Seeking Advice About Child Involvement in Activities at Young Age

There are a lot of parent and me classes out there. My favorite was taking my daughter to My Gym. They have a P & Me class that's fun. Look into My Gym or Gymboree, or any other of that nature. I also would take her to indoor play rooms when it was to cold or hot outside. Of course we went to the park a lot. The community center near us has lots of great classes for that age. I don't know where you are but check with the Parks and Recreation department. Good luck.
M.

We started my daughter in such activities at age 2. Some were active (like dance and gymnastics), but through our inexpensive city program where the classes run for 6 weeks at a time. Mommy & Me classes are fun too. I took a tap/ballet class with my daughter and love the photos. Also, GYMBOREE has classes that are fun. Another fun activity is art and/or music classes offered by most City Parks & Recreation activities. Or if you don't want to be tied down to a time frame, just head to your local park or arboretum. Don't know where you are, but CSUF arboretum is a wonderful place to take a child for a picnic. You feel you are in another world and so beautiful.

Oh, local library kids' clubs are fun too...not so active but a wonderful introduction to the local library. Plus you can schedule it and check out a certain number of books each week.

Also, MOM CLUB is a fun way for the child to get to know the same kids, try new activities and enable you to meet other moms to commiserate with. Go on line and look them up!

It's never too early to be actively involved with your youngster...no need to go active competitive...just fun!

GOOD LUCK!

Places like Gymboree have classes for children/infants even from a younger age. At your daughter's age, they sometimes enjoy having organized/group activities & socials. It's about socialization and just getting them out to have fun and they also learn other "skills" & "independence" which are great. There are "free play" type groups/lessons or more structured types. It's all about what you think is best for your daughter...the main thing it being "fun" for the child.
There's different parental philosophies about what age/what activities to enroll a child in... some prefer to do casual Mom group things... some prefer to enlist the child in formal "lessons" such as dancing/music/sports/etc. Some prefer not to "over-schedule" their child in activities and opt for just once per week kind of "lessons." As for gymnastics... you need to call the actual gymnastics school...often, they have specified ages at which the lessons can begin...ie: at my daughter's dance school... the actual age they can start, say ballet, is at 4-5 years old and it's called "pre-ballet." Prior to that.. it is just about learning fun coordination, stretching, and "tumbling" and just teaching the child to do simple coordination steps which are all based on their age of development. There are also Mom & child classes that, for toddlers, are appropriate for their level of development.
Often, places will let you try an "introductory" class for
free... just tell them you & your daughter want to try and sample a class.

Either way, from about 2 years old, a child does need and begins to seek other venues of activities and socialization, and yes, they get more active on a whole different kind of level... and you can see it in their cognitive abilities as they hit 2 years old. Another alternative, would be to send her part-time to a preschool type environment... so she can learn how to be around other children and learn socialization and get other types of stimuli. Sometimes, they just "need" to be around other children... and play and have that kind of relationships...the beginning stages of making "friends" etc.
Regardless, it's great to involve them in other types of activities and at this age, in my daughter's case, they start to want to try things that look fun and as they learn more about the world.
Good luck and have fun finding an activity... there will be lots of ideas here,
~Susan
www.cafepress.com/littlegoogoo

We started involving my daughter in activities around the same age. Some were a success and others were not. I try to stick to activities offered by our local parks & rec department. They're more affordable and if my daughter is not interested I don't feel like I've wasted a bunch of money.

Hey A.,

I'm a SAHM too (13 yro & 9mo) with my own business but I do take my daughter out to the Mommy & Me classes and we also have joined a stroller group of moms who walk around Balboa Lake almost everyday. When I can't do that, we'll go to the library and listen to "storytime"....

22 months isn't too early to get her involved in something like gymnastics but they may not want her to join until she's a little older and a little more stable on her feet.

In the meantime, you can always get some child exercise DVD's and let her go nuts with the kids!

Good luck!