Challenges

Today was Landon's first day at a 3 day summer camp at a local gymnastics studio (Gymsport if you are local)... There was a deal on Living Social and my sister-in-law was signing my niece up for a camp. The class is for 3-6 year old children which made me a bit anxious because Landon is such a young 3 year old (physically, socially, verbally etc).. But, Jimmy suggested that we give it a try. Jimmy is a big advocate for exposing kids to those a little older so they can learn from them and be challenged a bit- I agree so we went for it. I knew that it was not going to go smoothly. His cousin, who he adores, is in the class but I knew that it probably wouldn't help all that much. Landon does or does not do whatever he wants and no one can change his mind. I know, I know.. if he stays that way I will be a very happy mother of a teenager, but sometimes now I would like for him to give into peer pressure (sometimes). We got there 40 minutes early (shame on mommy for not confirming the time before we left).. Anyway, I thought it may work to our advantage to let him check things out and talk to his coach for a little bit before he was asked to leave my side. When it was time to start, his teacher led the class onto the mat and asked Landon if he was ready. "Yes!," he said excitedly. He then turned to look at me, sitting down holding Jordan, and he freaked! Coach Dana took him and sat him on her lap and began the class. He cried and cried and cried despite the fact that I was about 15 feet away and he was facing me. After a few minutes, she let him go and he ran back to me. So I had to think.. how was I going to handle this one? The never ending question for parents, right? I told him that if he chose not to go with his teacher, that he needed to sit and watch and was not allowed to run around and play. It kind of backfired. Landon is a people watcher so certainly didn't mind sitting safely with me on the bench watching the other kids. His coach tried a couple more times to get him to come out and then told me that I could come out with him if I wanted. Luckily, my brother-in-law was there with my niece so he took over baby duty with Jordan. I started off by staying close by and encouraging him to participate, but again, he was perfectly happy to sit next to me and watch. So, with the okay from his coach, I "assisted" in getting my son to participate in the class. I watched as she picked him up, placed him on the balance beam let him walk across and then immediately put him on the bar for the next activity. At the next station the kids had an opportunity to go on the little zip line and fall into a pool of foam blocks, go down a sliding board into the foam blocks, jump on a trampoline among a few other activities. All Landon wanted to do was jump on the trampoline, but quickly got off or ran away if another child got near it. So, I picked him up and put him on the zip line (holding onto his hands as he held on and kept a hold of him as he went into the pool of foam blocks.. then picked him up and put him on the slide a few times each. There is such a fine line between respecting his personality/temperament and encouraging him to try things and take chances. His bone health is good now (we have scans to show that)... I am sympathetic that he may get tired more quickly than other kids and that he is behind in his gross motor skills. I keep an eye on how he is acting and responding to his environment, but I want to help him to build confidence and know that he is capable. I think I may try to sign him up for another camp or even a class at this gym. It will challenge him a bit and hopefully keep him on track for going back to preschool in the fall and going without me. He also can use the help with his gross motor skills. I think if we stick with this that it help build confidence in him. He is so cautious which is not a bad thing.. it will keep him safe and he probably will never be a kid that I have to worry all that much about as far as getting hurt, but being anxious and scared is a tough place to be. We're up for the challenge... Landon has amazed me in so many ways and has come such a long way. This is just another step...