Do kids do somersaults anymore?

[linders]

I had an odd experience last night, at least it seemed so to me. I lead a Cub Scout den with 7-year-olds. One of their requirements under Feats of Skill is to do a front roll, your basic somersault. I asked them to do it. Many blank stares. I had my son demonstrate. A couple had "aha" moments and did it, the other 5 crouched down in various ways, clearly clueless, and tried, with various sprawling results, even after much help. The results for a "diving front roll" and "back roll" were even more dismal. "Play catch with someone 10 steps away" and "do a crab walk" were just as bad.

 

All but one of these kids are in some organized sport or another every season of the year - they don't have specific physical disabilities.

 

When my boys were preschool age and played out in the yard, they just started doing somersaults at some point, probably with my encouragement. At parks, they did and still do look for a good grassy hill so they can link lots of somersaults going down (and get all dizzy and be silly). When I was growing up, that's what everyone did.

 

Are kids no longer doing things that encourage gross motor skills?

[stripe]

Probably not so much. My kids have always wanted to do them on the bed. They had some girls at the mall play area demonstrate cartwheels for them so there are some kids who still do stuff like that. My question is -- are adults capable of doing a somersault? I did them when I was a kid but I'm scared to do them now. I don't even know why, but it feels horribly treacherous when I've tried to demonstrate and I've had to stop!

[Carrie12345]

I have no idea about other kids, but my 3yo is constantly doing somersaults around the house. I haven't noticed my girls doing them lately, but the did them all the time when they were in dance and gymnastics.

[Chris in VA]

Are all the cubs homeschooled?

Mine covered all those skills in PE in school, but I will say that they almost never did somersaults spontaneously. Most kids do them wrong, anyway.

Maybe it's part of the "not much time outside" syndrome, or not having space, or? It is curious.

[4kiddies]

My girls do them all the time, my son not so much but he could if do it if asked. And yes, mine do it down our front hill like you described.

[FriedClams]

LOL!! I also lead a cub scout den and we did the PT test the other day - and hardly any of the kids could do sit-ups or push ups. Only 2 had a clue how to do them - and the rest really, really struggled. Who knows - maybe they learned it but totally forgot?! We always did the President's Physical Fitness Test in school - but I guess they don't anymore. It was pretty sad.

[JudoMom]

I had an odd experience last night, at least it seemed so to me. I lead a Cub Scout den with 7-year-olds. One of their requirements under Feats of Skill is to do a front roll, your basic somersault. I asked them to do it. Many blank stares. I had my son demonstrate. A couple had "aha" moments and did it, the other 5 crouched down in various ways, clearly clueless, and tried, with various sprawling results, even after much help. The results for a "diving front roll" and "back roll" were even more dismal. "Play catch with someone 10 steps away" and "do a crab walk" were just as bad.

 

All but one of these kids are in some organized sport or another every season of the year - they don't have specific physical disabilities.

 

When my boys were preschool age and played out in the yard, they just started doing somersaults at some point, probably with my encouragement. At parks, they did and still do look for a good grassy hill so they can link lots of somersaults going down (and get all dizzy and be silly). When I was growing up, that's what everyone did.

 

Are kids no longer doing things that encourage gross motor skills?

 

 

When we have new students at our Judo club, I usually teach them falls, which includes left & right front rolls. Most younger students can do a summersault, but many do them wrong (straight up on the head a fall over flat on their back). Most of the teenagers and adults have done a summersault, but are often scared to do them again. I have had about a dozen people of all ages who haven't ever done a summersault, but it's not been the norm.

[JudoMom]

Probably not so much. My kids have always wanted to do them on the bed. They had some girls at the mall play area demonstrate cartwheels for them so there are some kids who still do stuff like that. My question is -- are adults capable of doing a somersault? I did them when I was a kid but I'm scared to do them now. I don't even know why, but it feels horribly treacherous when I've tried to demonstrate and I've had to stop!

 

:lol: You can do it, stripe! Just crouch down, tuck your head, and push your feet over your head. And then wait for the room to stop spinning and try it again :001_smile:!

Edited September 17, 2010 by JudoMom

[Robin's Song]

All three of my kids were doing somersaults around the football field last night :tongue_smilie:

[Sherry in OH]

I had an odd experience last night, at least it seemed so to me. I lead a Cub Scout den with 7-year-olds. One of their requirements under Feats of Skill is to do a front roll, your basic somersault. I asked them to do it. Many blank stares. I had my son demonstrate. A couple had "aha" moments and did it, the other 5 crouched down in various ways, clearly clueless, and tried, with various sprawling results, even after much help. The results for a "diving front roll" and "back roll" were even more dismal. "Play catch with someone 10 steps away" and "do a crab walk" were just as bad.

 

All but one of these kids are in some organized sport or another every season of the year - they don't have specific physical disabilities.

 

When my boys were preschool age and played out in the yard, they just started doing somersaults at some point, probably with my encouragement. At parks, they did and still do look for a good grassy hill so they can link lots of somersaults going down (and get all dizzy and be silly). When I was growing up, that's what everyone did.

 

Are kids no longer doing things that encourage gross motor skills?

 

I think it is a reflection of changing ideas about childhood. A lot of kids are discouraged or at least not encouraged from doing spontaneous play. How many times have you seen parents chide children for getting dirty? Some children only see the outdoors from a moving car. Many children are enrolled in organized sports by age two. They learn the movements needed to play that sport, but not more general gross motor skills.

[GailV]

My girls did them lots. Heck, we ended up investing in some gym mats since they kept doing them all over the place. And, yes, kids almost always do them wrong when they're learning.

 

My question is -- are adults capable of doing a somersault? I did them when I was a kid but I'm scared to do them now. I don't even know why, but it feels horribly treacherous when I've tried to demonstrate and I've had to stop!

 

Someone once told me that has to do with some changes in your inner ear -- you tend to get dizzier going upside down as you get older. Come to think of it, she said it was after pregnancy. whether that's true or not, the thought of a cartwheel makes me just about fall over from dizziness these days. I can still do a forward roll, but the room spins for a while afterwards.

[angela in ohio]

They could probably have done them on the Nintendo. ;)

 

PE in school is all about teaching team sports now, not individual skills.

 

Each of my dc went through a round of basic gymnastics at the Y. They can roll forward, backwards, and the girls can do passable cartwheels. I remember it being a basic girl qualification for fitting in in elementary school that you could do a cartwheel. Now it's whether you have the right cell phone. :D

[Lawana]

I learned those skills in PE, but I've not taught my dc. Dd doesn't have any natural interest, and to my shame, I've not encouraged her to move as much as she should. Ds has learned rolls in karate, but that is as far as it goes with him. I can, at 51, still do a pretty good cartwheel, but last time I tried a backward roll, it hurt my neck really bad.

[stripe]

Someone once told me that has to do with some changes in your inner ear -- you tend to get dizzier going upside down as you get older.

Yes, swinging makes my stomach churn. I can only swing for a few seconds!

[Murphy101]

Not me. I have been a klutz my entire life and doing something like that never seemed appealing to me. I was the kid who stood back watching and wondering why all those other kids were acting so weird. Even as a kid I hated sports too. PE was the only class I hated more than math. I actually failed it twice in two different grades.

 

It's about 50/50 for my kids who can do somersaults, though none of them do it right I'm sure. I don't consider it a particularly important thing in life or even just childhood. Bigger fish to fry on that issue than whether they can do so somersaults.

[Pretty in Pink]

If somersaults are 'out' my kids missed the memo. It's sort of a nightly routine around here, the somersault competition. They move the coffee table out of the way and everything!

[cathmom]

Someone once told me that has to do with some changes in your inner ear -- you tend to get dizzier going upside down as you get older. Come to think of it, she said it was after pregnancy. whether that's true or not, the thought of a cartwheel makes me just about fall over from dizziness these days. I can still do a forward roll, but the room spins for a while afterwards.

 

After I had my first child, I could no longer do amusement park rides. And I was still under 20, so it wasn't age LOL.

 

Yes, swinging makes my stomach churn. I can only swing for a few seconds!

 

Yep, I can't swing anymore either!

[IsabelC]

I have met kids who can't do a somersault very well, but I've never met one who isn't keen to have a go.

 

Re the getting older / having kids thing, I was wondering why I can't seem to do handstands or cartwheels - I just assumed it was due to unfitness and being a bit fatter than I was. I still adore swinging though (as in being on a swing, obviously, not the other kind!) and I have an ambition to get a real adult sized swing in our garden eventually.

[PiCO]

Are kids no longer doing things that encourage gross motor skills?

 

I think there a couple problems. First of all, kids are discouraged from playing outside unsupervised. In many areas it's considered unsafe. Secondly, many playgrounds are now "safe". That's not a bad thing for everyone, but many of these safe playgrounds have removes everything needing skill or strength- so children don't develop either.

 

I have been teaching gymnastics for 30 years. When I first started, practically every child who walked into the gym could do a forward roll. 90% could do a backward roll, a cartwheel, and a chin-up. Today, 90% of the kids who walk in the door cannot do a forward roll. 1% can do a backward roll, cartwheel, and chin-up.

 

What I find most distressing is the overall lack of muscle tone. So many children sit at a desk in school for 7 hours a day, go home and do 2 hours of homework, then watch TV. That's not what the human body was made for.

 

(Time for me to go do some sit-ups!)

[Wheres Toto]

I'm so glad to see a lot of the other adults get dizzy so easy. I thought it was just me. :001_smile: I get vertigo swinging and definitely can't do anything involving going upside down or spinning.

 

As for my kids, my little guys have always been a little crazy with the jumping around and flipping off the couch but I don't know that I've ever seen a full somersault. They start gymnastics today so I'm sure I'll be seeing some soon.

 

My oldest has been dancing for 12 years and has done a few years of gymnastics so can do forward and backward rolls. She can do a cartwheel on the balance beam.

[brijen97]

My daughter does them continually. We finally had to make a rule that she couldn't do them in the house...we were afraid she was going to get hurt! When she was 5 we tried a short fall soccer program. While the other kids were all off chasing the ball she was doing somersaults at the other end of the field! We gave it up and found a dance studio that also offered gymnastics. :0) Now we have a happy kid!!

[hsbaby]

Mine do. And every other ninja/gymnastics/break dancing-ish sort of move they can come up with. On a side note, I tried demonstrating a handstand into a forward roll to my kids recently. The results were not good. And painful:)

[Dawn in OH]

Wow, lots to cover in this discussion.

 

Could I do a somersault? Sure, on a day where my neck doesn't ache from sleeping wrapped around a baby. Would I enjoy it? Heck no.

 

Can my kids do a somersault? My daughter can. My uncoordinated 9 year old son cannot. But we are working on that. I haven't taught the three year old yet.

 

Could I do a cartwheel? Probably, but it wouldn't feel very good right now and probably be extremely embarrassing for me. Ask me again in six months. Because I cannot currently properly demonstrate a cartwheel, there's no kids doing them right now.

 

I get dizzy easily. I guess you could say it started after having children. I never thought of that before, but I don't remember having dizzy issues prior to having them. In fact, I get dizzy so easily, that I felt ill after riding on a Merry Go Round with the kids a few years ago. I couldn't wait to get off. I screamed in pure terror on a kiddie roller coaster at Disney World in 2005. I don't like swinging either. Our 3 year old likes me to grab is hands and spin him around, and I'm dizzy after only 2 spins.

 

Both my older children can do a push up and sit up. Not very many, or very well. We have to watch them and correct them, but we do do these for PE over the long Ohio winter.

[eclipse]

My kids can all do somersaults - even my very physically tentative dd. They've all done them from a very young age - my oldest was probably under a year old. My almost 10 yo ds can do an excellent back flip, too. None can do cartwheels, though - I was never able to do them as a child so I can't really give any advice to them on it.

[In The Great White North]

I don't find many kids who can do somersaults either. When we teach them flip turns (swimming) and tell them to go straight over, like a somersault, we get blank stares. I give them "homework" to go home and do somersaults over their beds!

 

Last time I tried a cartwheel, I hurt for days. Need to do a lot more stretching first!

[twoxcell]

My kids do pretty much daily.:lol: My dd2 is excellent at somersaults, and my ds is a crazy flipper.

[the4Rs]

My kids do somersaults a lot. :) But it also helps they are in tumbling and learning the correct way to do them.

 

Now for a bit of fun I did a forward roll for my kids and my day care kids who are also in tumbling.....that was obviously the funniest thing these little kids had ever seen because they couldn't stop laughing and said I looked "silly."

 

hmmmmm....:glare: There's my humility pill.

[catz]

Really? My daughter was doing them before age 2 (had an older to watch), and my son by age 3. My daughter has always been extremely co-ordinated, but I always considered my DS more average on the coordination spectrum. Guess it's what you're exposed to.

[Virg]

At least for my twins YES! Somersaults and front flips and back rolls ALL OVER MY HOUSE! They hit the walls when they fall from hand stands. They try to walk up and down the stairs on their hands. They fall into each other! They do back rolls up into hand stands. They do hand stands down into forward rolls. They do hand stands into a bridge. They do head stands in the bathroom, the hallway, the "sitting only" living room, almost never in the playroom.... Can you tell what phase my boys are in?! I wish I could afford a tumbling class!!!

 

Oh and as to push ups ands sit ups, Uncle is in the Army.. enough said lol

Edited September 17, 2010 by ds4159

[Mabelen]

My 14 yo can do a front and back roll but not a diving front roll or a cartwheel with proper form. She is not coordinated and she has low muscle tone issues... she has always been the kid who hates P.E! She did some gymnastics as a todler, OT for a year, swimming for many years, 2 weekly P.E. during elementary school and first 2 years of middle school. She had daily P.E. last year and this year too.

 

My 6 yo dd can do a front and back roll. She learned to do a diving front roll this week but her cartwheels are not very good yet. She is better coordinated, has no low muscle tone issues and she started a tumbling class 2 weeks ago!

 

I have no problem with forward and backward rolls, my cartwheels are shaky but I have never been able to do a diving front roll. I have always had issues with dizziness, as a kid I didn't really enjoy swinging. I must be a rare case but I can better stand swinging now as an adult.

[stripe]

I was at the park today and saw a toddler doing somersaults. My kids promptly somersaulted away.

 

(I, however, did not.)

[Melissa in Australia]

All my kids can do somersaults. my dd started doing cartwheels, and sprained her neck. many x-rays later ( we weren't sure if it was brocken ) I banned cartwheels.

[Deb in NZ]

All 3 of my dc can do basic gym moves (forward / backward rolls, cartwheels, etc.). My boys are quite good (but they both are / have been in competitive gymnastics for years), while my dd can do them, but isn't as graceful or fluid as her brothers. I was a Kea Scout Leader for years & one day we had relay races & to make it interesting I had them hop, skip, etc. When I said do forward rolls, I had to demonstrate. It was NOT fun! After 3 rolls I had had enough. I've decided I am too old for gymnastics :tongue_smilie: But the sad thing is, most of the 6-7yo keascouts had never done a forward roll :confused:

 

As far as basic fitness...my dc can do sit ups, push-ups, pull-ups, etc. In the various activities / sports my dc are involved in, many coaches use push-ups as consequences. Usually only 5 push-ups are required. Ds#1 would do 10 "proper" push-upsbefore thinking & not even be breathing heavy. Most other kids do "girl" push-ups & would struggle after a couple. Pull-ups are beyond the ability of most children/teens today. Ds#2 is on the provincial hockey team & only 3 out of 16 boys on the team can do 1 pull-up. Ds#2 is the only one who can do more than 1 (he did 10 :) ) Schools only encourage running for fitness :confused:

[Food4Thought]

Both of mine do somersaults, back rolls, the crab walk, etc. They started all on their own, so I thought it was a natural kid thing. Interesting that other kids may not know how.

 

As to dizziness, I've been trying to teach my kids cartwheels the last few weeks, and I literally see stars every single time I try. I don't think I'm made for cartwheels anymore! And I'm only 30 - I'm not that old yet, am I?? :001_huh:

[elise1mds]

My kids love to do somersaults! It took DS forever to learn how; DD picked it up as soon as he finally did one. I did some to show them, which they thought was hysterical. :glare: DD can do push-ups but not cartwheels or chin-ups. DS can't do any of the above. It's not that they're out of shape, either. DD would like to do cartwheels but just hasn't figured it out yet. I think that'll come about the time she figures out how to ride a bike sans training wheels. She'll get there. I'm not sure about chin-ups. She's SO tall and constantly growing so quickly that her muscles just can't keep up. DD will probably learn push-ups eventually but never be able to do the other two without serious effort (and, well, cartwheels aren't so much for boys, anyway). He has muscle tone issues, though. He can lift more than 50 lbs. without blinking but can't coordinate his arms and legs together to do a push-up. They both love to crab walk. I taught them jumping jacks as well (DS still has issues).

 

DD attends a school where you'd think these things would be taught, but apparently PE is more about calisthenics and team sports, as mentioned. She knows how to do wonderful stretches, which is great, but then she says she spends the rest of PE playing games with the other kids. I remember having crab walk races! I guess that'd be discouraged now so that nobody loses and feels bad. :sneaky2:

 

I'm glad I'm not alone in the dizziness department!!! I used to be the one riding the upside-down roller coasters over and over and over and over until everyone else threw up, and then I'd ride them again. When our high school band went to Universal Studios on a band trip in 1999, the Incredible Hulk and Dueling Dragons (now Dragon Challenge) roller coasters had opened just seven months prior. The theme park was DEAD, so we rode those coasters so many times the operaters finally refused to run it for us any more. :lol: I think they feared for our mental health. Now, though, I can't imagine doing that. I'd be the one throwing up! My poor girl, who is just like me, may have to ride them alone just like I did.

[Sahamamama]

Someone once told me that has to do with some changes in your inner ear -- you tend to get dizzier going upside down as you get older. Come to think of it, she said it was after pregnancy. whether that's true or not, the thought of a cartwheel makes me just about fall over from dizziness these days. I can still do a forward roll, but the room spins for a while afterwards.

 

:iagree:I'm not supposed to "spin" or shake my head, as it can aggravate my vertigo. But my girls do somersaults all over the house, the lawn, the furniture....

[Forget-Me-Not]

All three of mine, including the not-quite-two yo can do a somersault. My 5 and 7 yo can crab walk too. My 7 yo learned both in Karate, along with a number of other skills. I hadn't really thought about it until now, but my 5 yo was required to somersault and crab walk at her first gymnastics class this week and did both adequately, so I guess she picked it up somewhere along the way. She doesn't really do it at home though.

[Joker]

I told my dh about this thread and he said he wasn't sure our dds could do a somersault. I laughed and told him they can. We called dds out to the living room and asked them and they went head over heels through the living room and down the hallway back to their gameroom.:tongue_smilie: It's not something they do everyday but they can do it if asked.

[astrid]

After I had my first child, I could no longer do amusement park rides. And I was still under 20, so it wasn't age LOL.

 

 

 

Yep, I can't swing anymore either!

 

OMG this was me too! I was a die-hard roller-coaster rider--- LOVED amusement park rides--- the scarier/wilder the better.

 

I had Molly and YIKES! Seriously, the very next year I chaperoned a field trip to Hershey Park with the middle school where I taught and tried the same coaster that just a year ago (pre-pregnancy) I had LOVED and ridden repeatedly with no ill effect whatsoever. This time, WHAM. I ended up sicker than a dog.

 

Why, I wonder? It's always puzzled me. She's 13 and still, the merry-go-round is pushin' it for me.

 

astrid

[EthiopianFood]

many do them wrong (straight up on the head a fall over flat on their back).

 

It's not wrong! It's practicing for a headstand! It means they're gifted. :tongue_smilie:

[Sparkle]

This is a timely thread...I was just reading Pippi Longstocking last night to dd7, and one of the things Pippi did was 43 somersaults every morning for exercise. I thought, hmm, do kids do somersaults anymore? So funny to see this thread today. My dd does do them occasionally, btw.