Jianzi - Featherball or Chinese Hacky Sack

On our recent trip to Asia we found these 'shuttlecocks' in Vietnam, where they are used to play a version of Hacky Sack. We saw people using them playing in the streets, but also discovered that there is an official game played with them. The game is called "da cau" and means "kick shuttlecock". The game is similar to Badminton, played on a rectangular court divided by a net, and is in fact the national sport of Vietnam!

The game is believed to have originated in Vietnam in the 5th century BC, when it was used as a military training exercise. 

(Source - Wikipedia)

We saw many people playing this game in the streets in Hanoi - like this:

We have been trying to play it with the featherball we bought in Vietnam, but we aren't quite this skilled yet.
It's a great way to practice and improve hand-eye and foot-eye co-ordination. It's good for your eye-muscles, agility, body control and balance.  Practising this is a great fun way to improve all sorts of physical skills that can be transferred to other sports.  Our girls both play hockey - so any practice watching and reacting to a ball of any kind should help them in that. Euan and I both do a lot of trail running where agility is really important as you run over plenty of roots and rocks, so it should prove beneficial to us too.
Looks like we've found a new family game to play in the garden!
Have you ever played any kind of 'hacky sack'? or even the Vietnamese version?

Top 10 Skipping Rhymes

Our girls love to skip, as did I at their age, and thanks to a new workout programme I'm now following, my skipping fitness is coming back and I'm enjoying it once again too!

I thought it would be fun to find some skipping rhymes to use with the girls - I remembered bits from my childhood, but had to look up more! We have a large rope that we tie one end to the fence then one of us turns the other end so we can skip two at a time which is fun!

Some of the rhymes require running in and out of the rope - and actions too!

Here's my top 10 Skipping Rhymes!

1. Cinderella

Dressed in Yella,

went to meet her handsome fella.

On the way her undies busted.

How many people were disgusted?

1,2,3,4......

2. Teddy Bear, teddy bear, turn around,

Teddy Bear, teddy bear, touch the ground.

Teddy Bear, teddy bear, show your shoe,

Teddy Bear, teddy bear, that will do.

Teddy Bear, teddy bear, go upstairs,

Teddy Bear, teddy bear, say your prayers.

Teddy Bear, teddy bear, turn out the light

Teddy Bear, teddy bear, say goodnight.

3. Two little dickie birds sitting on the wall,

(Two players jump in)

One named Peter, one named Paul.

(each player waves at their name)

Fly away Peter, fly away Paul.

(the player exits the rope as name is called)

Don't you come back 'till your birthday's called.

January, February, March......December.

(player returns when their month is called)

Now fly away, fly away, fly away all.

(players both exit the rope)

4. Not last night but the night before,

Twenty-four robbers came knocking at the door.

Call for the doctor! Call for the nurse!

Call for the lady with the alligator purse.

Out went the doctor, out when the nurse.

And out when the lady with the alligator purse!

5. Spanish dancer turn around

Spanish dancer touch the ground

Spanish dancer do a high kick

Spanish dancer get out of town quick!

6. Jelly in the bowl

Jelly in the bowl

Wiggle, waggle, wiggle, waggle

Jelly in the bowl

Sausage in the pan, sausage in the pan.

Turn around, turn around, sausage in the pan.

7. One one eat a plum

Two two touch your shoe

Three three bend your knee

Four four touch the floor

Five five reach for the sky

Six six pick up sticks

Seven seven pray to heaven

Eight eight slam the gate

Nine nine you're doing fine

8. Bluebells, cockleshells, eevy, ivy OVER

(jumper jumps over the swaying rope and then on OVER the rope starts to swing over to start skipping)

9. Benjamin Franklin went to France

To teach the ladies how to dance

First the heel, then the toe,

Spin around and out you go!

10. Little Orphan Annie hops on one foot

Little Orphan Annie hops on two feet

Little Orphan Annie hops on three feet

(bend down and touch the floor)

Little Orphan Annie hops on four feet.

(touch floor with both hands)

Little Orphan Annie hops out!

Do you remember any of these rhymes? What about any others?  Please do add more in the comments!

Hockey

This year, both our girls took up hockey as one of their after school activities.

They had both tried it out and really enjoyed it at a boot camp they attended at the beginning of the year.

Although they are 2 years apart in age, and are on different teams, they have both ended up training and joining in with the other's team in some way. Our youngest 'plays up' with the older team, and our eldest joins in the younger kids training sessions, then helps the manager organise the substitutes and practises with the players off the turf during the younger team's matches.  So we now have 4 days a week of hockey (2 training sessions, and 2 matches). Plus, every spare moment the girls get at home they are out in the garden with their sticks and balls practising! 

Why Hockey is a good sport to be involved in.

 Both girls have been swimming for a long time now, training and racing but hockey is the first 'team' sport our girls have become involved in. This is something we, as parents wanted to encourage to help build those skills of working with, and relying on others. 

It's great that they have found a sport that they are enjoying so much and it has the added bonus that several of their friends play it too! Hockey is a very well organised sport here in Cairns, with a great network of coaches and players of all ages and levels, so if they choose to continue after this, their first season, there is a well great community for them to join, with structured training and well marked pathways to move forward in the sport.

The down side

For all the positives about hockey, I do have to admit that the risk of injury worries me. The experience of buying and moulding mouth guards with the girls was a new one!  And helping them get padded up to play goalie too.  They've never needed any protective clothing for swimming!!

Learning

For me watching and supporting the girls in hockey is a learning curve. As I've helped out managing the younger team occasionally, I've had to learn the positions and try to understand the game a little!  I did play hockey as part of my school sports as a kid, but never enjoyed it. (I used to run up and down the side of the field avoiding the ball! I preferred netball and volleyball.)

As the girls learn the positions and rules of hockey, we can see their understanding of other team sports we watch has improved too.  

Since this is their first season, they are learning something new every week, so this is helping to keep them interested and keen. That, together with the fact that they are playing with their friends means that it's a sport they are going to continue with for a while I'm sure.

I'd better keep watching and learning myself, so I can share in and enjoy their post match discussions over dinner!

What team sports do your kids play?  Did you play the same sport as a kid?

Hopscotch

Do you remember playing hopscotch as a kid?

I was reminded of it the other day when I was doing a video workout which had me doing hopscotch moves!

The traditional kids game of hopscotch involves drawing a grid with chalk like in this picture. Then you jump across the numbers in order - hopping on the individual numbers and then jumping two feet down, one on each of the double numbers.  A stone or small object is also used and thrown into each numbered square in turn, with the player missing out that square, then as they turn and hop and jump back along the numbers they stop to squat down and pick up the stone.

Kids love playing this game - I remember happy times playing this myself as a kid - but finding it in my workout programme has made me appreciate the benefits of playing it too!

I read that hopscotch was originally invented as a training exercise for Roman soldiers! Whether or not that is true I don't know, but it is a good form of exercise!  Jumping and hopping is a good cardio workout.  Getting your feet inside the right squares helps your stability, core and balance.  Then there is of course the squats to pick up your stone! Great leg workout!

This ladder pictured here on the right is what I got as part of the package with The Asylum workout programme.  Here's a quick snippet of one of the workouts using it!  It's an amazing, tough workout - a lot of it mimics kids school yard games, for example hopscotch and skipping.  

Lots of different sports use ladder drills as part of their training - from soccer and football to hockey basketball and tennis!

So get your kids out there with a piece of chalk and a stone and get them playing hopscotch - it's a great foundation for future sports!

Traditional kids games really are great for keeping you fit and giving you a well rounded workout!  I should never have stopped as I grew up!

Skip-It

Did you have one of these toys as a child?  This type was originally released in the 1980s. 

You put your foot through the plastic hoop then spin the ball around in circles, skipping over it with the other foot.

But they were not the first of their kind. In the 1960s similar toys

were released - like the Lemon Twist - which was a plastic lemon on the end of the rope. 

This toy was even named on Time magazines list of 

All Time 100 Greatest Toys.

Different versions have been released - including ones that count your skips and make noises - see this commercial from the 1990s!

Our daughter has one of these toys now, and loves to play with it! I tried it too, and with a bit of practice and some bruised ankles, found it relatively easy and fun!
They're a great toy for getting your kids active,  helping them with their coordination and general fitness.
Do your kids have one? Did you have one as a kid?

Triathlons for kids

This year our girls took part in the local Ironkids triathlon for the second time.  

Here in Cairns each year we have an adventure festival which features an international Ironman competition. There are also lots of smaller events for all ages and levels to join in - one of which is this kids triathlon.

Kids aged 7 to 13 can join in and do a short swim, bike and run - finishing by running down the official Ironman finishers chute and receiving an impressive looking medal.

Our girls were in the younger age group, so swam 50m - in the lagoon, which is very shallow and the kids could have almost walked the whole way, and there were also lifeguards there to assist if need be. Then they biked 1km up and down the esplanade, and finally ran 500m.

It was set up like a proper triathlon, with their bikes 'racked' in transition with helmets, trainers and shorts set up ready to put on after the swim, and plenty of officials all along the route to help the kids if need be.

Our girls loved this event last year and again just as much this year. It's non competitive, they set the kids off in groups of about 7, it's not timed and you can see on the faces of every kid that does it how much fun they have.  

Some parents and kids were nervous before their first time, thinking maybe it would be too hard or far for the kids to manage, but afterwards nobody had any such reservations.

If you think back to what you were doing yourself at that age, when just playing.  I know my friends and I were biking and running around the local area - far more than those distances. We also used to go swimming lots at the local pool and in lakes or the sea on holidays. So this triathlon is certainly not too much to expect from kids this age.

I think it's a great opportunity for kids to try out a sport in a fun environment - and the atmosphere makes for a very exciting day for all!

Have your kids ever participated in a large sporting event like this - perhaps a short fun run?  Do you think it's a good thing for young kids to do?

Play Park Tour

The first week of the school holidays has now passed. Our girls have had a week of exploring their new Samsung tablets, and I've managed to get Christmas presents organised for the relatives and post school term things have begun to calm down!

We decided this morning that it was time to get out, get some fresh air and do something active together.

A while ago, the girls and I began to do our own play park tours in the school holidays.  They love going to simple play parks with swings and slides, and whenever we drive past one they ask if we can go there sometime.

Today we did about a 3km circuit around the streets near our house - taking in 4 different play parks.  We played I-spy, shops with twigs and stones for money, and also did some times tables while swinging (a habit we started when they first began learning their times tables, and they still enjoy now!).

We were out for almost 2 hours playing. Fortunately our play parks here all have water "bubblers" (drinking fountains), as it's pretty hot here now. (summer in Cairns!).

Once we got home, we were all so hot we jumped in our pool - where the girls stayed and played for another couple of hours!

What a great morning. So much fun, very active and we even squeezed in some maths practice too!!

We'll definitely be doing more of these play park tours - some on foot - and perhaps some further afield on our bikes!

Beach volleyball

Here in Cairns we have a beautiful Esplanade where the council provides several free fitness activities during the week.  I've started taking our girls along once a week to the free Beach Volleyball session on a Monday evening.  So for one hour, we get free coaching and games on the courts there.

It is generally only adults go to this, but when we turned up with the kids (a friend came with her two kids) we were warmly welcomed.

Although the kids, because they are physically much smaller than the adults, can't play full games with them, we can all join in the drills and practices, and the coach is great in taking time with the kids and helping them with easier moves and games at the side!

Tonight we went down and our two girls were the only kids there, so when we moved on from drills and practices to games, I stayed on the sidelines with them and we practised our passing.  We've been going for a couple of months now - and just that one hour a week is starting to pay off with their ball skills beginning to show a marked improvement.

Now just practising passing the volleyball is something we can do in our own garden at home, but having a set time to go somewhere to practise with others, get a little coaching, meet some other people - and all for free is a great opportunity.

If we didn't go to this organised free session, it is doubtful we could be motivated enough to practice and be this active at home where it is all too easy to stop when you get a little tired or never start in the first place when you have a comfortable sofa to sit on, and a book to read or tv to watch.  The girls also enjoy it as something that I do with them rather than just watch as with their after school sports.

Do you take advantage of any free activities your council offers?  Are kids welcomed there with the adults? Or do your stick to just taking your kids along to organised activities that are specifically for kids?

Little lifesavers

During the last school holidays, our girls took part in a short course at the lagoon here in Cairns to be 'little lifesavers'.  It was a chance for the kids to have a taste of what the Nippers programme is like.

Here in Australia, "Girt by sea" as we are (in the words of our National Anthem!), the Surf Life Saving association has a junior development programme which is very popular with kids all around the country.

This 3 day taster course took place in our lagoon rather than in the sea itself, which was great!  Our girls aren't too sure about going in the sea off the beach here, thanks to the ever present threat of stingers (jellyfish) and crocodiles!  I can quite understand their reticence!

The course was a great combination of fitness, fun and basic surf life saving skills.  They got to race for the 'flags' where they lie in a row face down on the sand, then all stand up, turn round and race to grab a small baton further along in the sand; learn about the various jellyfish found up here in Far North Queensland; learn the basics of CPR; rescue the above orange 'people' and most exciting of all for all the kids was getting to paddle around on the surfboards!

All the kids thoroughly enjoyed the course - helped immensely by the beautiful weather we had that week as you can see from the pictures.  At the end they got to keep the sun shirts but not the cute little lifesavers hats!  They also got certificates and the course ended with a big sausage sizzle and some fun burying the instructors in the sand!

This was a fantastic experience for our girls to have.  It may not be something they will join up to, but it has given them an idea of what it's about and what all our fabulous Surf Life Savers do on the many beautiful beaches we have here in Australia.  It was a great way to try something out without having to commit to a whole term of an activity.

What great 'taster' experiences have you or your kids had?

Hacky Sack or Footbag

Hacky Sack is apparently the trademark name of a type of foot bag. They are a small round bag generally filled with plastic pellets.  The one we have fits easily into the palm of your hand (I'm not sure if that's a standard size - or if there is a standard size!)

Basically to play Hacky Sack, you just have to keep the 'bag' in the air using your feet. You can do this alone, in pairs or in a circle.

We recently got a couple of Hacky Sacks free with I think a box of cereal and also in a welcome bag from a bank!

I showed the girls a couple of you tube videos so they could see what to do with them (I tried to show them myself, but was hopeless and they were still none the wiser) .  They then tried for themselves - and already within minutes were doing better than me!

I never played this as a kid - but it seems like a great thing to be able to take anywhere to do - inside, or outside. It's another way to get your kids active and moving, and also great for co-ordination skills.

Here's a video so you can see what can be done!

Of course - as with anything, there are world records in Footbag or Hacky Sack that amaze me!

The World record for Mens singles is held by a man called Ted Martin, who kicked the footbag 69,812 times over a time period of 7 hours 38 minutes 22 seconds!

According to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Footbag_)

I'm assuming that means he kept the ball up continuously for that time, which is unbelievable - how fit would you have to be to keep it going for that long?

Have you ever tried this? Do your kids play it, or perhaps you did when you were a kid?

Pushy parents? After school sports

Do you push your kids to do any kind of sports after school?  Are after school activities necessary, important or just too much for kids after a full day at school?

Our two daughters - aged 6 and 8 both swim after school at least twice a week, sometimes more. The younger one swims for 1 hour and the elder for 1.5 hours. Both enjoy their swimming and are happy to go to their training, but it hasn't always been like that!

They both went to swimming lessons from 3 months old. We felt that it was important for them to learn to swim particularly given that we live in Australia, and there is a pool in our backyard.  Swimming has always been a big part of their lives.  

These lessons tailed off once they started school - where they have 2 short, class lessons a week as part of their curriculum.  However, once they were both settled into school life, we encouraged them to return to swimming lessons after school.

There were three reasons for this - they both love swimming and are good at it, so it's something we knew they would enjoy and gain confidence as they improved.  The second reason was that we simply wanted them to be active.  Kids no longer spend all their spare time running, climbing trees and biking with friends as we did as children and our parents did before us.  Times have changed and parents no longer feel comfortable or safe letting their children roam free around the streets and countryside.   The third reason was to encourage them to make new friends outside of those in their classrooms.

Over the last couple of years, there were plenty of times when they didn't want to go to their lessons.  We heard all the usual excuses kids come up with, but we persisted and pushed them to continue. Yes there were tears at times, and we also felt bad at times, but we felt it was the right thing to do so we continued.

Last year our eldest daughter had her first swimming carnival at school.  She was excited but nervous.  In the end she thoroughly enjoyed the day and came away with the gold medal as the best swimmer for her age group.  This was a big turning point for her.  She was getting formal recognition and praise for her ability in a sport she truly loves.  She could see the benefits and results from not just playing around swimming in our pool at home, but in training and going to lessons after school.

Since that day she has been very keen to go to her swimming lessons, and wanting to go more often!  Seeing the joy she gets out of swimming and the drive she has to do it, makes me feel good about having pushed her to continue in previous years.  It was never a big deal, more just a laziness of wanting to go home and play or watch tv instead.

Our younger daughter has also started coming to swimming carnivals, but is a little frustrated as the swimming policy here means that under 8 year olds cannot be given medals!  She is a good swimmer -and I'm sure once she reaches age 8 , there will be medals for her too.  But for now, we will push her and help her get through that frustration until she reaches the age when she can get formal recognition and praise for her ability in a sport she also loves. 

So our three reasons for pushing after school sports when they were less than keen have been vindicated:

1.  They do still love swimming - their faces light up when they jump in the pool!  Our eldest daughter has shown a marked increase in her overall confidence in general since her first medal win.  We have always praised her actions, and achievements, but there's something different - a more tangible thing to be proud of when you get medals and certificates!

2. Swimming has kept the girls active.  I believe in the value of their swimming training plus activities with us as a family, they are as active as we were when we were kids, running and playing around the streets and fields every day. They are both fit, healthy, active and strong kids.

3.  Socially they have met lots of new friends through swimming. They have friends that they can share their common interest with - and those friends are a range of ages from several different schools and backgrounds.  We, as parents are also getting the added benefit of making more friends too, as we meet more swimming parents at various events!

I don't want this story to sound like we're pushing our children in the sense of telling them they have to win medals and be the best swimmers ever.   This is not the case.  We have just chosen to use a sport that they both enjoy and have an aptitude for, to help them learn that being active and fit is important and can be fun.  

We don't want our kids to be ones who, if left to their own choices, would sit in front of the TV and computer games every day.  It is important for parents to take a leadership role and promote positive lifestyle choices.  We want to bring up kids who choose active healthy lifestyles and also enjoy doing that.

As a family we have also joined the local running club (running is what Euan and I enjoy), and we go out for runs and swims together, which gives us valuable family time and also common interests and a bond that we can build upon as the girls grow.  They have come to races we have entered and supported us, just as we always support them in their swimming.  It feels good that we are all encouraging each other and sharing in each other's interests.  Having a common interest is a great way of helping promote teamwork and also letting the family grow through common pursuits - together, and have something in common as the kids grow up. 

Sometimes it is necessary as a parent to 'push' your children to do things that may be out of their comfort zone, or take on hard work, or even try something scary that they've never done before.  We have to help them to become adults who can have self confidence and self control.

After school sports and activities are an excellent way to help kids learn this. There are so many to choose from, karate,  football, dancing, netball....so many opportunities for kids to get active, make friends and learn to get out there and build their self-confidence, self-respect, not to mention their health and fitness levels.

What after school sports do your kids do? or did you do as a child?

Have you pushed your kids to join in and get active, or is this a subtle form of child abuse along with homework!?

How to improve eyesight

Have you ever heard of the Bates method for improving your eyesight without glasses?  It works on the theory that many sight problems are the result of habitual strain on the eyes, and exercises using the muscles surrounding the eyes can correct these problems.

I am short sighted, and got my first pair of glasses when I was in high school.  I never liked wearing glasses - even though I only needed them for distance work and didn't wear them all the time.  My first glasses were pink National Heath standard issue frames - not very pretty at all, but they were the free ones you got in England as a kid. 

I discovered the Bates method a few years later, and tried out the exercises with noticable effect.

One exercise - called palming, where you cover your eyes with your palms to totally block out any light and so completely rest your eyes, I found very effective.  After a few minutes of palming, as I took my hands away from my eyes, there was a split second where everything was sharply in focus, before things blurred once again.  This gave me hope that the exercises could work and it was possible to improve my eyesight.

Unfortunately, I think the fact that I only needed to wear my glasses occasionally, and the exercises need to be done daily and consistently, meant that I didn't stick at them, and today I still need glasses for driving, and other long distance things such as theatre and watching my daughters' school performances.

My eyesight has improved somewhat since I was a student.  After 10 years of travelling, not studying and not putting my eyes under strain, my glasses prescription is now much weaker than before.  I don't want them to deteriorate again. This is an improvement I want to continue! 

I found an excellent and very comprehensive website all about the Bates method of improving vision:

http://www.seeing.org/index.html

It explains the theory, how to do the various exercises, including some screen games you can do at the computer and also has case studies with stories of people who have improved their eyesight using these methods.

My interest in the Bates Method has been revived by the fact that I now have children who I want to have good and healthy eyesight.  But also because I am now working many hours a day on the computer - which undoubtedly is putting a strain on my eyes. 

I firmly believe that I can improve my eyesight by 'exercising' my eyes - just as I keep my body healthy and fit my exercising.  Now all I need to do is stick at it!

The fact that it isn't just my eyesight but that of my children that I'm concerned about,  should be a good enough incentive to stick at the exercises, and so keep our eyesight in top condition!

Do you wear glasses? Have you ever tried vision improvement exercises?  What do you think of this theory?

Monkey bars

Have you ever tried to swing across monkey bars as an adult?  I've tried a few times at local parks when our girls and I are the only ones there!  (I don't want an audience!).  I watch our girls swinging across them with ease - forwards, backwards, dangling by one arm and turning around; then when I get up to have a go - I can make it across, but only just and my arms feel like they're going to be pulled out of their sockets!

Is the problem that I have a heavier weight to support than them?  Or is it just not an exercise I'm used to doing?

The monkey bars are one of those things at the playground at school that every kid wants to be able to do.  In their prep year, they're mostly too short to reach them so can't even try. Then as they grow and move to grade 1,  they spend play times practising and showing off their blisters as badges of honour to each other and their parents, as they master this skill.

We do hear of many injuries as a result of kids falling off monkey bars - and there have been instances of the equipment being banned. For example, a school in the UK banned children from going on the monkey bars in their school playground unless supervised by an adult.   

Some of the problems with injuries are a result of children too small to reach the monkey bars themselves being lifted up - then the fall is too high for them if they subsequently slip.   More of the issue of the safety of play parks was covered in a post I wrote last week.

So far as me not being able to swing across the monkey bars as an adult (I had no problems as a kid I'm sure!) perhaps I just need to practise every day until I get blisters on my hands!  Then I can show them off proudly to my kids!  I'm sure they would be impressed!

Kids playgrounds have become too safe

A few years ago (2011) in an interview on ABC radio, an early childhood expert - Prue Walsh, spoke out saying Public playgrounds have become too safe.  She believes that the influence of insurance costs and the fear of councils and schools being sued are part of the problem in making playgrounds unimaginative and too safe for our children.

I agree with her opinion completely.  I recently watched a TV programme called 'Lost Adventures of Childhood' which covered this very topic of discussion.

I certainly remember playgrounds being a lot different when I was a child.  My local park had a row of four swings, a roundabout and a large slide.  Todays playgrounds don't seem to have as many swings in a row, nor go as high as the ones I remember.  Nowadays, playgrounds are more brightly coloured, with a lot more rails and enclosed parts. They are more restrictive and allow less scope for imagination.  Playgrounds used to be very simple and encouraged children to be imaginative in their play and to take risks, with high swings and jumps.  

So are risks a good thing? Do more risks mean more injuries and more broken bones?  I think these would happen anyway.  Kids will always find places and ways to take risks, and if they don't find this in playgrounds when they are young, then where and when will they start to take those risks?

I think that generally today there is a tendency to over-protect our children.  Kids 'go out and play' far less than in previous generations, partly due to the advent of computer and video games, but also because parents are aware of the dangerous nature of the world we live in thanks to the ever present media.  But is the world really any more dangerours than in the past- or are we just more aware of those dangers?

By not letting our children take risks, how will they learn where the boundaries of common sense lie?  How will they learn to think for themselves and become adapatable and self-confident?

Making playgrounds safer and subject to more rules and regulations is also detremental to our kids physical development.  Play is nature's way of making sure we learn necessary skills.  A few years ago I remember a friend being told to take her child to a park and tell him to climb the wrong way up a slide in order to help him improve his underdeveloped motor skills.  Kids should not need to be 'told' to play and experiment, it should be a natural part of their lives.  I see skills being 'taught' in schools now - like balancing and climbing.  Surely kids should already have acquired these skills by the time they start school!

Are we stunting an aspect of the growth of our children in trying to protect them?  Injuries, scrapes, bruises and even broken bones are a part of a regular normal childhood.  Patterns of behaviour are leant from risk taking and from making mistakes.

At the end of the TV programme I mentioned earlier (Lost adventures of Childhood)  mention was made of special adventure playgrounds that have been built in the UK, which provide a structured and supervised place for children to take risks.  Basically it's like taking them back to what playgrounds used to be like! 

It seems  that we are now coming full circle and realising we have taken the real 'play' out of playgrounds.  Hopefully playgrounds will start to return to the real adventure playgrounds I remember from my childhood, and our children can be allowed to play as nature intended again!

Do you agree?  Or are you happy that playgrounds have become so 'safe' now, and children are less likely to hurt themselves there?

Swingball

Now that the weather is cooler here in tropical north Queensland, our girls are getting to play outside more and more - and not just in the pool!  For the summer months, the humidity is so high that outdoor play is really only the pool.  Now however, it's cool enough to play all sorts of games outside in the yard- a wonderful time of year.

One thing our girls have taken too this year is Swingball.  In case you've never seen this before, it's a game played using a pole in the ground with a string attached to the top, and a tennis ball on the end of the string. The string is attached so that the ball can swing around freely.  It can also be attached so that it winds itself up and down a spiral and reaches and 'end' after going one way for several rotations. In this way it can be used to play with two people, the winner being whoever gets the ball to their 'end' first.

It's a great way for kids to practice their bat-and-ball skills, and hand-eye co-ordination.  They can play alone, or with someone else.  We still enjoy playing as adults, and it's great to have something like this we can leave set up in the garden for the girls to go and play anytime they like.  Tennis in a limited space!

Similar to swingball in America is Tetherball.  I'd never heard of this until I found the description online when looking up Swingball.  It seems to be basically the same game,but using a kind of volleyball sized ball instead of tennis ball, and hitting it with your hands, instead of a bat!

Have you played Swingball or Tetherball?  Is tetherball something that people have set up in their backyards in the US? or is it played in schools?  I'd love to hear from someone who plays it or has played it - since this is the first I've ever heard of it!

How to do a cartwheel

Recently our girls have been trying to do cartwheels.  They can manage the basic action, but their arms bend, or their legs bend, or sometimes they just land in a heap!  So I've been trying to help them.  Now I did gymnastics for years when I was younger - and yes, can still do cartwheels, and ahem, almost, the splits!  But trying to teach my girls how to cartwheel has had me stumped.

We've been practising them every day - 5 cartwheels a day each (me too - so I can lead by example, in both how to do the cartwheels, and also in the motivation of sticking to something each day). 

As a result of this practice, I think their cartwheels are improving a little, but decided I needed a little more help for them - so we googled, and found this great youtube video!

Pretty good - and the stretching at the beginning, has led to more discussion with our girls.  As a result of this discussion, we've decided that we need to 'train' a little more than just repeatedly trying cartwheels.   Every day we're going to stretch a little and then try to follow the form on this video! We're also going to practice handstands, to strengthen our wrists and shoulders some more!

I wonder how long it will take to perfect?  Is it a matter of building the strength in their wrists, shoulders and arms? Or is it more technique??

While we're on the subject of cartwheels, I remember a few years ago, a school in Queensland banning cartwheels at school because they were considered too dangerous!  (I looked back and found the article here if you're interested!).  That is just crazy!  If they are going to ban something like cartwheels, they may as well tell the kids to sit at their desks at break times and not move in case they hurt themselves! Then where would we be with the obesity situation with kids?

But getting back to teaching cartwheels; can your kids cartwheel?  Can you?  When did they learn? Did you teach them?  Any 'cartwheel' secrets you can tell me?

Does this make you want to try?  Go on - out onto the grass, and give it a go!!