Hasta Luego, Gymnastics

Today was Eva's last day at gymnastics. Her enthusiasm, interest and listening skills at gymnastics have been declining for some time now. This month she has been outright telling me she doesn't want to go. I told her we would cut it down to 2 days a week from 3 and she would have to attend for the remainder of the month I had already paid.

I think a major factor for her not wanting to go is social pressure. I pressure her to do what the teacher tells her to do. She doesn't always want to and wanders off to do her own thing. Sometimes her classmates ask her to play chase or tickle and she wants to be part of that fun. So there is this pressure, this tension. She wants to avoid it. A couple of times I gave her the choice to sit on the sidelines or to participate in the class. She chose to sit it out. And sat quietly for the entire remainder of the class. This is a strong force working in her!

It has been a dilemma for me because I don't want to just bail her out of a situation that she will encounter over and over in life. However, she is just three years old and doesn't have a whole lot of maturity to draw upon.

I told her today would be her last class. I reminded her that she wouldn't see her wonderful teacher Bertha anymore, and that she wouldn't learn any more new moves or get to play on the bar anymore. She told me she doesn't like to go to gymnastics and that is all fine. So today was it.

I will miss my mommy friends and the great little girls that were Eva's classmates. I won't miss the mess it made of the end of our day- rushing to whip up supper while two tired hungry cranky little ones climb the walls. And I won't miss Micah's incessant whining and crying to join the class, or his efforts to pitch himself down the concrete stairwell.

Maybe Eva will go back to gymnastics later on. Or try something new. Either way this has been a fun experience and we have lots of great memories to show for it!!

On a related note, I have noticed a very interesting evolution in my parenting. Until recently, I almost always built an outing into our days. I felt like we would go kind of crazy at home, spinning our wheels. But now we have our routine and it is really working for us. I am much more happy sticking close to home. There is plenty to do around here! I think also my parenting repertoire has broadened. I know about more stuff we can do together. Now that we don't have gymnastics in the afternoons, I can cook more often with Eva in the afternoons while Micah is sleeping. I'm looking forward to baking bread, for instance. You need a good stretch of time for that. We can also play with water in the afternoons more often. I'm excited about this new phase we are coming into!