her family moved back to Australia.  (She started taking a competitive program at the Oregon Gymnastics Academy during that time, while still attending The Little Gym classes.)

Over the weekend, we got an email from Phoenix' mom, with an update on how the family was doing.  We're all very proud of Phoenix and her accomplishments and we miss her!   Here's an edited version of the email:

"We would like to say a big thank you for introducing our daughter Phoenix to the Little Gym and in particular gymnastics.  The Little Gym is a fantastic environment for children and we wanted to express our gratitude to the Little Gym at Lake Oswego.Phoenix absolutely loved coming to class at the little gym in the mini jets and we have now moved back to Australia.

Since moving back to Australia, Phoenix has been training at [ ]...an Elite gym club here in [their hometown].  She was with the PreSquad last year, moved to the International Development Program 1 earlier in the year and is now training with the IDP2 team. She is now training 14 hours a week and has recently started competing....which she is completely passionate about.

[My husband] and I wanted to thank you and your team for introducing Phoenix to a sport that she now has so much passion for.  We have attached some photos from her competition today...Gold on floor, beam, vault and bars and first all around!!!"

What a great afternoon! He did it!

On Sunday, we took the training wheels off for the first time and it was a disaster. (Read the blog post.) On Monday I backed off and we tried it again for about 10-15 minutes. (Read blog #2.)   Today, Tuesday, we tried again, and within minutes, Blaise was riding his 2-wheeler all by himself, and he didn't want to stop!

It's times like this, when your child has a breakthrough, when you have that huge surge of pride.  It feels great. We were actually in the parking lot of The Little Gym.  I ran in and got Teacher Angela to videotape Blaise.  After this video he rode up and down the parking lot, getting better each time, learning how to start by himself and stop by himself.  I went inside and emailed it to my wife.  It's going out to the whole family later today. 

So, maybe Blaise was ready for this... he's been riding his bike with training wheels for a while and he has the strength to peddle it pretty fast, and his balance is more advanced than a 4 year old.  But even, so, to be finally sans training wheels is a great feeling.  Yay!

Update regarding Bicycle Training Frustration

I blogged yesterday about reducing frustration in children, and my experience trying to help my son learn how to ride a 2-wheeler.  I included a link to a great article about helping children with frustration. 

Well, I tried again last night.  After coming home from working at The Little Gym, I told my kids that we were going to the Rosemont Ridge Middle School track so Blaise could work on riding a 2-wheeler.  He asked if he could start with his training wheels on.  I said, "Yes."

We got to the school and I took the bikes off the car.  Blaise started wheeling his bike down to the track (without his training wheels on yet). When I got down there, he said that he was ok trying to ride his bike without the training wheels first.  I think that goes along with what Dr. Jim Taylor (of the Psychology Today article) says -- frustration can be good when it gives someone the drive to overcome an obstacle.  I think Blaise had enough time between Sunday's day of frustration, to calm down and focus on overcoming that obstacle. 

So Blaise tried a little bit on his own, and a little bit with my help.  And when he started to get frustrated again, we stopped and went to the library.  It was a much more positive experience.  I'm excited to try again later this week. 

Helping your child when they get frustrated...

Our son turned 7 last month.  We don't go bike riding much, so we haven't pushed getting rid of his training wheels.  He is quite the cruiser on his 4-wheeled bike, but this summer, by gosh, he was going to learn to ride a 2-wheeler.

Blaise wasn't quite in the same mindframe as his mother and I were this past weekend.  On Saturday we got the kids into the car, attached the bikes to the trunk thing, and drove to Rosemont Ridge Middle School in West Linn.  The "rubberized" track seemed like a great place to try, and we were lucky that there weren't many people there.  We actually shared the track with another family who was trying to teach their 4(?) year old to ride a 2-wheeler.

My wife, Marie, tried with Blaise for a little bit, but Marie didn't bring the right shoes to go running alongside him.  A 7-year old has the strength to peddle pretty fast and for a good length of time, which is great for learning to ride a bike, but it quite a challenge for a parent holding on and running.  I then had a turn.  Blaise got the peddling thing, but not the balance thing.  And it was all my fault.  Blaise's frustration was rising because I was holding on to him too tight, or pulling him or pushing him the wrong way.   He wanted to quit before completing 100 yards. 

Marie and I were getting a little frustrated too.  And I'm sure it was showing, even though we tried to be patient.  This was just *the* day that we had some time, and remembered, and we wanted to make progress, whether he liked it or not!

I think we eventually backed off before things blew up.  Later in the evening, I asked Marie, how we raised two children who get so frustrated so fast.  She suggested that perhaps we didn't allow them to experience frustration much as younger children.  (I can't remember if we did or didn't.)

But I did find an article on PsychologyToday.com about children's frustration and what you can do about it.  I love how it describes the chain from Frustration to Anger to Despair, and how you really don't want to go down that path.  The author, Jim Taylor, Ph.D, talks about taking breaks from the activitiy before you get to the more negative emotions, and doing something else that your child can be successful in.  Then when the emotional and physical stress is gone, you can go back and talk about the activity and frustration, and try again, or focus on an aspect of the activity that might be easier to succeed at. 

It's a great article, and I think I'll try this if I can convince Blaise to go bike riding sometime this week.  Wish me luck!
 -Ron

Candy at Summer Camp?

On Wednesday, as I was dropping off my 7 year old at a local science-related summer camp, one of the other moms asked the camp instructor if they would be having candy at camp that day.  I didn't realize that the children were getting treats at their camp, so as we walked back to our cars, I asked the mom if they had candy earlier in the week.  She said that the kids used candy as the planets in a solar system design project, and then got to eat the candy.  And today, for the last day of camp, the campers are going to be using cake in some manner as well.  (My son says that it's going to be the "sun".  He doesn't want to go to his sister's Magic show at 2:45pm because he doesn't want to miss the cake.)

I'm a bit saddened that my children are getting treats at their summer camps.  Yes, it's super fun... and yes, I love treats too, but I prefer to be the one giving them out.  And my expectation is that the camps they attend help them grow physically, mentally, or socially.  My son did a multi-sport camp during the first week of summer and he also was looking forward to the Friday camp that week because they get candy. 

My 9-year old daughter's wizard camp isn't much better.  She said that they might watch a Harry Potter movie this week -- definitely not in the published syllabus for that camp.  I'm *hoping* she was mistaken. I would assume that no camp would show a PG-rated movie without asking parents. 

Now, there are some The Little Gyms that do give out treats on various occasions, and some have TV's in their multi-purpose rooms so siblings can watch TV while their brothers or sisters are in class.   When we became owners of The Little Gym of Lake Oswego 5+ years ago, we thought it was against everything we teach to offer unhealthy treats or have television/movies.  Our goal is to make fitness and being healthy fun!   The only exception we have is that during Pirate week, the Grade School kids find (as natural/organic as possible) fruit snacks during their treasure hunt (Pre/K kids find "gold coins" or other pirate trinkets).

We work our tails off to make classes and camps super fun (Serious Fun), so your children learn new physical skills in every class, make new friends, learn how to work better in a group environment, and learn healthy habits.   Hopefully that's enough to make them (and you) want to come back!