Parent/Tot Tumbling Class with Little Guy

This month, I enrolled Little Guy and me in a Parent/Tot Tumbling class through my City's recreation program. It was 4 classes. 

I wasn't sure what to expect! What I noticed: 

• He is extremely active (I always knew this - but interesting seeing it in an organized activity environment). 
• He's also very independent and would rather do his own thing rather than participating with me and going through obstacle courses.
• He's only 20 months and his attention span is pretty short, he loses interest in the organized activities after 10 minutes. Which I think is age-appropriate. 
• He is a jokester, trying to get other kids to laugh with him and acting silly. 
• When he needed a "break" he went and sat down by himself. 
• He is very confident. I hope this sticks. 

The class is geared to have the Parent and Toddler interact, kinda. Basically, I'm left following him around and encouraging him to go through the obstacle course and praising him when he makes it through. The thing is, my Little Guy would rather try it on his own and he doesn't really like it when I hover! 

Things he liked: 

• He liked trying to do the forward roll! 
• He liked rolling on the floor, thought it was funny. 
• He liked doing the obstacle course once - maybe twice. After that, he was done. 
• He has great balance! He's able to walk on some of the balance beams with hardly any assistance. 
• He liked the music more than the activities. 
• He's very coordinated. 

Something I learned as a parent is he doesn't need to be "perfect" and go through the obstacle course exactly as it is! It's ok if he's different and does things differently. It's silly, but at first I felt this pressure to have him go through each step exactly as it was intended. Not sure why I felt that way. Here he is "crawling" over the balance beam instead of walking on it. He would find a "different way" to do the obstacle course each time he ventured through it. He's creative and thinks outside the box, I love that about him! After all, this was all about him having fun. And he did :) 

It was also interesting watching other parents with their kids. There are so many different parenting styles. 

I'm glad we did the class. Now, I have a better understanding of what he might like going forward. I also got to know him a little better being in a different "organized" setting. I definitely want to enroll him in different types of recreation classes when he gets older (most are geared towards 3 years and older). I would also love an activity we could do together and bond. This class didn't really aid towards that. It'll be fun finding more things to do with him.