The diaper gym concept arose out of the need for small children to have a broad range of physical experiences and to be exposed under safe conditions, to situations which they would possibly avoid on their own. Today's living restricts a child's opportunities to climb, hang, swing, balance and jump. Some would say today's child does not need such experiences, but we disagree. The experiences this program offers to your child are unique. Experts believe, developmentally, a child has about six years to acquire sensory integration. After that, the window of opportunity starts to close. Some adults who missed out on important areas of sensory integration seem to always be disoriented after being upside down or rolling. Speech and reading are directly related to this time of development. Through "play", our program challenges every child and exposes each one to situations that will build a foundation to last a lifetime.

Be positive; be encouraging; be helpful. Children have to experiment at their own pace. Try to respect that. We hope to give them a movement experience with the persons they trust most, mom and dad. Our effort is to give parents a place to help their child and in some cases to show them how to help their children with particular movements--to give students step by step progressions, to teach parents to "spot" and to demonstrate the effects of positive exposure. Challenge your child by asking, "Can you do this? How long or how far, how many can you do?" When you successfully challenge your child, you go beyond play, reaching into persistence, mental fortitude and confidence.

Occasionally, lessons will focus on a particular category of movement such as "climbing", "swinging", "landings", "jumping", or "bouncing", etc. The teacher will assist you either in a group or on an individual basis, showing simple skills and progressions. Each lesson should, at least in some small way build and add on to the previous skill. Soon your child's familiarity with these set-ups will become routine. Children begin to show off their skills to you. You show them your approval by clapping, smiling and cheering them on. When they ask you to "watch this", don't underestimate the power of you're face lighting up.

When encouragement increases, discipline will decrease. Your child may not always be in the mood or may have different ideas about what to do each day. This is fine. As your child matures, he or she will become more social and want to please you even more.