Each semester, we welcome families back and welcome new members to The Little Gym. In our announcements we ask (challenge!) parents to get to know each other. You'll be sitting next to each other for 19 weeks, and we have fascinating parents who come to the gym. We've had Trailblazer families, local TV personalities and producers, parents in all sorts of professions and into all sorts of hobbies. By saying hello, you never know who you'll meet.
In January of this year, we a Dad came in to try a class with his 2 year old. He said that grandmother (his mother) would be coming to class too. She was visiting from out of town. When she arrived, I asked where she was from. She said Massachusetts. (I am too.) I asked where. She said Natick. (I am too.) It turns out that her son who was in The Little Gym class, graduated from my high school 2 years ahead of me. We enjoyed trying to find connections from the past.
Just this past Monday, at my son's very first Cub Scout pack meeting, I was standing next to another Dad as the new Tiger Cubs were doing some running races. We got to talking and I found out that he had moved out to West Linn over the summer and was from Massachusetts... yes... Natick too. He graduated the year before me. He also went to the same college as me (Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts) with the same major.
That's quite a coincidence that I ran into two others from Natick, Massachusetts, a fairly small town in the suburbs of Boston.
So next time, you're at The Little Gym, say hello to another parent. Ask if they're originally from Portland. Find out what they do, or what hobbies they have. You just might meet a *really* fascinating person, or perhaps an old (or new) friend!
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Our Fall Open House is this Sunday from 2-5pm
Twice a year, we open the doors to the general public to come visit The Little Gym of Lake Oswego during our Open House. This Sunday will be Marie and my 10th Open House. (This January is our 5 year anniversary of owning & operating The Little Gym of Lake Oswego, and the 15th anniversary of The Little Gym of Lake Oswego's existence!)
All The Little Gym employees will be on hand showing skill demos, leading activities, serving refreshments and most of all, ensuring that all guests have a fun and *safe* time at the gym. We'll be raffling off t-shirts, CD's, hats, Winter Break camp days, free annual memberships, and the grand prize of a free annual membership plus 4 weeks of classes at the gym.
Every year, we wonder how well we have gotten the word out about our Open House. And we always keep our fingers crossed that we'll have a good turn-out.
If you're reading this and you haven't been to The Little Gym before, or recently, we hope that you'll come for a visit this Sunday (2-5pm), and meet us and have a little bit of fun while learning about The Little Gym. For directions, please see the Announcement page of our Web site.
All The Little Gym employees will be on hand showing skill demos, leading activities, serving refreshments and most of all, ensuring that all guests have a fun and *safe* time at the gym. We'll be raffling off t-shirts, CD's, hats, Winter Break camp days, free annual memberships, and the grand prize of a free annual membership plus 4 weeks of classes at the gym.
Every year, we wonder how well we have gotten the word out about our Open House. And we always keep our fingers crossed that we'll have a good turn-out.
If you're reading this and you haven't been to The Little Gym before, or recently, we hope that you'll come for a visit this Sunday (2-5pm), and meet us and have a little bit of fun while learning about The Little Gym. For directions, please see the Announcement page of our Web site.
Saturday, September 4, 2010
The Little Gym voted #1 by Metro Parent Magazine readers!
We are excited to announce that The Little Gym of Lake Oswego was recently awarded the #1 Birthday Party Place *and* #1 Children's Gym in the greater Portland area in Metro Parent Magazine's 2010 "Family Favorites" Reaader Survey.
Each year Metro Parent Magazine surveys its readers of their "family favorite" places in the Portland region. In their September 2010 issue, the winners were announced.
Thank you, members and friends for voting The Little Gym #1! You can read about all of the Family Favorites winners on pages 32-35 in the September issue: http://www.metro-parent.com/issues/sept10/index.html
Here's what they said about The Little Gym:
Birthday Party Place
The Little Gym earned top honors in this category with the consensus being that they do it all for you – and it’s all fun. “Love their ‘care free’ birthday parties. They do everything for you!”
Children’s Gym
The Little Gym also (overwhelmingly) took the top spot in this category. Along with their “very nurturing and knowledgeable instructors,” several parents mentioned that their children have gained considerable confidence through their classes there.
You all know how hard we try to hire and train the very best instructors to implement The Little Gym programs so your children can grow their skills and confidence each week, and your pride in them can soar. Now the rest of Portland knows too! Thank you!
Each year Metro Parent Magazine surveys its readers of their "family favorite" places in the Portland region. In their September 2010 issue, the winners were announced.
Thank you, members and friends for voting The Little Gym #1! You can read about all of the Family Favorites winners on pages 32-35 in the September issue: http://www.metro-parent.com/issues/sept10/index.html
Here's what they said about The Little Gym:
Birthday Party Place
The Little Gym earned top honors in this category with the consensus being that they do it all for you – and it’s all fun. “Love their ‘care free’ birthday parties. They do everything for you!”
Children’s Gym
The Little Gym also (overwhelmingly) took the top spot in this category. Along with their “very nurturing and knowledgeable instructors,” several parents mentioned that their children have gained considerable confidence through their classes there.
You all know how hard we try to hire and train the very best instructors to implement The Little Gym programs so your children can grow their skills and confidence each week, and your pride in them can soar. Now the rest of Portland knows too! Thank you!
So long Summer, hello Fall!
Is summer over already? Yikes! I read a great book (before kids) about innovation. It talked about how some things speed up and some things slow down. It's probably a bit controversial so I won't put all of the details here. E.g. Discussions about the Big Bang and about computers developing the ability to think like live humans. Email me if you want the title. :-) As we age, it does seem that time goes by faster.
My children are now 6 and 9. Blaise had his birthday -- a Star War themed party at The Little Gym -- a few months back, and Freya's having a sleep over party tonight with 8 of her friends. (A friend suggested I turn the clocks forward 2 hours and buy some ear plugs.) For Freya and Blaise, hopefully they're enjoying their childhood, relishing each experience and growing from them.
This summer we had them enrolled in various camps around Portland. They experienced digging through regurgitated owl pellets, finding small mouse bones. They learned how to "post" at horse camp. And we all got introduced to tennis via a fun family tennis lesson for a few Tuesdays this summer. We did get away for a week to a cabin in California. Freya did her first "real" hike with us and did her first (guided) trail ride on a horse with me. And we did get the annual Oregon Coast camping trip in last weekend. We also had plenty of down-time so they could experience the obligatory boredom of summer and focus on coming up with creative ways to keep boredom at bay. (I'm still trying to get the stains out of our carpet.)
With Fall starting, they're excited to start school. We met their teachers the other day at their Open House. This is also the first year that Freya and Blaise can do gymnastics together (Grade School Flips/Hot Shots). We'll see how that goes.
I'm excited about our Fall semester at the gym starting. We have a few new instructors coming on board and are saying good-bye to a few too. Teacher Amy is going to be traveling for a good chunk of the semester, so she'll be around helping with some training and substituting for a while. Teacher Kelly (the *new* Kelly) has some family committments and is going to be finishing nurisng school. And Teacher Michael is going back to OSU for his sophomore year. Hopefully they'll *all* be back again!
Teacher Ana joins us in our Parent/Child, and Pre/K gymnastics and dance prorams. She recently graduated from Lewis & Clark from their Theater program. She's going to be directing one of their upcoming productions. And Teacher Andrea is joining us from The Little Gym of Beaverton. She'll be leading Birthday Parties and helping out in some Pre/K and Grade school classes too.
We're looking forward to having many of our summer class and camp students coming back for Fall classes, and we're excited about how many of of our former students and brand new students have been signing up in droves these past few weeks. It's going to be a great year!
Let's hope it doesn't go *too* fast so we can enjoy it! :-)
Happy handstands. -Ron
My children are now 6 and 9. Blaise had his birthday -- a Star War themed party at The Little Gym -- a few months back, and Freya's having a sleep over party tonight with 8 of her friends. (A friend suggested I turn the clocks forward 2 hours and buy some ear plugs.) For Freya and Blaise, hopefully they're enjoying their childhood, relishing each experience and growing from them.
This summer we had them enrolled in various camps around Portland. They experienced digging through regurgitated owl pellets, finding small mouse bones. They learned how to "post" at horse camp. And we all got introduced to tennis via a fun family tennis lesson for a few Tuesdays this summer. We did get away for a week to a cabin in California. Freya did her first "real" hike with us and did her first (guided) trail ride on a horse with me. And we did get the annual Oregon Coast camping trip in last weekend. We also had plenty of down-time so they could experience the obligatory boredom of summer and focus on coming up with creative ways to keep boredom at bay. (I'm still trying to get the stains out of our carpet.)
With Fall starting, they're excited to start school. We met their teachers the other day at their Open House. This is also the first year that Freya and Blaise can do gymnastics together (Grade School Flips/Hot Shots). We'll see how that goes.
I'm excited about our Fall semester at the gym starting. We have a few new instructors coming on board and are saying good-bye to a few too. Teacher Amy is going to be traveling for a good chunk of the semester, so she'll be around helping with some training and substituting for a while. Teacher Kelly (the *new* Kelly) has some family committments and is going to be finishing nurisng school. And Teacher Michael is going back to OSU for his sophomore year. Hopefully they'll *all* be back again!
Teacher Ana joins us in our Parent/Child, and Pre/K gymnastics and dance prorams. She recently graduated from Lewis & Clark from their Theater program. She's going to be directing one of their upcoming productions. And Teacher Andrea is joining us from The Little Gym of Beaverton. She'll be leading Birthday Parties and helping out in some Pre/K and Grade school classes too.
We're looking forward to having many of our summer class and camp students coming back for Fall classes, and we're excited about how many of of our former students and brand new students have been signing up in droves these past few weeks. It's going to be a great year!
Let's hope it doesn't go *too* fast so we can enjoy it! :-)
Happy handstands. -Ron
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Sports Skills at The Little Gym
It’s Summer Sports Week at The Little Gym. This week, we incorporate a few activities from our Sports Skills program into our Preschool/Kindergarten and Grade School gymnastics classes.
Our Sports Skills program is designed to develop basic sports skills and create a foundation for positive athletic experiences. It’s for 3-6 years old boys and girls, broken out by age groups, and uses a variety of innovative sport exercises, lead-up games and drills to teach the basic understanding of the rules and strategies associated with specific sports.
This week in our gymnastics classes, we’ll introduce the basketball chest pass, work on soccer dribbling, trapping, and kicking, football throwing and catching, and tennis (as well as including gymnastics).
Being an instructor at The Little Gym for over 4.5 years, and leading many Sports Skills classes over those years, I’ve seen the benefits of our Sports Skills class first-hand in many of the children who have been in our sports program. One of my favorite semesters was when I had only 4 children enrolled in a summer class – Mini Jacks, for 3-4 year olds. Two of the children were boys who had an amazing amount of energy and a comparable lack of focus. The other two children were girls that were completely the opposite. From feedback after classes, I understand the parents in the lobby were getting quite a kick out of the weekly “show” of me trying to engage all four children appropriately. What seemed to work well for the boys was when I pretended that we were doing racecar baseball, or dinosaur soccer.
It was hard to see the growth in those 2 boys from week to week, but they loved the class and their parents kept them in the sports skills program for several years. Eventually they became the “rock stars” in the class, learning the skills, and (eventually), improving their focus and concentration. One of those boys joined our advanced 5-6 year old class, (and also one of those 2 girls as well!).
Parents wonder if their child should do one semester of sports skills. We do mix up the sports each semester, with the Fall concentrating on soccer, football, and basketball (with a little bowling, and volleyball added). And in the Winter/Spring we focus on hockey, golf, and baseball (with a week of track & field, and Frisbee). As with any sport, repetition builds skills and confidence. So yes, as with any of our programs, it truly is a 2-3 year timeframe to get benefits of the program, learning the skills, and building a soaring sense of confidence. And those children who do spend 1-2 years in the sports program will have an increased ability in all of those sports.
I think I’ve given the example of my son a bunch of times. He just turned 6 a few weeks ago. Blaise spent several semesters in the sports skills class. That’s the class that helped him get out of his shell and join in the first 15 minutes of the class. He really enjoyed the various sports “games” we played, from dribbling the soccer ball around the parachute and then kicking the balll towards the cones in the center of the parachute, or our “Tower of Power” game where we throw footballs to knock a cone off a tower of “hot dog” mats.
This past spring, Blaise, agreed to join T-ball. Of course, after I signed him up, he freaked out, saying that he *didn’t* want to do T-ball. I insisted that we come try the first practice and see how it goes. Blaise was by far not the strongest player on the team. He has not been very interested in playing ball with me on the weekends, so I was impressed when he followed the coach’s directions and started playing catch with the other boys on his team. And he started to love going to his (*many*) practices and games. Even though I think it rained every day this past season, he loved going and playing T-ball with his new friends.
I loved it too. My pride in Blaise grew each week. The last 3 weeks of the season, the coaches started pitching to the kids. If they didn’t get a hit after about 4 pitches, the coaches would bring out the batting T. Blaise always got the T… until the last game. His first at-bat, he hit the first pitch from the coach. And I *saw* it!
Our Sports Skills program is designed to develop basic sports skills and create a foundation for positive athletic experiences. It’s for 3-6 years old boys and girls, broken out by age groups, and uses a variety of innovative sport exercises, lead-up games and drills to teach the basic understanding of the rules and strategies associated with specific sports.
This week in our gymnastics classes, we’ll introduce the basketball chest pass, work on soccer dribbling, trapping, and kicking, football throwing and catching, and tennis (as well as including gymnastics).
Being an instructor at The Little Gym for over 4.5 years, and leading many Sports Skills classes over those years, I’ve seen the benefits of our Sports Skills class first-hand in many of the children who have been in our sports program. One of my favorite semesters was when I had only 4 children enrolled in a summer class – Mini Jacks, for 3-4 year olds. Two of the children were boys who had an amazing amount of energy and a comparable lack of focus. The other two children were girls that were completely the opposite. From feedback after classes, I understand the parents in the lobby were getting quite a kick out of the weekly “show” of me trying to engage all four children appropriately. What seemed to work well for the boys was when I pretended that we were doing racecar baseball, or dinosaur soccer.
It was hard to see the growth in those 2 boys from week to week, but they loved the class and their parents kept them in the sports skills program for several years. Eventually they became the “rock stars” in the class, learning the skills, and (eventually), improving their focus and concentration. One of those boys joined our advanced 5-6 year old class, (and also one of those 2 girls as well!).
Parents wonder if their child should do one semester of sports skills. We do mix up the sports each semester, with the Fall concentrating on soccer, football, and basketball (with a little bowling, and volleyball added). And in the Winter/Spring we focus on hockey, golf, and baseball (with a week of track & field, and Frisbee). As with any sport, repetition builds skills and confidence. So yes, as with any of our programs, it truly is a 2-3 year timeframe to get benefits of the program, learning the skills, and building a soaring sense of confidence. And those children who do spend 1-2 years in the sports program will have an increased ability in all of those sports.
I think I’ve given the example of my son a bunch of times. He just turned 6 a few weeks ago. Blaise spent several semesters in the sports skills class. That’s the class that helped him get out of his shell and join in the first 15 minutes of the class. He really enjoyed the various sports “games” we played, from dribbling the soccer ball around the parachute and then kicking the balll towards the cones in the center of the parachute, or our “Tower of Power” game where we throw footballs to knock a cone off a tower of “hot dog” mats.
This past spring, Blaise, agreed to join T-ball. Of course, after I signed him up, he freaked out, saying that he *didn’t* want to do T-ball. I insisted that we come try the first practice and see how it goes. Blaise was by far not the strongest player on the team. He has not been very interested in playing ball with me on the weekends, so I was impressed when he followed the coach’s directions and started playing catch with the other boys on his team. And he started to love going to his (*many*) practices and games. Even though I think it rained every day this past season, he loved going and playing T-ball with his new friends.
I loved it too. My pride in Blaise grew each week. The last 3 weeks of the season, the coaches started pitching to the kids. If they didn’t get a hit after about 4 pitches, the coaches would bring out the batting T. Blaise always got the T… until the last game. His first at-bat, he hit the first pitch from the coach. And I *saw* it!
Thursday, July 29, 2010
More Proud Parent Moments
We talk about how at The Little Gym you have the opportunity to feel pride in your child each week. Well this week, I felt a ton of pride in my son. My son, Blaise, has been in The Little Gym programs since my wife and I became owners of the gym 4.5 years ago. Our nanny brought him to classes for the first few years, and he joined the Funny Bugs class by accident when she brought him to the wrong class time. He was already three but with his temperment, we thought it best to keep him in a parent-participation class for a little longer. He ended up doing great and we kept him in the Funny Bugs class.
This week was a week of the next transition. Blaise turned 6 last month, but due to other committments, he couldn't join the grade school "Hot Shots" class until this week. Like his sister, he was very reluctant to join the "big kid" gymnastics class. He's probably going to do the all-boys Tuesday class, but this week, he came on Wednesday to the co-ed 4:15pm Flips & Hot Shots class. And he did great! He kept up with the other children in class, was beaming as he ran around the gym in the warmup, going all-out. And the other boys welcomed him into the class.
I loved it! As a parent, there is nothing better than that feeling of pride in your child. It's a very strong emotion. This week we allowed parents into classses to watch a portion of class. It was enough, for me, to get a good dose of pride... which translated to ice cream after class for all. :-) I hope you were able to get a good dose of pride in your child or children this week!
Happy handstands,
Teacher Ron
This week was a week of the next transition. Blaise turned 6 last month, but due to other committments, he couldn't join the grade school "Hot Shots" class until this week. Like his sister, he was very reluctant to join the "big kid" gymnastics class. He's probably going to do the all-boys Tuesday class, but this week, he came on Wednesday to the co-ed 4:15pm Flips & Hot Shots class. And he did great! He kept up with the other children in class, was beaming as he ran around the gym in the warmup, going all-out. And the other boys welcomed him into the class.
I loved it! As a parent, there is nothing better than that feeling of pride in your child. It's a very strong emotion. This week we allowed parents into classses to watch a portion of class. It was enough, for me, to get a good dose of pride... which translated to ice cream after class for all. :-) I hope you were able to get a good dose of pride in your child or children this week!
Happy handstands,
Teacher Ron
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Another fun week coming up... Guppies to Puppies!
Now that Who's Your Hero camp week is over, I'm setting my sights on our Guppies to Puppies week -- the week of August 16 - 20. During our classes that week, we invite students to bring in a pet to show to their class during the opening circle or closing circle (or lobby if it's a large animal).
And during our camps, we arrange special guest animal visitors for each day. In years past, we had visits from a one-legged cat, several snakes, bearded dragons, a pony and a horse. Plus we've had visitors from several non-profits:
This year, we will have a visit by some hissing cockroaches. possibly some walking stick bugs; and we'll go next door to Cat Care Professionals and visit some cats staying at their B&B.
We're looking for other pet visitors that week. So if you have a pet you'd like to bring in to show off, we'd love to have you! Call (503) 595-9702 and talk with Ron for arrangements.
Happy Handstands!
And during our camps, we arrange special guest animal visitors for each day. In years past, we had visits from a one-legged cat, several snakes, bearded dragons, a pony and a horse. Plus we've had visitors from several non-profits:
- Project Pooch -- an organization that has successfully paired youths incarcerated at the MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility in Woodburn, Oregon, with homeless shelter dogs since 1993.
- PAWS - a non-profit cat adoption center in West Linn, Oregon. Their mission is to place as many homeless cats and kittens into loving, caring homes.
- Cat Adoption Team - the Pacific Northwest’s largest nonprofit, limited admission cat shelter.
This year, we will have a visit by some hissing cockroaches. possibly some walking stick bugs; and we'll go next door to Cat Care Professionals and visit some cats staying at their B&B.
We're looking for other pet visitors that week. So if you have a pet you'd like to bring in to show off, we'd love to have you! Call (503) 595-9702 and talk with Ron for arrangements.
Happy Handstands!
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