I wrote a post about a month or so ago about our dilemma with getting Mae to accept having a male gymnastics coach and how I was handling it. Or in fact, how I was not able to handle it. My best friend from college, Beth, commented on that post. (Actually I think she is the only person that ever comments on any of my posts. Thanks B!) Her advice made me stop in my tracks and realize I was making a mistake. I highly respect her as a mom, who has much more parenting creds [credentials] then I and realized she was right and I was probably, if not definitely, wrong. Also, from college to now she has always given sage and thoughtful advice that has steered me in the right direction. I also spoke with another mom friend who is a teacher and she echoed the same sentiments.
Bottom line, they both said that I wasn't really teaching her anything at age 3 by forcing her to go. They also said that it was just going to lead to a whole lot of continued misery and unhappiness. They both said she is very young and this won't have her love/hate male teachers from here on out. I took their advice and called the gymnastics place the next day and switched Mae to another class with a female instructor.
The first class with the female instructor went pretty bumpy. I was a little confused by all of this. I thought maybe she just didn't like gymnastics anymore and I made the mistake of even signing her up for the class this session. I thought some of Mae's apprehension, confusion and tears were due to the fact that she saw her old [male] coach. I don't know if she had some PTSD about it all. Who knows with that child? Honestly. Anyways after missing last week due to the stomach bug, we were back again. I swore that if this didn't go well we were going to eat the rest of our money and I wasn't going to care one iota and the word "gymnastics" would never be uttered in our house again. Thankfully, it went well. Mae did have to come off the floor to "tell me something" twice. One was that she hit her head, the other I can't even remember now because it was so trivial. Her new coach [Megan] and I chatted after class. I, of course, profusely apologized that she had to deal with such drama. She said that Mae was a totally different kid and was happy this class. Thank goodness for small miracles and woman coaches.
Coach Megan mentioned one thing that I did found interesting. She said that she generally speaks to the kids in a kid type tone - probably a little bit more high pitched and happy. She said that however with Mae she needed to talk to her like she was an adult in order to get her to respond to her. I don't really know what to make of it or what it means but thought it is something to note, especially when I or Mae reads back on this in many years.
So there you have it, hopefully the gymnastics problem is solved. Although, I still have the problem of how to entertain Whitaker for 45 minutes while we are there.
Bottom line, they both said that I wasn't really teaching her anything at age 3 by forcing her to go. They also said that it was just going to lead to a whole lot of continued misery and unhappiness. They both said she is very young and this won't have her love/hate male teachers from here on out. I took their advice and called the gymnastics place the next day and switched Mae to another class with a female instructor.
The first class with the female instructor went pretty bumpy. I was a little confused by all of this. I thought maybe she just didn't like gymnastics anymore and I made the mistake of even signing her up for the class this session. I thought some of Mae's apprehension, confusion and tears were due to the fact that she saw her old [male] coach. I don't know if she had some PTSD about it all. Who knows with that child? Honestly. Anyways after missing last week due to the stomach bug, we were back again. I swore that if this didn't go well we were going to eat the rest of our money and I wasn't going to care one iota and the word "gymnastics" would never be uttered in our house again. Thankfully, it went well. Mae did have to come off the floor to "tell me something" twice. One was that she hit her head, the other I can't even remember now because it was so trivial. Her new coach [Megan] and I chatted after class. I, of course, profusely apologized that she had to deal with such drama. She said that Mae was a totally different kid and was happy this class. Thank goodness for small miracles and woman coaches.
Coach Megan mentioned one thing that I did found interesting. She said that she generally speaks to the kids in a kid type tone - probably a little bit more high pitched and happy. She said that however with Mae she needed to talk to her like she was an adult in order to get her to respond to her. I don't really know what to make of it or what it means but thought it is something to note, especially when I or Mae reads back on this in many years.
So there you have it, hopefully the gymnastics problem is solved. Although, I still have the problem of how to entertain Whitaker for 45 minutes while we are there.
1 comment:
Wow...you certainly know how to make someone feel good!! Thank you for all if your kind words and I am sorry I didn't see this sooner. I fell off the blog wagon this past week and am just now catching up. You are a fantastic mother-- don't doubt that for a second!
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