Our Parent-Child classes are often the first organized class experiences that families with infants and toddlers have. Stepping into a new space with new faces and activities can be a bit overwhelming for both you and your child. We want you and your little one to relax and enjoy your time at The Little Gym of Lubbock, so we thought we’d answer some common questions about our Parent-Child classes.

·         Why would I do gymnastics with my baby/toddler?
Our Parent-Child classes are designed to foster your child’s development.  Each and every activity we conduct focuses on different aspects of your child’s growth: physical, mental, social, and emotional.  For instance, we practice skills like rolling and hanging upside down that help build confidence and balance; they even encourage the development their inner-ear!    Our exploration time encourages independence, curiosity, socialization, and gives you and your child plenty of opportunities to bond. Parent-Child classes have a mix of structured activities intended to help your child grow and to give them a fantastic head start to learning.

·          Why do you play with musical instruments in the gym?
Music has been scientifically proven to help young children develop in the following ways: it improves neurological and psychological health, strengthens motor skills and coordination, encourages creativity, improves stress reduction and relaxation, stimulates right-brain activity and the senses, plus, it’s fun!  In our classes we use different rhythmic instruments, listen to directive and creative background music, sing songs, and dance! If you want to learn more about how music benefits toddlers, see this article: http://www.brighthub.com/education/early-childhood/articles/65018.aspx

·         What if my child gets bored or distracted?
Our Parent-Child classes are 45 minutes in length.  We have segmented our classes into various different activities which also include periods of exploration time between our structured portions of class.  Being in such a stimulating environment can be overwhelming, that is why we have designed our program to give your little one the opportunity to explore at their own pace.  We do use repetition in our activities because it helps build muscle memory and is a good learning method for infants and toddlers.  We also change some class activities weekly and re-arrange the gym equipment on a regular basis to create new play spaces to explore.  Your class won’t have to contend with the noise and distractions of several classes at once; you’ll be the only ones in the gym!

·         Why do the kids go barefoot in the gym?
Our infants and toddlers (and all the other classes for that matter!) go barefoot in the gym.  The primary reason is that it is much safer. Socks can be slippery on floor mats and equipment, but bare feet are nice and grippy!  Going barefoot also gives our littlest gymnasts the opportunity to feel the different surfaces with their feet and learn how to move from one surface to another without a break in balance or momentum, and helps in other ways, like providing an opportunity for their feet to move through their full range of motion which allowing them to grow and develop healthily.

·         You see lots of kids in the gym each day. What about germs?
We do see A LOT of kids every day, so we work hard to keep our gym clean! We pay special attention to the equipment that most often ends up in little mouths, like the musical instruments, bars, and the tall foam props.  You will also likely see our team cleaning the facility, because we do it often!  From mid-day and end of the day cleanings of all of the equipment and surfaces to our weekly “deep clean” of the gym, we make cleanliness of our facility a principal objective.  Everyone is encouraged to do their part too by using our antibacterial gel dispensers in the facility.  We also ask that parents keep kids who are coughing or running a fever at home. That’s what our make-up classes are for!

As always, you are welcome to come in for a free Parent-Child class at The Little Gym. You can see our class schedule and set up your preview class online. Whether you've got a Bug, a Bird, a Beast, or a Super Beast, we know you’ll find that it’s the best thing going for the under-3 crowd! Just wait until we tell you about our preschool/kindergarten program!!