Stretching For Kids.
Allow me to say that working with kids, in this field, is really hard. The only perk is their energy, as they are very rarely tired.
However, their commitment, their focus and their efforts are your job as a coach; you either bring the best out of them, or you lose them and your sanity all at once, and that’s why it’s hard.
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After working for 8 years (and counting) in the field, I can say that 50% of my time was spent teaching kids, and here are couple things I learned along the way:
As a coach, you have to keep your positive attitude and cheer them by focusing on all the perfect things they are doing; even when it’s hard to find it, even when all you can say is: ‘Oh wow, even though you’re tired today, you’re still pushing through! Super impressed by your hard work!!’.
You have to also comment on each repetition by finding anything to say, whether it’s ‘oh let’s focus on straightening that knee’, or ‘this seems easy for you champ, let’s make it challenging!’. Otherwise, their focus and commitment to the exercise might fade away. Basically keeping their mind busy at all times is the key.
It’s challenging for us adults to focus on all of that, sometimes almost impossible after a heavy and long day.
Parents, appreciate your kids’ instructors because what they do is not easy at all. And to you instructors, I have the utmost respect for you. Just remember, a bad day does not make you a bad instructor, and let me leave you with the biggest perk of teaching kids: recovering from a bad session with kids is extra fast. You can even recover during the same session if you want to, because kids do not hold that grudge, nor form fast-harsh impressions. So relax, you are human, and a super human at that, and you’re doing wonderful!
