Home News Parent Spotlight: Belinda Johnson

Parent Spotlight: Belinda Johnson

Tuesday, 09 June 2009 16:44

A MyTime parent shares her personal story on how she is learning from other parents and sharing her skills

MyTime has brought Belinda Johnson back to her childhood passion, gymnastics. She was one of those skinny kids with an athletic build always doing the splits, cart wheels and handstands. Until she was about 15 she was a member of a gymnastics club and coached younger children.

When she had her daughter, Jemma, 3, who has Down Syndrome, it was natural that her gymnastics skills came into play. She started doing some exercises with Jemma and realised it was helping her development.

Belinda is a member of the MyTime group in Melton, which meets fortnightly at the Hillside Community Centre. As part of the sharing of information and resources, a few of the parents had the idea to get together with Belinda for some gym fun.

"There's not much around that I've found that's just for kids with a disability," Belinda says.

One of the mums had been doing some reading about the brain activity of children with special needs and discovered that movement and, particularly doing two things at once, was good for brain development.

"We've been getting out the gym equipment, doing forward rolls, some climbing on climbing frames and walking on the beams ... and bouncing on the trampolines."

Belinda started to think that she would like to be able to use her gymnastics skills to help other children with disabilities. With some guidance from MyTime facilitator Eleni Matskarofski, she's looking into courses so she can teach gymnastics to children with a disability.

"I decided I wanted to get back into it, seeing the benefits Jemma's already had at home with me doing little bits and pieces ... I'm thinking I'd like to pass on some of my knowledge.

"What I'm going to try and do is get some qualifications so I can run my own mobile gym fun thing for kids with a disability. It's in the early stages at the moment."

Belinda is married to a Kiwi, Mark, and lived in New Zealand for a few years until fairly recently. They also have an 18-month-old daughter, Casey.

"Since I've been going to MyTime I've found out about so many more resources for Jemma, and things like schooling and bits and pieces they've touched on, and a lot of information from the other parents.

"It's great for time out for myself as well, and the kids play with the play helper so it just gives me that little bit of a break, and I get to talk to some other adults in the same sort of situation."

written 17 December 2008

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