Somersaults

[Unregistered]

When a child goes to daycare, there are certain things that are simply not allowed because as the provider, I/we are responsible for what happens to them in our care. I have a child that comes here that is also in gymnastics and thinks it is ok for her to try her hand at cartwheels and summersaults, which gets her a time out everytime. I am responsible for her if she goes thru my tv, hurts her neck on my care, or hits the patio door from bad judgment of space. While I agree kids need to be kids, what they get away with at daycare is going to be different than what they get away with at home.

[Lilbutterflie]

Although I totally agree that we always, always, always have to have safety on our minds, the reality of it is that kids are kids and we can't expect them to not be physically active. And as QualiTcare said, every physical activity involves some risk. I had 2 brothers in my care on the weekends. They were 5 & 7 years old. They ALWAYS tried to rough house with my husband. They treated him like a jungle gym. All my husband had to do was sit there and they would climb all over him and jump off him, etc. I was terrified at first, but at some point, I just let the boys be boys and play. But my husband and I ALWAYS watched them very closely and made they didn't get too rough. If they did, they got time-outs to cool down and relax.

I also agree that it should be an outdoor activity and only when their is ample room so they don't accidentally hurt themselves or someone else.

I totally agree! I'm glad I'm also not the only one with a husband that likes to get down on the floor and play with the kids. We never let them get crazy, but kids are kids! They have so much energy and it's great for them to get it all out! Especially now in this heat, it's been over 100 for about three weeks straight where we live. The kids are going crazy!
I have a very large living room, and I put on some music and have "exercise time". They all line up arms length apart, and follow my lead with exercise/dance. Sometimes I have them get in a line at one side of the room, and they take turns one by one going across the room doing what I tell them to do; like somersaults, bunny hopping, frog hopping, criscross steps, skipping, etc... BUT I have plenty of room to do this, and I am closely supervising by letting only one go at a time. They love it!

[professionalmom]

I totally agree! I'm glad I'm also not the only one with a husband that likes to get down on the floor and play with the kids. We never let them get crazy, but kids are kids! They have so much energy and it's great for them to get it all out! Especially now in this heat, it's been over 100 for about three weeks straight where we live. The kids are going crazy!
I have a very large living room, and I put on some music and have "exercise time". They all line up arms length apart, and follow my lead with exercise/dance. Sometimes I have them get in a line at one side of the room, and they take turns one by one going across the room doing what I tell them to do; like somersaults, bunny hopping, frog hopping, criscross steps, skipping, etc... BUT I have plenty of room to do this, and I am closely supervising by letting only one go at a time. They love it!

It's especially great for the kids who do not have a dad at home! It's so weird though that every boy I ever had wanted to wrestle with my husband and every girl I ever had, had a crush on him! :: He was a very popular man! And to think that there was a time when he wasn't sure he wanted to have kids. Now that he knows he's great at it, he loves it.

[ninosqueridos]

Sorry, not happening here. We don't have that HUGE of an area and frankly it's just too much risk. My ds went to the ER at age 3 doing that type of thing, and it was not fun for him or any of us when he had to wear a neck brace for 3 weeks. I certainly don't want that to happen to a dck if I could prevent it - I cannot afford someone else's hospital bills. And yes, I have daycare liability insurance, but still...

My dcp's would probably wonder why I was allowing their child to do flips in my house in the first place. If they love flipping so much, they could do it when they get home.