Fun at The Little Gym

November 5, 2011: Week Eight: Fun at The Little Gym

No soccer again this week. Freddy has a double ear infection once again! Now that he is receiving antibiotics to heal this infection, I revived the hunt for other kid activities since he is not a fan of soccer. A friend of mine mentioned that her son participates in Taekwondo each week; however I am not convinced that Freddy will agree to that. He is just so picky.



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Returning to The Little Gym seems like a sensible option. We attended parent–child classes there some time ago when Freddy was an infant through the age of two. Just prior to his second birthday, Freddy was undergoing evaluations for speech language difficulty as well as other developmental delays. We needed to temporarily discontinue our participation at The Little Gym due to these assessments. I was committed to locating the resources that Freddy required for those delays and so we sadly said goodbye to The Little Gym.

Thinking back to those times, I was overly concerned that my son had serious developmental delays. He did not perform at a level equivalent to other toddlers; with his speech delay and social skills underdeveloped, I was worried. I still worry. As a mom, most likely, I will always worry.

Now that he is 4 years old and improving dramatically with his speech, I decided to revisit The Little Gym to see which classes are available for his age group. When I learned that a “Sports Skills Development” class is offered for ages 3–6, I was delighted.

We recently attended a birthday party at The Little Gym and as it fostered positive memories, I witnessed Freddy’s contentment as his face lit up with excitement. He informed me that he wished to return to active involvement there. I was surprised but enthusiastic. If soccer is not his specialty, that is acceptable, but he needs to assume some type of activity. As he displayed interest in returning to The Little Gym, I was all for it.

The staff remembered us which created a smooth enrollment into an introductory “Sports Skills Development” class. Once his double ear infection and my bronchitis surrendered to the battle, off to the class we went. He truly enjoyed this class. He had a few reservations at first since this class does not promote a parent–child involvement, and since he is attached to my hip, he hesitated with joining in. Once he became active, it was all smiles from there. It was nice to see the same teacher we had two years ago, she was also teaching this class. Freddy had  established a relationship with her and this eased his participation into this kid–friendly class.   

The class consisted of boys mostly his age, and they welcomed him which gave him a boost of confidence. I was aware that he achieved improvement over the last two years, but I was amazed to see how much and how well he was doing socially and physically. It is welcoming to see that other classes are offered other than gymnastics–only classes.

Since he completed the introductory class, performed well, and displayed an interest, I intend to enroll Freddy in this weekly class. I am pleased that we rediscovered one of his passions. The Little Gym is somewhat pricey but seeing that big smile on his face is worth every penny. They do offer reasonable payment plan options which help.

At this time, he simply may not be prepared to play soccer and he is yet quite young. This class introduces concepts that include a variety of sports and teaches skills on team sports and participation. It seems like an ‘introductory to play sports’ class. Strength and agility are improved here as well. At the same time, he loves it and has loads of fun which demonstrates the opposite attitude he held in playing soccer.

So for now, The Little Gym it is.

Check out their website: http://www.thelittlegym.com/Pages/default.aspx