Friday, February 19, 2010

The Mike in the Iron Mask

Courage finished up a gymnastics class about a week or two ago. Mom was supposed to be taking Courage to these classes, but Courage much preferred to have here Dad take her instead (which is odd since she prefers Mom for most other things). Ergo, the last couple of class sessions that she had, I took her and watched her do her toddler tumbling thing.

Watching her in a classroom type situation made me think about how different she is from Titus (I think that Titus and Courage look like identical twins, so I am usually somewhat surprised when I find differences between them). Titus took the same gymnastics class when he was around the age that Courage is now. The main similarity between the two class experiences was that I was usually the only father in the classroom and most often the only one wearing a heavy metal or pirate shirt of some kind. As for Titus and Courage themselves, they were night and day.

When Titus took the class he loved it. He loved having the structure, loved having someone show him how to do new things, and even tried to do the activities as prescribed by the class instructor. He was usually the first one to sit when the teacher asked and was the first one to volunteer when the teacher needed someone to demonstrate the days activities. And, after class he would even tell us about what happened in his class.

Courage's favorite part of the class, on the other hand, was the free-play time at the beginning of each class (one time we got there about twenty minutes before anyone else showed up, and that was by far Courage's favorite day in the class). In fact, she liked that activity so much, she made every effort to turn all other activities in the class into free-play time. When the teacher called for attention, Courage scrambled to the other side of the room to do something else. When the teacher showed what to do with a mat or a beam or a ball, Courage used those things for something else. When the kids were supposed to run a circuit, Courage would run it backwards or in a random order and, more often than not, knock down the equipment right before some other kid wanted to use it.

Her approach to classroom structure was quite different than Titus'.

However, with all of that, Courage was the one who left the class being able to do a somersault on her own. We had to work with Titus ourselves at home before he could do one. So, despite their different approaches to the classroom, I'm glad they each found a way to make something out of their in-class physical education. I only worry about who is going to bully whom when they get into middle school together.

Here are some pictures of both Titus and Courage in the respective classes.

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