School Shouldn’t Cancel Cartwheels

It’s July. Somewhere in your house there is a school uniform still in its packet, a pack of name-labels sitting ominously in a drawer, and a small person who has no idea how much their world is going change. You, meanwhile, are already three tabs deep into Amazon pencil cases.

We get it. September feels BIG. And it is. Families can be tempted to clear the calendar (‘They’ll be too tired’) and strip life back to the essentials. School, dinner, bath, bed, repeat.

Here’s why we urge families to resist the temptation to down tools when school starts.

Continuing their gymnastics class isn’t about giving your child one more thing to cope with in September. It’s about giving them one less change to adjust to while simultaneously using their Little Gym teachers to set them up for success at school.

When your child goes through change, continuity is PRICELESS
Right now, your child’s whole universe is family, home, and maybe a nursery room they know like the back of their hand or a favourite Nanny.

In September, that universe gets a hundred or more new kids, teachers they don’t know, a classroom with coat pegs and actual rules, and a lunch hall that sounds like a football stadium.

That’s a lot of new.

What it isn’t… a time to make lots of other changes in their life (unless you really need to!).

The Little Gym classes they love, the teachers that know their name & sense of humour… that’s often the last thing standing when a child starts school. Everything else changes. But their favourite hour of the week doesn’t have to. That consistency is GOLD.

“They’ll Be Tired”
They will be tired, and they may get grumpy at the school gate. They’re going through a LOT of change. New rules. New expectations. New faces. New rooms. And holding themselves upright ALL DAY with gravity is trying to push them to the floor is tricky.

But this is EXACTLY what your child’s Little Gym classes prepare them for. Strengthening their body so they can meet the demands of the school day. Giving them a release-valve, like a whistle on a pressure cooker, to release the tension from a school week. And social & emotional scaffolding & support as they wobble through their new school adventure.

MOVE MORE to build school day stamina
Children need to move MORE when they get to school, not less. No-one has ever built more stamina by moving less. That’s not how our bodies work.

Movement in all directions helps strengthen your child’s body, their core, their balance system, and spatial awareness. It helps develop the body control that your child needs to make it through the school day. And that helps your child build their stamina they need to get through the school day.

A stronger body and greater stamina means that your child can get through the school day without putting in hours of invisible effort just to hold their body up. It means focusing becomes easier. Listening isn’t as hard. They won’t get so tired. And they’ll find it easier to manage their emotions.

What About Social & Sensory Overload?
Children recover from social & sensory overload by doing something familiar, physical and joyfully low pressure. It’s the bit where all the Big Feelings from the school day get cartwheeled out before bedtime, instead of AT bedtime.

Rolling around, being silly, laughing with their Little Gym teachers and burning off the day isn’t one more demand. It’s often the thing that releases pent-up energy and vents an overwhelmed nervous system. That release can also help turn bedtime from a hostage negotiation into something slightly less stressful for everyone.

The Need to Master Your Body Doesn’t Pause Because School Starts
Balance, body control, spatial awareness, coordination, crossing the midline. The need for Body Mastery doesn’t stop because a kid gets a book bag. And at four, five and six, a child has only just started their journey to master their body.

If anything, this is the age where body mastery matters most. They now need to control their arms to wield a pencil. Control their body on a chair (without needing to rock back, forth and side-to-side). To navigate a playground at speed. And figure out where their body ends and the climbing frame starts.

Pulling back on adventurous movement in all directions now is like taking the stabilisers off a bike when a child gets to the top of a big hill.

Don’t forget the Skills
Your child has been working hard to create a foundation for movement in their classes. Not just for body control, but also to achieve skills they can show off in the playground and grow a lifelong love of movement.

Those skills they’ve been working so hard on – the monkey jumps that are turning into cartwheels. The donkey kicks that are turning into handstands. The forward rolls that will turn into somersaults. Leaving classes now is like walking out of the cinema five minutes before the end of a movie.

What Actually Helps
Not more pressure. Just one thing that stays the same. That same bright space, the ridiculously joyful warm-ups, the teachers that adore them, and the freedom to laugh with their whole heart while they move in all directions & feel the wind in their hair.

So yes, buy the pencil cases. Iron on the name label. But leave their gymnastics where it is. School gets the phonics, the pegs and the packed lunches. Let them keep the cartwheels.

See you on the Big Red Mat!