Somersaulting Other People’s Children, and I Wonder Why They Find Me Weird
Posted on October 9th, 2007 in faux pas, playground
Here’s another aphorism for the parenting handbooks:
Don’t invert a toddler in front of the parents until they know your name.
One of my fans at the playground is H—, 14 months old and a new walker. I’ve known her for a few months; she and her older sister come to our playground nearly every day with a nanny. She’s sort of a daddy’s girl, I think, because she seeks me out a lot.
One day she saw me helping Boobaby perform somersaults, which we’ve been doing for months. Boo leans over and tucks her head; I support her body to take the weight off her neck and help her complete the flip. I think that all babies should learn to love being upside down, so Boo and I practice it a lot. Plus, she loves it — she sometimes won’t let me get away until we’ve tumbled a dozen times in a row.
Watching us, H— started trying to do somersaults on her own, looking for the world like she was holding the downward-facing dog yoga pose: a tripod-like baby balancing on locked legs and a head. This goaded into helping, I guided her through the somersault to her glee, and ever since she seeks me out for practice every chance she gets.
Then came the day we went to the playground after afternoon nap nd met H— with her dad. H—, naturally, sauntered straight over to me and put herself into the yoga pose. "You must be H—’s dad!" I giggled to the man as I flipped his daughter over. Only as I saw his eyes grow huge with concern did I realize how shocking such a display would be: a total stranger engaging in spontaneous tumbling demonstrations with his daughter.
To his credit, when dad saw how happy H— was with the stunt, he realized that I wasn’t randomly flipping children. He introduced himself and asked me to show him how to spot. He even joked something about how he’d been wondering why his daughter kept doing the yoga pose over and over, and now it finally made sense.
Apart from reminding me not to overstep boundaries when I finally meet the working parents of kids I know well, the exchange also underlined how lucky I feel to be able to stay home with my child. Of course, Boobaby will have relationships with adults in her life other than me and her mom. I can’t imagine not knowing all of Boo’s tricks so early in her life.
Yeah, I Twitter, don't laugh. 
October 9th, 2007 7:35 am
HaHa! That’s cute! I totally agree with that last sentence!
October 9th, 2007 9:38 am
My husband is very comfortable with young children and as such, engages them often. They are drawn to him because of his non-threatening manner and his goofiness, I think. Anyway, sometimes he gets weird looks from parents of said children and I have to remind him that not everybody realizes he is just a harmless guy who likes kids and that in this day and age, parents are wary of everybody, but particularly strange men who strike up conversations with their offspring.
It’s sad, but understandable.
October 9th, 2007 9:57 am
We do baby flips in my yoga class - the first time I was there, there were lots of new moms and they were *shocked* at how I was randomly flipping Alex around - They weren’t used to a mom whipping her kiddo upside down.
October 9th, 2007 10:12 am
Rachel has done this pose on many occasions, but it never occurred to me to flip her. I have on many occasions, however, flipped her around in my arms. She loves being upside down and giggles when I do this.
October 10th, 2007 2:57 am
Try it with one of the parents, THEN I wanna hear about the look on their faces
September 4th, 2008 2:43 pm
Hey! my kid does that pose! tomorrow, he learns a new game!
Wait, what am I getting myself into?
September 9th, 2008 10:29 am
My 20 month old adoresdoing somersaults. She can do them
all on her own. I love the big Ta Da she gives at the end.
I think I would freak if anyone came up and touched my
child let alone flipped her…but then again I am a stay
at home mom and do know everyone she knows.
Trackbacks & Pingbacks
[...] up for the world’s ignorance, my wife and I train Boobaby to perform for us. I got her to somersault around the age of 14 months, which freaked a lot of the first-aid-kit moms. We taught her useful [...]
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