Why Choose When Your Child Can Do Both?

We all know that as parents making decisions becomes second nature. We don’t hesitate on the basics, like brushing teeth, eating vegetables, and completing homework. However, choosing extracurricular activities can be a bit trickier as household budgets and limited time get in the way. What if your daughter loves moving to music, but she also has dreams of Olympic gymnastics glory. How do you decide? How do you tell her she has to choose one or the other?

Dancenastics

We have a solution: Dancenastics. This popular class is just what it sounds like, a combination of dance and gymnastics activities. Students split each one-hour session evenly between learning the fundamentals of jazz dance and practicing gymnastics skills on the beam, vault, bars, and trampoline. This makes it an ideal environment for your young dancer/athlete to try out both disciplines. She may make a clear choice right away or switch back and forth from week to week. However, chances are that after participating for a year in this class, she’ll have a better idea of which one is her favorite. If she still can’t choose, another year of Dancenastics is always an option.

Benefits

Participation in these classes offers all the benefits of our regular dance and gymnastics classes. Your child will learn about taking turns and team spirit, as she encourages her classmates to try a new gymnastics skill. She’ll also gain problem-solving abilities and the self-confidence that comes with finding successful solutions. Studies have shown that children who participate in dance or gymnastics on a regular basis not only perform well in school, they gain a love of physical activity that will help keep them healthy throughout their lives.


Class Details

Dancenastics is available for three separate age groups: Preschool (3 to 4 years old), Beginner/Advanced Beginner (5 to 7 years old/Kindergarten through 2nd grade), and School Age (7 to 11 years old/3rd through 5th grade). Students are required to have a solid-colored leotard and black, split-sole jazz short boots. As an added bonus, students are also eligible to participate in our year-end Spring Recital!

One additional benefit of participation in Dancenastics is that after your daughter decides which activity she prefers, she can move into either gymnastics or dance classes right here at Tumblebees.

What Your Child Can Get Out of Competitive Teams

When your child wants to join a sports team you’ll have lots of questions. How much time is required? Will we still be able to have family time? What about homework? What about school altogether? For many teams, such as soccer or softball, the time commitments are not so large as to significantly affect your family’s lifestyle. For gymnastics, the commitment is much larger, but before you say no, think about the benefits for your child of participating with competitive gymnastics teams.

Basic Benefits

Just as with recreational gymnastics classes, children’s overall fitness continues to improve when committing to a team. Strength, flexibility, and endurance all increase as your child spends more time working on gymnastics skills and routines. At the same time, as her abilities move to new levels she’ll also become more confident not only in the gym but in all areas of her life. Most children who are involved in a competitive sport that they love also do well in school, despite the time required for workouts and competitions.

Growth of Mental and Emotional Skills

Joining a competitive gymnastics team also boosts a child's mental and emotional growth. Goal setting becomes more important, giving her a solid foundation for this life skill. Learning how to cope with the boredom of repetition, as a child practices the same routine over and over again, contributes to a mental toughness that lets her see beyond the moment to the ultimate goal. And as hard as it may be to accept, turning in a less-than-stellar performance at a competition teaches resilience so your child can get up and try again.

Social Rewards

Although you may be concerned that the commitment required by competitive teams may take away from your child’s social life, many former gymnasts agree that the friendships formed with team members are among the most solid and long-lasting of their relationships throughout their lives. Your child will learn to cheer on her teammates and rejoice for the one who achieves the highest score. Children on competitive teams also learn about commitment; they don’t want to let their coach and teammates down, so they go to practice even when they don’t want to.


Overall, whether your child competes with a series of teams as she grows older or finds that a couple of years of competition is all she wants, she’ll achieve a sense of accomplishment she can find nowhere else.