Learning the cartwheel
My daughter has been taking acrobat lessons for six months now. After her class last week, her teacher pulled me aside and asked me to help my daughter learn how to do the cartwheel.
Rather than landing on her feet, my daughter always bends her legs and when she attempts the landing, and winds up on her fanny.
So I promised to help. As we drove home that afternoon, I tried to talk to my daughter about how we'd work on it, but she just cried. Apparently, she's the only one in the class who hasn't mastered that yet.
"Can we just talk about something else for today?" she asked. "When I think about it, it makes me sad."
I told her she didn't need to be sad, restated that I would help her work on it, but for the night, I let it drop. I don't want acrobats not to be fun for her, so forcing her to practice when she was that upset seemed unwise.
By the time we did work on the cartwheel, which was just two days ago, I realized what the instructor is struggling with when it comes to my daughter. I can't get her to straighten her legs on the way down either.
Her next class is today, and her cartwheels are no better than they were last week.
I'm hoping things will just click for her on this one day. I feel frustrated on her behalf, and I feel so bad for her that it upset her that much last week.
I don't know what else to do to help besides just explaining to her the difference between what she's doing and what she should be doing to do a cartwheel. She says she understands, but she still tucks her legs under once she gets up in the air.
Perhaps one day it will click for her. In the meantime, I worry that she'll leave class again today upset that everyone is ahead of her.
Rather than landing on her feet, my daughter always bends her legs and when she attempts the landing, and winds up on her fanny.
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| (Photo by Ian L/FreeRangeStock.com) |
So I promised to help. As we drove home that afternoon, I tried to talk to my daughter about how we'd work on it, but she just cried. Apparently, she's the only one in the class who hasn't mastered that yet.
"Can we just talk about something else for today?" she asked. "When I think about it, it makes me sad."
I told her she didn't need to be sad, restated that I would help her work on it, but for the night, I let it drop. I don't want acrobats not to be fun for her, so forcing her to practice when she was that upset seemed unwise.
By the time we did work on the cartwheel, which was just two days ago, I realized what the instructor is struggling with when it comes to my daughter. I can't get her to straighten her legs on the way down either.
Her next class is today, and her cartwheels are no better than they were last week.
I'm hoping things will just click for her on this one day. I feel frustrated on her behalf, and I feel so bad for her that it upset her that much last week.
I don't know what else to do to help besides just explaining to her the difference between what she's doing and what she should be doing to do a cartwheel. She says she understands, but she still tucks her legs under once she gets up in the air.
Perhaps one day it will click for her. In the meantime, I worry that she'll leave class again today upset that everyone is ahead of her.
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