Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy ability grouping in sports & proud of my DS

DS7 has always had gross motor delays and lots of trouble with balance and coordination. He is also deathly afraid of heights. He has never received interventions for the delays, as he was always borderline. But I think that he probably would now qualify for some kind of intervention as the gap between him and his peers has seemed to widen.

Anwyay, DS7 and DD3 both take gymnastics classes. They happen at the same time in the same place. How much do I love ability grouping??!! DD3 was "accelerated" 2 years and DD7 was "retained" 2 years (to use the school lingo). So, they are with the same age kids - but different genders so different classes. (Though DD3 could easily go with the older kids, but she's rather new to the sport and will be accelerated soon enough.) It is so, so wonderful to see the kids at this school go into the class they belong. I just sit back and watch and it's fantastic.

On another note, I am so gosh darn proud of DS. He is the biggest kid in the class (sizewise and agewise). He is the absolute lowest ability kid in the class. (Seinfeld fans, I always think about the episode with Kramer in the kids karate class, when watching DS.) They were learning how to do a very simple vault today. DS just couldn't do it. His teachers tried every which way to get him to do it. He just couldn't do it. But DS tried to do that vault over and over and over. And he never really got it right. But the effort that he put into it was so amazing to me. He knows that he is the weakest one in the class. But he keeps trying anyway and doesn't give up. I'm just so proud of him. (And his teachers are great. So encouraging and positive.)

Just thought I'd share here.

I was in tears too. In fact, most weeks I am in tears while watching him in class. He works so hard and his teachers are so fantastic. It's overwhelming for me, sometimes, to watch.

I had to compose myself before talking to his teachers at the end of class. I no longer take for granted excellent teachers. I was very clear with his teachers about how great I thought they were. At the end of the semester, I will write a letterto the director just expressing how awesome they are.

And of course I am bursting with pride for my DD for how talented she clearly is. She is a wild little monkey and has zero fear apparently. She too seems to have the persistence thing going on. She falls off the regular beam and just gets right back up.

Good parenting moments for me.

what an awesome story!

And a very emphatic well done to both your kids! That tenacity and perseverance will serve him so so well!

you have every right to be so proud

This is just such a lovely post. Thanks for sharing, and congrats to both of your kiddos!

amazing, gymnastics is the best thing for playground confidence I think, just helps our kids get to a psychological level a lot of ND kids are naturally at.