Things I Love Thursday - My Gym

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As I have mentioned many, many times before I was a gymnast. I lived for gymnastics. It was ALL I wanted to do. After I retired from gymnastics I stayed in the sport by coaching for about 8 years. I knew from the start that when I had a child I wanted them to do gymnastics.

My reasoning though has nothing to do with wanting Jellybean to be the next Olympian so I was on a search to fond the right program. Luckily my choices were pretty limited due to Jellybean's age so I decided to give My Gym a shot.

Best choice I ever made - seriously!

I love My Gym for everything it is and everything it is not.

I'm not going to lie - one of my reasons for wanting Jellybean to start a Mommy and Me program was for me. I needed a chance to interact with other adults and make a connection. This class gives me a chance to do just that.

My other reasons for wanting Jellybean to do gymnastics though are ALL about him. Gymnastics has been shown to help with reading, math and a slew of other academic subjects. It is also the perfect sport to serve as a foundation for any other sport. Is Jellybean getting all of that now? Probably not. But he is getting something out of it.

I love that My Gym is non-competitive. They aren't trying to develop a gymnastics star. They are trying to make sure my child has a great time though. The class is perfect for his needs as a baby. There is time to just crawl around. We stretch, we sing, we dance, we play. Then we break out. He can do gymnastics activities, swing, chase after a ball or practice pulling himself up on a mat. There's a separation activity where he plays on his own with the other babies and then finally a puppet show and the bye bye song.

That is what I want for Jellybean at this stage in the game. An environment where he gets to work on his crawling, standing and walking. Somewhere that isn't on the lookout to see if he is better than the rest. If he has potential. My belief is - every child has potential - it just might not be in gymnastics! I love that they offer free plays in addition to his class. My Friday lunch hour has now become my play with Jellybean hour - and that makes my week all the better.

So I would have to whole heartedly say that My Gym has exceeded my expectations and I am so happy I took a chance on it.

Now, what are you loving?