Pilates For Kids

My name is Jen is a Fino and today I'm here to teach a children's movement class. I wrote a book, a story called the ratio moves at that features my dog, her ratio that lives in our [inaudible] studio in Chicago. And the story is a coming of age tale of a young pup who really doesn't know what his focus in life is going to be. He's the little lost. And then through being adopted into the plotty studio and exploring movement and getting in touch with his body, he develops self confidence and a sense of self that lets him know that no matter what he looks like or feels like, that's important because that's his own individual, a gift to the world. We say that the book is for anyone ages five to alive, but we find that most children really enjoy it, um, just in the fact that they can play and explore with the character that her ratio is in the book. And um, we have a lot of great fun with, uh, some of the public school children that we go into the city schools in Chicago and read the book too. I think [inaudible] is important for children because it encompasses a movement practice into hopefully your daily life, whether it's just from being aware of your movement and how you move or actually doing something technical and more regimented for children.

I think it's so important for them to cultivate a sense of play with movement early on mostly because later they'll be relegated to sitting most of the days in school and as we know Joseph [inaudible] referenced that in his book and said, you know, let's get those kids up and moving and breathing fresh air. So I think the earlier that we can offer that as a means of exploration and self self awareness to the children that the more they'll have those movement practices instilled into them for later on in adulthood. I've noticed that when I teach this class to children, they have a sense of life and wonder because of the character of her ratio, we needed an element of play to reach a younger population because they're not so into standing still and standing tall. But rather they want to move and they want to breathe and they want to play. And have fun. So when we introduced the character, and especially when he's here in person, they just feel this sense of fantasy that they can do anything that they want to do and they really get the, the arc of the story that he finds himself and that he's proud of himself.

And that's a message that's important to them. I do not think you have to have a dog to get this message across. I think anything that brings a sense of joy to you, if you're a teacher or a parent that you can, uh, offer into your child's life and really just give him a permission to be free and have fun and play and imagine and be creative. Those are the things that become catalyst for development. And for me, Horacio brings that joy into my life. And now into my son's life. My son does not bring that joy into ratios life just yet, but hopefully later on he will. But you know, it can be anything that lights you up from inside. That's the point of the book.

So this is the ratio, the star of the story, the catalyst, the inspiration for movement, and yeah, he's thrilled to be here on Flonase anytime today. This is a dream come true for both of us.