When I picked Zane up from school his teacher said they were playing a game earlier where she was wearing his hat and asked him to jump up to get it. She asked if I'd ever seen him jump before. I said "well, I'm sure I've seen him jump" but I wasn't thinking of anything specific. She said he can't jump. Apparently it was so bad that they all thought he was kidding them. She suggested we work on that with him. So I was a little perplexed as we walked away. How high is a 4 year old supposed to be able to jump? Should I ask another 4 year old I know to jump so I have something to compare Zane to? It wasn't until a couple hours later that I realized I can't jump very well myself. And I know for a fact my father can't jump, either. It must have something to do with our short, stalky German heritage. So unless you find us in a bounce house or on a trampoline I guess Zane and I will have our feet on the ground.
Home Sweet Home! by The Pioneer Woman
6 years ago
6 comments:
There are worse things. And really....unless he wants to be a basketball player I don't think it is a priority. How about reading, writing, and arithmetic? Aren't those more important? Did I spell the math one correctly? Yikes!
Jumping is coordination at age 4. Some children are able to master the skill earlier than others. Just like we try to help the children develop fine motor skills ie. cutting, pasting, coloring; I like to encourage their large motor skills. Buy him a hula hoop for Christmas and work on that, give him a small tennis ball to move with his feet like a soccer ball, encourage running on a track, and then as those skills develop the feat of jumping will begin to happen. I know you take him to playgrounds and to parks frequently and that helps build those large motor skills as well. Our oldest grandson just sort of mastered jumping rope this past Sun. He is very athletically inclined and jumping rope was a challenge. I have a short heavy jump rope we made out of clothes line and plastic handles for our children and he was having such a good time with that. When you start Zane jumping rope, you have to have a heavy short jump rope or they get discouraged. I was one of those mother's who tried to wear out the children everyday with physcial activity so they would sleep sound at night and build strong bodies. He'll pick it up - even if he is from German ancestry. Look at Dirk Nowitiki! mb from tc
Hmmmm, Interesting. So I guess white girl can't jump either, nor white grandfather? Genetics. Oh, well...things could be worse. J~
I can't jump very high myself. In one of our wedding photos, they told us all to jump, and I'm the only one on the ground. Maybe that is why I never made cheerleader. ;-)
Hey Team Jacquot, My Son, my oldest could not skip in kindergarten. They brought it to my attention,and said to work with him,as a baby he crawled like a crab and then started running never really crawled like rocking back and forth and never really started out slow on walking. At 3 he taught himself to ride a little bicycle that his cousin had given him it was really a little one but it wasnt a trike and had no training wheels.His Daddy thought I taught him I thought he taught him.We ask each other when did you teach him how to ride the bike?He also rolled over the day he came home from the hospital 4 days old, But he maybe still can't skip and I think he turned out kinda sorta ok!! "Thads", Mom Beth2
Beth:
Nathan is just now really learning to jump. The teacher needs to realize while other children may have been developing some motor skills, or little ones were having seizure issues, even silent ones. I know Dr. Crisp always had Nathan jump and after we received more seizure control this skill became much more controlled. Dr. Crisp indicated that motor skills was something he watched with children with epilepsy. Their brains are having misfires therefore some of these task just don't come as easy as others. Hope this helps to ease your mind. Nathan now jumps, skips and does all the things he wasn't so good at at 3-4 years old.
JANA BARRETT
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