Today Jaxon had his first tumbling class with Park and Rec...and I'm still undecided about my reviews. But first a quick back-track... his last quarter class was Preschool Picasso, where we made crafts together...yeah...NOT his thing!
So I thought this would be right up his alley...and it was...sort of. We walked in and there were all sorts of mats and squishy "ramps" etc...all calling little boys names to come explore. I wouldn't let Jaxon play on them until the teacher called them, but some other moms did, so Jaxon was really wanting to. After stretching (which Jaxon sat in the circle and watched but refused to stretch) all the parents left the kids with the teacher for 45 minutes. I watched through the window and the "naughty boys" were up and at it immediately. They were not sitting on the mat like Ms. Danielle asked, and were interupting her instructions. Jaxon sat on his mat for about 2 minutes, but watched the boys longingly, and then decided to join the hooligans. He also ran and didn't listen for a few minutes before I went in and interceded. He had a stern talking to about respecting his teacher and listening, and for the rest of the class he did pretty well...but checked the window every 30 seconds or so to see if I was still watching. (I WAS!)
Here are my problems-
1. I don't want Jaxon to be one of those "naughty boys" that a teacher cringes at.
2. In a class of 12, 3-year olds, I think it's a little unresonable to expect 11 of them to sit and watch as one child at a time gets a turn to walk the "balance beam", do frog jumps, etc.
3. With Jaxon's toe walking, his legs and core are really weak. Even though we are working with a physical therapist, he is still really weary of trying things that he can't/won't or is scared to fail at. So, most of the movements they were supposed to perform down the length of the mat, he just skipped over all together and ran from one end to the other. The teacher was getting a little frustrated that he wouldn't/couldn't? do it, and it was breaking my heart.
After class I made him apologize to Ms. Danielle for not listening, and we talked about what I expect from him next week. ( I also explained to her about his toe-walking and weak muscles) Even though I think it's unreasonable for all those kids to sit for 80% of the class, if that is what's expected, he still has to do it.
I also think the teacher ( a high school girl) is a little unfamiliar with what kids actually know at that age. At the end of class they played duck-duck-goose, but when one kid was "goose" more than half of the kids would get up and start running around the circle screaming. (Of course, Jaxon was one of those kids). This was really frustrating to her, and she quit the game early because the kids weren't following the rules, ...but in their defense, I don't think most of them had played before, and didn't understand why they couldn't get up and run around if someone else could.
What's the verdict? Do I just worry too much???
4 comments:
They really should have the mothers in the room doing the class with the kids because 3 year olds are not going to listen very well and they don't have the attention span to "wait for their turn". 12 kids for one teacher is crazy. Hopefully the next class will go better.
Uh, no.
You're not worrying too much.
I'd be worried about the way that class is run.
As a mom of toddlers, who's taken them to some pretty terrific tumbling classes, here's what I would suggest:
Talk to the teacher and suggest:
-the parents stay
-the kids take turns (with parents' assistance) on 6+ different activity areas (balance beam, slides, flipping bar, tumbling mat, wedges, tunnels, etc)
This way, there's constant movement for all the kids and then the teacher can go around instructing children one at a time as she sees fit.
Anyway, that's how our tumbling/gymnastics teachers did it. And it was a blast.
Good luck.
Agree with sarah. Or the teacher should do activities that all the kids can do at the same time (somersaults, frog jumps, etc. while working one on one with others). Hellooo....we both know even 5th graders have a difficult time taking turns. :) As for the duck duck goose I was laughing my head off. I've seen that happen so many times and I always let them all run. Too cute!
Ash
You said
"Even though I think it's unreasonable for all those kids to sit for 80% of the class, if that is what's expected, he still has to do it."
I'm just curious why if you as his mom think it's unreasonable...why do you still feel like if that's what some one else expects then regardless of what you feel is appropriate he still has to do it?
I personally don't think 3 years olds are "naughty" they are 3 and exploring their world.
Love ya
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