skill development

Joyride, Part 2: Riding a Bike

| Patti Webb

“I think it’s also one of those quintessential kid activities that parents actually look forward to teaching.”
Oh, how young and naïve we were three years ago…

My girls had been riding their first bikes (with training wheels) for about 3 years. Since our neighborhood is on a steep hillside, the girls keep the bikes at their grandparents’ house where it’s flatter and where they would have more space to ride. They rode them heavily; growing out of helmets, raising seats, and patching tires. But for me and Troy, the bikes were a bit out of sight, out of mind.

We had the intention of taking the training wheels off over Spring Break when they were around 5 ½. That got pushed off until the summer, and then another Spring Break passed. Finally, Aeris grew out of the entire bike, knees hitting the handlebars. It was time to buy a new bike, thus no more training wheels.

Continue reading →

Jumping Rope

| Mary Stoffel, MOT, OTR/L

Do you know how hard it is to come up with a title about jump roping that doesn’t go back to a cheesy song?

After our cartwheeling post, we started thinking about all the other recess activities we used to do in grade school: hanging on monkey bars, playing a rousing game of 4-Square, or that one week where it seemed everyone wanted to jump rope.

Although the jump roping origins is unclear, we do know it was brought over by the Dutch in the late 1600s. Kids were jumping and developing games with songs to keep themselves occupied. Some used two ropes, explaining where the term Double Dutch came from. As it gained popularity, kids would use any material (clotheslines, braided rope, etc.) they could find to make a rope and play with their friends. Unfortunately in the 1950s, with the expansion of television and radio, kids began spending more time indoors.

Now, if you peruse the internet about jumping or skipping rope, you’ll find that this pastime has generally been rebranded as a great cardio workout (Woohoo, Jump Rope for Heart). No doubt it is, but let’s talk about what else it can do for our kids’ development.

Continue reading →

The Art of the Cartwheel

| Mary Stoffel, MOT, OTR/L

Last summer, in our gymnastics summer camp era, Patti found a flyer for a short Parks and Rec Cartwheel camp. Her girls were too young for it, but got us thinking: what skills do you need to perform a cartwheel?

Growing up, no one instructed us how to do a cartwheel or somersault or handspring, or any of those moves. We just saw a girl do it on the playground and we copied until we got it right. We also watched a lot of Shannon Miller and the US Olympic gymnastics team.

Cartwheels are a combination of different movements that require body awareness, coordination, and balance. Even if your kid isn’t enrolled in tumbling or gymnastics, a cartwheel is common enough to try as they learn and master more motor skills. They are also a good challenge, especially if they see their friend or someone else do it.

Continue reading →