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Gymnastics Dad

The Rewards Of Being A Gymnastics Dad

I probably should have written this story sooner but life is busy sometimes, okay, so back off!! I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that. You guys are great! I’ve told the story before of how my daughter was the first girl born into my dad’s side of the family in over 70 years, so my entire journey of fathering a daughter to date has been new, challenging, rewarding and amazing.

One of the many differences has been with my daughter’s choice of extra-curricular activities. I played hockey and baseball for as long as I can remember and my son followed in those same footsteps, even though I tried to get him to try other sports. My daughter, however, found her love in gymnastics, and man is she ever good at it! Every time I see her do a new move, it feels like the most incredible feat I have ever seen.

Although I know nothing about gymnastics, I still like being a part of the gym and help out whenever I can. My daughter’s coach, knowing that I try to be a team player, had asked me if I would do a little performance with my daughter for the Christmas showcase and naturally, I agreed. The idea was simply that my daughter would do a move and I would then try to replicate that move in front of all the parents and children in attendance. Easy enough, right?

Well, what actually ended up happening was that my daughter and I ended up choreographing an entire routine to surprised everyone in attendance. A couple notes about this. First, I was waaaay more nervous than I expected I would be, which then caused my foot to cramp up minutes before we went on. Second, the video below was posted to Facebook and now has over 2 million views, which is crazy! Finally, no, I don’t know how I nailed that first cartwheel and failed so badly on the other. I’m guessing it was a combination of age and lack of grace…

Luckily for me, there wasn’t too much pain the next day, although I’m guessing the shock of the video going viral probably helped. We never expected so many people to love the routine but I am so grateful that everyone got to see just how talented my little girl is! I wasn’t sure about this gymnastics thing when she started in it but it has ended up being an extremely important and rewarding part of our lives.

So, without further ado, and if you haven’t seen it, please enjoy what was one of the best nights of my life!

Tough Kid

Toughness Comes In All Sizes

I can still vividly remember the high school gym class where I suffered my first, and only, major injury. We were learning to play rugby, a bad idea to begin with, when I took a hit in the back from one of the rougher kids in the school. He fell on my knee and I felt a distinct popping sound, only to find out later that day that I had torn ligaments in my knee.

It was an especially bad time for this particular injury as I had worked my way into the 2nd of 4 tryouts for the Team Ontario fastball team, with a chance to tryout for Team Canada if you made it. I’m under no delusion that I would have made Team Canada but the option was most definitely gone now.

What I remember most about this time was how I started feeling sorry for myself. I stopped rehabbing as hard as I could and spent a lot of time sulking around while my friends and teammates had another championship season. Because they felt bad, I received an invite to the final Team Ontario camp the following year but by that point I had already given up on myself.

I tell this story because last week my daughter broke her arm while training at gymnastics and it felt very similar to my story, with one minor difference. She’s been training 20 hours a week at the gym for the last year and was to have her first competition this coming week, so the timing couldn’t have been worse. We were devastated for her because she works so incredibly hard, as do all the girls, and we weren’t sure how she was going react to not being able to compete. If I’m being completely honest, we were also sad that we wouldn’t get to see all her hard work pay off in competition.

Broken Arm Gymnast

The difference between my story and my daughter’s is the way she has handled everything so far. While there have been a couple moments of frustration at not being able to do something she was used to doing, she has generally been all smiles and remained our happy little warrior. In fact, one week after the break she was back at the gym on her regular schedule, with a modified workload from her coach. We were nervous about letting her go back so soon but she begged and the doctor said it was fine, so we caved.

I have never been more proud of her than when a man approached me at practice on her first day back and asked if that was my daughter out there training with a cast in a sling. When I replied yes, he congratulated me on raising such a tough daughter and it opened my eyes to just how strong she is, both physically and mentally. Her love for this gym and motivation to be great at this sport is something that I carry with me every day.

She may not have gotten this strength from me but I am learning a lot about toughness from watching her, not just through this, but in general with the way she carries herself. She is absolutely a poster child for the fact that strength comes in all sizes.

Beautiful Gymnast

Summer Canonball

Summer Is Here & It’s Time To Get Outside!

“This post is sponsored by Bayer. To make sure these products are right for you, always read and follow the label.”

In the age of electronics, we’ve been pretty lucky when it comes to making sure our kids get enough outdoor time. Both kids ended up loving sports, which keeps them outside from morning until night and makes this dad a happy camper. I figure if the only downside to this is that they sometimes don’t want to come inside, that’s a trade-off I’ll take.

While we aren’t much of a classic outdoors family, with the camping and hiking and whatnot, we love spending time outside together. With that said, here are a few of our favourite summertime activities!

1. Baseball

Baseball Kid

I can’t tell you how happy I was when my son decided he wanted to try baseball as one of his activities. I played competitive fastball my entire youth and while I purposefully didn’t push my son into it, I’m excited that he discovered a love for it on his own. That means I get to coach, which also means I’m using muscles I hadn’t used in a looooong time. Luckily for me, I have discovered ALEVE® Back & Body Pain, because I’m not sure how else I’d be able to get through running up and down the baselines for 5 tournament games in one weekend!

2. Soccer

Girls soccer

While my son chose a sport I was familiar with, my daughter has gone in the opposite direction. As if 16 hours of gymnastics a week wasn’t enough, she also decided to excel at soccer. I will admit that when I was a kid the baseball kids were trained to dislike soccer, I really love watching her fly up and down the field like a bolt of lightning. It’s also kind of nice to not know anything about a sport because I can pay more attention to my daughter and worry less about the rules.

3. Glamping

KOA Family Cabin Camping

I mentioned earlier that we are not a campaign family, but that doesn’t mean we don’t hit a campground for the weekend on occasion. In our case, however, we choose to book a cabin at nearby KOAs so it feels like we are camping without the uncomfortable feeling of a deflated mattress at 2am! The only real downside to this is that my wife is an allergy sufferer and occasionally needs to pop one of her Claritin® Allergy tablets to get through the day’s events, but then we are back on track!

4. Water Fights

KOA Ivy Lea Wet Wagon Ride

Whether it’s just us with water balloons or the entire neighbourhood with water guns, I don’t know anyone who doesn’t love a good water fight! That is, as long as the people getting soaked know that they are in said water battle…

5. Trampolining

Trampoline Kid

We are officially a trampoline family now and I have never seen the kids want to be outside more in their lives. Seriously, they wake up and before I can remind them to brush their teeth they are outside jumping in their PJs. Even on the hottest days of summer so far they are out there, jumping and melting in the hot sun. You can imagine how eager they are to stop jumping to come and get their sunscreen on… Luckily we found the Coppertone® Sport Sunscreen Continuous Spray SPF 30 which not only gets them back on the trampoline in minutes but also handles the sweat with ease and holds its SPF for at least 80 minutes of activity.

There’s so much more we love to do in the summer but this covers the major items on our yearly checklist! How about you? I’d love to hear what your favourite summer activities are, so feel free to go ahead and leave them in the comment section!

Get Outside Bayer

“This post is sponsored by Bayer. To make sure these products are right for you, always read and follow the label.”

Team UA Next Ambassadors

Under Armour & Sport Chek Are Looking For The 2018 Team UA NEXT Canadian Youth Ambassadors!

This month marks the launch of the 2nd annual Team UA NEXT Canada Powered by Sport Chek campaign, as it sets out to find the NEXT generation of Under Armour athletes! All 7 to 12 year-old hard-working athletes are eligible to compete to become the face of Under Armour in a brand campaign at Sport Chek stores across Canada.

When I showed this to my kids they both immediately begged me to start shooting video so they could enter the contest. After about an hour of filming for just one of my children I would like to suggest to Under Armour and Sport Chek that they also look for the Team UA NEXT Dad Ambassadors for next year, haha. I’m kidding, I love how passionate they were about having their entry videos look just right!

The winning boy and girl will join the elite roster of Under Armour athletes and serve as a youth ambassador for the brand. In addition to being featured in the brand campaign, winners will receive exclusive access to Under Armour gear. Parents, guardians, mentors and coaches have until August 31, 2017 to nominate a young athlete online at TeamUAnext.ca.

You simply have to submit videos throughout the summer showing your kids’ passion and athleticism to make a compelling case for why they should the next Under Armour athlete. “Last year hundreds of talented young athletes from coast to coast showed us how they hustle, persevere, and compete and we are excited to see who will tryout this year,” said Shana Ferguson, Marketing Director, Under Armour Canada.

The current Team UA NEXT Canada Powered by Sport Chek campaign features twelve-year-olds Brenden McLeod of Newmarket and Maya Rajhans of Etobicoke. Brenden is a hockey and lacrosse player and Maya is a basketball and soccer player. They were chosen because they had the right mix of determination, passion, teamwork, and WILL. Here is a promo video showing Brenden and Maya as Team UA NEXT ambassadors.

I know my kids are pumped to start making videos and I hope you’ll join in as well! For more information on TEAM UA NEXT Canada powered by Sport Chek, or to submit a nomination, visit TeamUAnext.ca. You can follow along and share at the @UnderArmourNext Instagram page as well. Also check out Sport Chek on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, as well as Under Armour on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram using #TAKEYOURSPOT and #UANEXTCANADA.

Disclosure: I was compensated for my participation in this campaign.

TownePlace Suites Business Centre

When A Hotel Turns Into A Gymnasium

Disclosure: TownePlace Suites hooked my family up with a stay while we were in Buffalo and certainly exceeded all expectations we had with such a large group.

We traveled to Buffalo last weekend to take part in our daughter’s 1st ever gymnastics competition. I haven’t written much about gymnastics on here yet but if the trend continues, you are going to be sick of hearing about it by the end of the year. We brought the whole Kanata Gymnosphere competitive team and crashed into the TownePlace Suites Buffalo Airport location like a hurricane!

I had tweeted a warning to TownePlace Suites ahead of our trip to make sure they understood what was about to happen and they assured me that they were ready for it. I saw round-offs, back handsprings, cartwheels, handstands and more as the weekend went on and could have sworn we were back at the gym as opposed to being at a hotel. True to their word, though, TownePlace was ready at every turn.

TownePlace Suites Tweet

I have to admit that at one point during our stay I realized I had become the annoying guest who always had a question or request for the front desk, but each time they handled my requests swiftly and with a smile. Even when the kids got a little loud and rambunctious in the lobby area, which may or may not have happened on a couple occasions, the staff were polite in asking them keep it down a bit.

There were so many memories made throughout the weekend that it’s hard for me to talk about all of them but here are a few of the highlights.

The Pool – Something I learned this weekend is that gymnasts are not allowed to go in the pool until after they have finished their competition. That meant for 2 full days the girls could only stare at the hotel pool and dream of how much fun it could be. I’m not sure what I was expecting but those kids hit the water as if they hadn’t swam in years. It was really fun to see their excitement.
The Business Center – Who knew that the TownePlace Suites business center was going to be the place the kids spent the most time in? The girls spent hours on the computers watching, what else, gymnastics videos! I mean, it’s technically the business they were there for, right??
Pizza Night! – I was tasked with ordering pizza for the group on our final night, which is well outside of my area of expertise. That said, I ordered WAAAAY too much pizza but ended up being able to pay the staff back for all my questions by sharing some pizza with them. I’m just going to pretent that was my plan all along…
Breakfast!!! – The breakfast area was my favourite spot in the hotel, for obvious reasons. Every morning, the breakfast nook opened and was filled with goodies such as cereal, fruit, yogurts and my personal favourite, waffles! In fact, I had tweeted to TPS a month before our arrival asking if they had waffles and upon our arrival at the hotel they handed me this note.

TownePlace Suites Waffles

It’s a small gesture but knowing that they cared enough to make our stay a little bit more special is something that will always keep me coming back. We had an amazing trip and can’t wait to see what next gymnastics season has in store for us. I also want to say a huge thank you to TownePlace Suites Buffalo Airport for making our stay a memorable one!

Oh, by the way, we also did some gymnastics while we were in Buffalo! Proud Dad Alert!!

Stumpfs Gymnastics

Kids Playing Sports

How Much Is Too Much When It Comes To Kids Activities?

Dinner? Check! Water bottle? Check! Healthy snack? Check! Leotard? Check! Shorts that go over top of leotard or the whole outfit is ruined? Double Check! I quickly run over my list before picking up my daughter from school and rushing her to her 4:30 gymnastics class at Kanata Gymnosphere. We usually have about 20 minutes to eat dinner in the minivan, yes, I’m a proud minivan owner, and chat a little about our day before she has to get dressed for class.

This may sound chaotic to some parents, and admittedly it was at first, but it is normal routine for us now. To be perfectly honest I’ve grown to really enjoy that 20 minutes between school and gymnastics because we get a chance to talk, laugh and turn off life’s distractions for a little while. My daughter spends 16 hours a week at this gym so that one on one time before class starts is important for both of us.

I know what you’re probably thinking, “16 hours a week for a 6 year old?!? That’s crazy!!”, and I would have definitely agreed with you a year ago when we first walked into the gym. We started in a regular once a week class, which then jumped to 9 hours a week, then 12 and now 16. Every step of the way we hesitated, wondering if it was the right decision for our daughter. The thing is, she loves it, and she is really good at it. It also helps that the staff at Kanata Gymnosphere treat her like family from the minute she walks in until she leaves her session, and the focus, determination and discipline she has shown lets us know as parents that she is able to handle the workload.

All in all, between our daughter and son, we spend just over 20 hours a week at various organized activities and while the kids don’t ever complain about it, my wife and I definitely worry about the effects it could have on them, and ourselves. We keep a close eye on things such as the kids’ schoolwork, sleep patterns and general moods to make sure that the activities aren’t negatively affecting their day to day lives. It’s not just the kids we have to worry about either, as shuttling them all over the city and coordinating schedules for two working parents can be tricky and stressful as well, so we’ve had to be mindful of how this is affecting us as partners.

Kids Gymnastics Baseball

I’d love to sit here and act all-knowing but the truth is that I have no idea if we are doing the right thing for our kids by letting them spend so much time in extra-curricular activities. They don’t seem to be showing any signs of fatigue and their teachers have no complaints so we allow them to continue doing the things that bring them joy. We make sure to grab hold of any family/snuggle time we can get, eat dinners together when possible and talk to the kids a lot about how they are feeling. We’ve managed to strike a balance in there somewhere for the time being and hopefully we’ll fine tune it as time passes.

So, what’s the answer to the question of how much is too much when it comes to your child’s activities? I think the answer is that it depends on the child. Only you can know how your child reacts to different environments and workloads. What works for my kids may not necessarily work for yours, and that’s perfectly alright. As a former sports brat myself, my advice would be to let them experiment with new activities, gauge how they interact in them and talk to them about how they feel while doing it. Letting your children guide you as opposed to making the decisions for them is always a step in the right direction.

If you want to talk more about youth sports and activities, I’d love to hear from you in the comments or over on my Facebook page at facebook.com/canadiandad! Cheers!

Altitude Sports Puddle

These Boots Are Made For… Everything, Apparently!

Kids are funny creatures. They are completely opposite from us grown-ups in that they don’t seem to care about things such as fashion, common sense or practicality. Okay, they are unlike ‘most’ of us grown-ups…

My son recently received new Bogs rubber boots from Altitude Sports and I was very excited about it. There’s something special about watching a child splash through puddles in rubber boots. It helps remind us of the freedom we once enjoyed as children to do whatever we pleased. The smiles on their faces as they thrash their way through the rain are enough to tell a thousands stories.

As it turns out, what I saw as a simple and practical pair of puddle jumpers meant something completely different to my son. Sure, he still loves splashing in puddles with them but much like a new pair of running shoes, his new boots came everywhere with us! Without further ado, here is my list, in no particular order, of the strangest things my son used his new rubber boots for.

Baseball Practice

Altitude Sports Baseball

*Jose Bautista also plays in rubber boots! (*Not true)

Street Hockey

Altitude Sports Hockey

Everyone knows rubber boots are best for running…

Jumping on the Bed

Altitude Sports Bed Jump

Are my kids living the dream, or what?

Soccer

Altitude Sports Soccer

Actually the rubber boots are good for unleashing crazy kicks in this case.

As you can see, my children are just as weird as yours and I couldn’t be happier about it. Having structure is cool but sometimes you just need to throw on a pair of rubber boots and jump on a bed, am I right? Please tell me your kids do this kind of stuff too…

I should also mention that Altitude Sports is a 100% Canadian company and my transactions with them have all been amazing. Their discount website, The Last Hunt, has some incredible deals from brands like Salomon and The North Face and you should definitely check it out if you don’t mind wearing the previous season’s gear.

Don’t forget to visit Altitude Sports at their Facebook and Twitter pages to say hello and to let them know that you support a solid Canadian company!

The RBC Believe in Kids Pledge ~ #RBCKids

I was just introduced to RBC’s “Believe In Kids Pledge” via some short videos they have put together and admit that they may have tugged at the old heart strings a little bit. Here is a bit about the program, from the RBC Commitment to Kids page:

The RBC Believe in Kids Pledge is a five-year, $100 million commitment to improve the well-being of at least 1 million kids and youth. We believe kids are our future: for our economic prosperity, the health of the planet and the hope of humanity. We believe kids need and deserve our complete commitment so they can be healthy in mind, body and spirit. That’s why we support a wide range of charitable and community health, education, arts and sports programs for children and youth. Because we believe in kids.

I was asked to watch three videos, featuring inspirational stories from children who have been helped by the RBC funded programs, and was asked to share one of them with you. This task was nearly impossible as they were all worthy of sharing, but here is my choice and I will explain why after you watch it. Although, I’m sure most of you will understand why.

With my history of mental illness, Jacob’s story resonated with me on a number of levels, but especially the part where he actually gets help for his illness. All too often, especially with children, help is either not offered or easily accessible, so the illnesses go untreated. I love that RBC is trying to do something to help with this issue and I am always going to be a supporter of anyone who wants to make a difference in the mental health field.

The RBC Believe In Kids Pledge combines the RBC Children’s Mental Health Project, the RBC After School Project and a commitment to Sports, to form an amazing program that is sure to help children across Canada. I hope you will take a minute to check out the RBC YouTube channel, so you can watch all three stories, because they are all worth watching.

This post content is sponsored by Royal Bank of Canada, however the views and opinions expressed herein represent my own and not those of Royal Bank of Canada or any other party and do not constitute financial, legal or other advice.

Talking “Family Matters” With CJAD800

I have been fortunate enough to have a monthly spot on the “Family Matters” segment with CJAD800’s Ric and Suzanne. This month I had the chance to talk about the tightrope that is children’s activities, as well as my recent experience where I had to explain why it’s okay for my son to want to do gymnastics. As always, I appreciate the opportunity to have my voice heard and always have a great time on the show. You can listen to my segment below.

Children’s Activities: Finding a Balance

We have been racking our brains over what activities to put the kids in this fall and it has proven to be an overwhelming task. On one hand, there are so many great programs out there that I know the kids will love, but the downside is that we risk burning them and ourselves out by trying to fit too much in.

I asked parents if they thought there was a perfect number of activities for children and, not surprisingly, I received a myriad of different answers. The suggestions touched on everything from stress and lack of family time, to cost and enjoyment. I have compiled a few of them here and would love to hear your thoughts in the comments section below:

I think parents put their kids in far too many these days. Just like we need ‘down time’ so do kids. School, is one thing, but having them in other activities three- five evenings a week, and on weekends is ridiculous. Give them some time to be kids and learn how to make their own fun, use their imaginations, play outside, and to just live a simple life. I think that one extra activity a week is MORE than enough.

Depends on ages, homework level and family time. We did many more before they were in school. Now I find two a week for each of them is a good balance so they still have time for exercise, school work, chores, friends and family.

We did a number of activities and the kids enjoyed them…but when we found THE ONE, we dropped everything else and now they LOVE it!

I definitely think there is such a thing as too many. Kids need time to just “be”. To be quiet, to read, to use their imaginations, to play freely, etc.

I believe there are too many. I have 2 children, one who is very active. We do dance and if she wants to do a sport she can. Now being in kindergarten, by the time you pick the kid up, do the activity, get home, do homework and eat dinner, its bedtime or past. And you still have to get the bath worked in. My sister has 3 all in school and all have 2 to 3 activities each. She is exhausted getting pulled every direction every night of the week. I think society has forgotten about good old family time!

Last year we did 4 activities per kid and I found it extremely stressful! Now we are only doing 2 per kid and I feel a HUGE relief (not to mention money savings!)

There’s def such a thing as too many! We do one or two per season – but keep it quiet-ish in the fall to help set up for a successful return to school season.

The magic question. We’re waging this debate now at home. Just getting to the ages where the schedules start filling up. We always had them both in swimming and gymnastics, now she wants to play hockey, do we drop one? Fine line between fun and burning them and us out. Feel like we’re at the top of the activity roller coaster, just about to drop in….no turning back now.

As you can see, there are many different opinions on the subject and there are many variables, such as school, number of children and their ages. With the sheer number of programs offered these days, it’s easy to see how you could pick 3-4 activities for your child without even realizing how it is going to affect your family time schedule.

For us, the perfect balance seems to be two activities a week but I really like the idea of searching for the one that they love and then fostering that above the others. Another important point raised was the one regarding the stress and well being of the parent. It’s great to keep your kids active but if the cost is that you suffer at the rest of your parenting duties while trying to be a super parent, is it really worth it?

I want to hear your thoughts on this issue. What is your strategy when it comes to signing your child(ren) up for activities?