It is essential for children to have role models beyond their parents or guardians to learn from diverse experiences and perspectives. Coaches and instructors, in particular, provide excellent boosts to early childhood development by teaching new physical skills like dance or swimming as well as social skills like discipline and perseverance.
Who Qualifies to Become an Early Child Development Instructor?
While each type of early childhood development instructor, from gymnastic coaches and swim instructors to teachers and camp counselors, has differing skills and specialties, they are all independently certified to make and maintain safe, clean, and enriching environments for kids.
One such example is the swimming program at America’s Kids In Motion in Clovis, CA, which has been accredited by the American Swimming Coaches Association, the United States Swim School Association, the USA Swimming Foundation, and the Hope Floats Foundation to ensure its quality. Additionally, our gymnastics program is nationally recognized by the USAG, the national governing body for gymnastics.
These and other forms of accreditation mean that you can be confident that your children will be safe and learn usable techniques with our instructors.
What Do Kids Learn From Sports Activity?
Regardless of the activity your child is engaged in, their coach or instructor will be able to teach them skills that are applicable outside the gym or the pool.
Children learn the values of discipline and patience by doing the same exercises repeatedly. They not only see improvement but also feel it throughout their body as a result of consistent practice. With activities like gymnastics or dance, where the development of mobile dexterity and advanced movement often begins with a lot of trial and error, our instructors teach your children about perseverance – how to get back up and try again.
As with learning any new skill, even as an adult, a certain level of frustration is inevitable. Certified coaches and instructors are trained on how to help your young one push through that initial “I can’t” or “I give up” reaction. They can then guide them on how to use that stress as fuel to persist and do better. By showing your child that they can learn one thing they had trouble doing, it gives them the confidence to keep on trying and learning to do new things, even if they’re hard at first.
How Do Kids Learn Through Modeling?
In addition to the skills taught directly by our coaches, your child will likely pick up beneficial traits and behaviors through their innate sense of modeling.
By watching our coaches work with an entire class, your child will learn and mirror how responsible adults act toward others in a safe, respectful, and productive manner. Our coaches and instructors understand that knowledge is meant to be shared with those who would like to learn and know how to meet people at their skill levels. They demonstrate how to be compassionate in order to motivate the children in their class to become their best selves.
Through their relationship with your child, our instructors also teach them how to interact with other adults or authority figures, ask for attention or help, express their frustrations or desires, and respond to directions.
How Do Kids Put These Skills Into Practice?
By being a role model for how disciplined practice makes someone better at a particular skill, our instructors do more than simply teach children a new skill and the character traits necessary to continually develop it. They teach children how to teach others those same skills and virtues.
One of the most rewarding things we see in our programs at America’s Kids In Motion is when a more experienced child is able to help out a newer student. Putting all the lessons they’ve learned from our instructors into practice demonstrates mastery of skills and emotional maturity.
The best role models inspire their students to want to become role models themselves and to impart their knowledge to others in a virtuous cycle.
Ready to Enroll Your Child at America’s Kids In Motion?
Enrolling your children in an early childhood sports program ensures quality time with qualified instructors. Whether your child is interested in gymnastics, dance, swimming, or our multidisciplinary NinjaZone, the coaches and instructors at America’s Kids In Motion in Fresno County, CA, can teach them skills that will benefit them for a lifetime.
Get in touch with us today to learn about our swimming, dance, gymnastics, and NinjaZone classes to give your child a head start!
