Who has done this program with good results? If so what and when do you do things?
I bought the book long ago with every intention of doing the program. We did do some of the passive balance programs when my youngest was smaller but not very consistently or for very long. Unfortunately life and my disorganization got in the way. Anyway, my boy is about 30 months now and I’m getting back into the swing of things and would really like to give this program a go.
In the book it says to start with the passive balance program for a bit before moving into the active, but that is just physically impossible as my son is about 35 pounds (or more) at the moment :blink:
Soooo, I just made him a balance beam today and hopefully if I buy the materials dad and my older boys will build a brachiation ladder. They can use the activity to check off some boy scout requirements. :biggrin: We have a set of monkey bars on our swing set, but they are so high off the ground I don’t even like my older kids using them
I’m hoping it won’t stay SO HOT for to much longer and we can start walking and running. I think he will actually love this activity, he has SO much energy!
Doesn’t putting him in a swing count as passive balance? I use that for my son as I am a single parent so what doman calls pitching I substitute a swing for :laugh:
Good point with the swing and how the tire swing will allow him to spin! My story is kinda similar to yours - I’ve been just on and off. I’ve also been taking my son to gymnastics class periodically. I’m trying now to find ways to get my son running longer distances. Our neighborhood doesn’t really have many huge patches of grass and I can’t get him to stay off the sidewalk (and run in the grass beside it). If have any success getting your son to run longer distances, please let me know!
I told my husband the idea of getting our son to start running once it cools off. He could only laugh saying that he could just imagine our two-year-old in spandex and a sweatband around his head running through the neighborhood. lol
We bought our son a trampoline just before his 2nd birthday, it’s fantastic. He runs in circles super fast and then jumps and then bounces and then runs some more and then repeats the whole process again. We jump together, I jump holding him, he sits and I jump, he tries to walk while I jump. So many things can be achieved on a trampoline.
This is a page where you can see him play on it, we’ll soon be creating a proper page for him this is just one I use to show my family videos that are too big to email. I’ll repost when we have his site up and running (probably in about two weeks).
I haven’t read the how to make your baby physically superb but we do everything we can think of to try and make it happen. He’s been able to catch since he was one (one handed small balls) and is a great climber (up and down). One thing we did early on (he was only cruising) was give him uneven surfaces to walk on and stand on. It’s easy to do put a big thick text book (that you don’t care about) on the ground and put a toy car under it. It’s just enough to make the book tilt back and forth, hold his hands and let him have fun manipulating the balance as they get older make it a ball that’s underneath and make the book a piece of board. Walking along a piece of rope on the ground is another fun one.
I was thinking of getting Doman’s book on this, but after reading “How smart is your baby” and seeing the brachiation ladder, crawling track, etc. I’m wondering if it’s even do-able at this time without the equipment. My son’s only 5 months, so he 's probably not going to be doing much past crawling for a bit.
Haven’t read them, however, I’ve got the gist from all his other books. We did lots of stuff with our son without formally having equipment just making do with bits and pieces around the house and nature. It really does work our son is just over two and is hopping. I can only attribute it to the time we spent helping him develop his physical skills.
I have read both HSIYB (we own it as well) and HTTYBT Be Physically Superb. The former is only relevant for the first year (longer if you did not follow the program from birth), and the latter covers the first 6 years.
In terms of equipment, it’s pretty much all optional except the money bars (brachiation ladder) and most playgrounds have them.
Any smooth floor works instead of a track (you cannot, however, incline the floor), Not that I regret building one, it just was used much less than I expected. Zed is 7 (and a half) months now and walking.
There are two intermediary steps between thumbs and a full-size brachiation ladder. I haven’t found either necessary. We went from thumbs to the jungle gym outside. We’re at the stage that he can hang by himself and swing back and forth very gently. I’m actually surprised by this because he’s a big boy.
The other equipment suggested is a balance beam (could easily just be marked out on the floor with masking tape) and a trapeze (which I don’t remember the point of except the kid might like it)
Most of the program is details of how much of each activity the child should do before moving onto the next. So many yards of crawling before creeping; so many yards of creeping before walking. Once the child is running the plan is to work up to a 3 mile run every morning. There are also balance activities. Those that are explained in HSIYB plus active balance (tumbling, jumping, etc) for when the child is capable of performing them.
We think it will be worth it to get the Physically Superb book in a few months, but for now we’re still in HSIYB and there’s no sense in having another book sitting around collecting dust.
Did I just read that you son is walking at 7 months? Very very very impressive.
I thought my daughter would walk early too, as she was cruising between furniture at 7m, standing without holding on at 8. Small steps then (no more than 5 which is not considered walking)
It’s then ‘only’ at 11 months that she grabbed a set of keys, stood up and walked 13 steps straight (I know cause I happened to be filming at that time. Or she wanted to show off for the camcorder
So I think that she needed something in her hands to distract her from her fear of walking for too long (maybe a tip for other parents?).
The only drawback is that she stopped crawling instantly, and that everything went ‘too quickly’ afterward in my opinion (running, high climbing, walking up stairs…) (they grow too quickly
Yes, he is walking. Almost as soon as he started crawling, he started pulling up to standing. Shortly after he was walking around the furniture, and then started creeping. And for the last couple of weeks he’s been walking if he has something in his hands that won’t fit in his mouth. If he’s playing with something small he puts it into his mouth and creeps across the room. He creeps very quickly now.
I am not looking forward to chasing him once he figures out running.
So far with my son (32 months) we are rolling on the floor. He loves this because I do it with him! We lay on our backs and roll back and forth. I have also been helping him with somersaults, again he loves this too. He can’t do it on his own yet, though. He tucks his head to the floor and I flip him over.
OOhhh, I just had an idea! I had been wishing we had an incline mat like they do at my daughter’s tumbling class, so that he could learn somersaults easier. I think I will just prop up his toddler mattress to give him that incline and a soft place to land. Yeah! I think that will work! :clown:
I also made him a balance beam that I leave out in the middle of the room and when ever I walk by I walk across it, so of course he does too. We also play running games in the house, like tag or racing. As soon as it cools down here I plan on being outside more often with him. I want him to start running longer distances at a time. We also have a trapeze bar, swings and a tire swing in the back that he loves to use. He also jumps like a monkey on the big trampoline.
I have promised him that he can sign up for skateboarding lessons once he turns three :wacko: Just like his big brothers! So I really want to build up his balance and endurance.
I’m not sure how old your baby is, but that is some of the things we do to promote our son’s physical abilities.
My daughter just turned 12 months, but has been walking since 9 months. I’ve always incourage her to move. She loved from about 7 months doing front rolls (with a little help tucking in her head safely). Now she puts her hands on the floor waiting for a push (I always check her head position to make sure she doesn’t strain her neck) over into a roll. She loves it. She laughs and smiles each time. I also started swimming with her at from about 4 week old onward.
Carpe vestri vita - you’d be a big help to me! My son is nearly four months old and we are trying to implement the program, I’d love to know how you’re going! When did you start? What activities did you start with? We’re trying to encourage tummy time and are building a crawling track at the moment. (waaaay too expensive to have it shipped to Australia from the US!). He isn’t very good at the grasp reflex tasks though, he doesn’t actually hold our thumbs properly so I hope this isn’t something to worry about!?
A few exercises I learnt from taking my daughter to gymbaroo was to have your baby lie on their back amd face you get them to grab onto your thum bs or fingers and once they have grasped on to your fingers pull him into a sitting position (not for very long as babies should not be made to sit) only pull him up as far as he is willing to hold on (when you feel his grasp start to weaken) and then lower him gently back to lying down.
Do this several times a day or get him to grasp onto some dow or a hula hoop if he wont do your fingers in conjunction with all the tummy time.
Once he is a bit older your can have him face you and grasp your fingers and sing row row row your boat as you rock him back and forth.
It took awhile formy daughter to develop the strength and now I can’t get her down from the monkey bars when we go to the park and to gymbaroo.
Thanks for your reply Kimba15! I read about this grasping exercise in the Doman books and my husband and I have been trying it with our son but he won’t grasp!! I know he is fairly strong because if we hold him up by his hands as Doman suggests, he bends his arms to a 90 degree angle rather than just free hanging, so we know he is taking some of his own weight. But he just won’t grasp himself! I have no idea how to convince him to do this! We have enrolled in ‘Babyroo’ (gymbaroo’s non-mobile baby program) so maybe they’ll have some ideas!? Did you get a lot out of this program at this age? We are excited to start soon and learn other ways of encouraging him, and hopefully some other mummy’s with similar ideals as me!
