Parents Bars at home

[RTT2]

DD desperately wants bars for Christmas. Of course, then we'd also need mats and it gets pretty expensive. Anybody have a kip bar at home, and if so, does your child use it a lot?

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Gym equipment belongs in the gym. If you are going to get a bar, make it a pullup one. JMO

 

[bookworm]

DD desperately wants bars for Christmas. Of course, then we'd also need mats and it gets pretty expensive. Anybody have a kip bar at home, and if so, does your child use it a lot?

Can you say clothes rack?...do not be tempted to put gym equipment in your home because your "DD desperately wants it"...there will be many things she desperately wants in her life that aren't going to be safe for her and will need a resounding "NO" from a parent, and this is one of them...you're paying good money for the gym she goes to to have all that fancy equipment, mats and coaches.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

I desperately want a million dollars

 

[AgingHippie]

Just say no, no and no again!

 

[gwenmom]

I caved and got DD a low beam last year at Christmas. She used it for about two weeks. Now it sits in the living room being tripped over occasionally.

Leave it in the gym.

 

[NutterButter]

It truly would be just like any other toy (despite how much your DD may say otherwise). After two weeks, it's forgotten.

 

[gymnastmom05]

We got a jr. kip bar for our daughter 5 years ago when she was 5 and weighed about 35 lbs. Fast Forward and she's now 10 (58 lbs) and a level 5. WE (as in her dad and I) are ready to sell it but DD is still attached to it. Her skills are beyond what that bar can handle so I think it's more sentimental than anything to her. She still occasionally tries to do mill circles just to see if she can still do one but mostly she hangs from it and does leg lifts or pull ups. Lot's a rules went along with it and always supervision, took it down when friends would come over to make sure no one was on it. I know lots of people have a different opinion on this but they were doing everything they did on this bar, on a metal pole on the playground with hard ground underneath them. Do I think it helped her gymnastics any? No, not really but I can tell you it's probably the one gift out of her 10 years that she has used the most. After this season, the bar is going. We are ready for a different kind of bar in our basement

 

[beachgirl]

My husband (engineer) made one. In order for it to be sturdy enough to not fall over on most basic skills it has to have a very large footprint. My daughter insisted she needed one. It took up our entire formal living room. Once it was up all I could picture was my daughter sailing out a window or somehow ending up in the fireplace. After one year I was able to get rid of it by saying there was no room for the Xmas tree. She really had very little time to use it because she is always at the gym. Two of her teammates both bought them at the same time. Both of their siblings have broken their arms on them. One of the siblings, who is a L2, just had surgery to put pins in her arm from the fall and her mom was right there when she fell.

 

[SurpriseGymMom]

Before I knew better, I did cave and bought my new-to-gymnastics 6yo a home bar because it was all she wanted that Xmas. Now, I taught rec gymnastics then (still do although I have evolved along with her and teach higher level skills now too, but I do NOT coach her, lol!) , just as a side note because it meant that I actually was capable of knowing what to do on the bar at that point.
She desperately wanted to get her pullover and BHC to move up to the more advanced rec classes.
There were a lot of rules, especially when friends came over. It was set up in a safe spot. The most advanced skill ever done on it was the BHC (and friends were not allowed to try that!). I will say that it did help her to get the rec skills needed to move up (she was able to practice with a qualified coach at home) and she DID play with the bar for quite some time. She eventually tired of it, and combined with a move it was set up in a different location and all but forgotten.
Once DD got into developmental team and then team, the bar was briefly resurrected to do only an arm exercise for shifting her wrists and push up on top of the bar (last part of kip). Nothing else. Once she got her kip almost exactly 2yrs ago, it has been sitting untouched. She still doesn't want to get rid of it although there is NOTHING she can actually work on using it anymore (she is now a L7). I think this year I will put ads up at gym about it...

Now that I do know better, I would never recommend a home bar except for a pull up bar to do conditioning. Less "fun" but much more useful!! Home bars are expensive and cumbersome, must be set up safely and have supervision while using.
You're much better off getting her an extra class/week instead!!!

 

[cadybearsmommy]

Agree with the previous posters....not to mention that those bars are super super expensive and most of the time they only last kids a couple of years at the most before they are either too tall/heavy for them to be stable or the skills they are learning are beyond what the bar can handle. It can become dangerous at that point. I've seen videos of girls practicing squat ons jumping off the top of those bars and I just don't think they are made for that at all. After learning the pullover, BHC, FHC and kip they aren't very useful for skills after that.

If you really want to get her something gymnastics related for christmas, I would suggest one of the floor beams (some of them even fold up for easy storage). Not saying they are 100% safe from injuries but I would certainly think they are a lot safer to have at home than the bars. My dd actually does have one of these and just walking on it and practicing turns and handstands, etc on it made her a lot more confident about being on the real beam at practice. Even then I would limit it to skills they already have and are just trying to perfect, not trying out anything on it they haven't already worked on at gym.

 

[munchkin3]

I will confess. I bought one about 6 years ago. My son was 8 and my DD was 4....my son was able to use it for only conditioning, which is absolutely NO fun so he lost interest in 3 seconds. Anything else and the stupid thing was tipping, or looking very hazardous!................... My 4 YO loved hanging on in like a monkey and she did use it occasionally for pull overs and the occasional BHC, but it was so stressful to have in the house, and very scary in the end. When anyone would come over it had to be taken down because I was afraid someone would get hurt and generally it is a pain in the a**.....
You REALLY cannot do ANYTHING on these bars.......NO kips, NO back hip circles, no nothing....the whole thing will tip over!!!
It then was used for hanging clothes.....Now it sits in the garage.
I can sell you mine?
(just kidding)

If you GOTTA get her something go with the floor beam.....my cats LOVE it.

 

[Deleted member 17723]

I'm a gymnast fyi... I wanted a bar desperatley I think two years ago... my parents said no (not enough space and expensive) and I am now so glad that they got my a floor beam instead. That was our compromise. To this day I still use the beam. Yes, there is still risk of injury but it also helps with some of my physical therapy! It is useful to perfect walks/jumps/handstands, help with my ankle stability, confidence, etc. My parents don't sit and watch but they have to be downstairs and I am not allowed to do anything more advanced than level 4 beam skills. I would get her a chin up bar (I still use that too!) and maybe one of those fold up floor beams. Just a gymnast perspective.

 

[gymmiemom]

My DD wanted one so bad. She promised she wouldn't do any big skills or use it without supervision. She swore it would help her get stronger, blah, blah, blah. It's hard enough to prevent bad habits. She wanted to get stronger so I bought her a chin up bar. It's still being used 3 years later.

I refuse to give in on the beam issue too. I tell her that all skills start on a line on the floor anyway. So feel free to find a line on the hard wood floors.

I'm the mean mom , I guess!

 

[ZJsMom]

My kids had one. It's still in my garage, but it's getting a new home soon (finally). I thought it was good when the were 4-8. Lots of pullovers and back hip circles. I think working on pullovers helped them gain strength. We used a piece of plywood to stabilize it as they got older and they were able to do kips.

When we got ours, we lived in Alaska. There were lots of wet days and having an indoor outlet for kids to get their energy out was great.

I know so many people say gym only in gym, but I take a more balanced approach. I don't think kids should be working on things that haven't been introduced in gym and definitely no parents trying to coach. With rules though, I think it can be fine. I don't think you hear soccer people saying "don't kick a ball without a coach," or baseball people saying "don't play catch with dad in the backyard."

My DS has rings in the garage. There's a no swinging rule, but he can use them to work on strength moves.

 

[duyetanh]

I desperately want a million dollars

Bahaha! So do I. Best comment of the week JMO...

 

[Deleted member 18037]

e. I don't think you hear soccer people saying "don't kick a ball without a coach," or baseball people saying "don't play catch with dad in the backyard."

Apples to oranges.

Gymnastic skills need to be properly spotted. Huge safety concerns regarding space, stability and floor protection.

It doesn't require great skill or spotting to toss a kid a ball for them to work on kicking it, catching it, or batting.

And those kids aren't scored on some thing like foot or placement as they catch/kick the ball.

"Practice makes permanent" Getting excellent at doing a bar skill, can take more time to undo then it would to just leave it for practice in the gym. And doing it wrong can cost points at a meet.

And not sure who used the playground comparison. Just like my kid is not allowed to do higher skills on her tramp at home, she is not allowed to do it on bars at the playground either. And she knows if she does the consequence would be a loss of tramp/playground time.

 

[Sasha]

I'd skip the bars for all the reasons above, though we did get a floor beam for DD and a "mushroom" (round thing to practice pommel horse circles) for DS.

The result?

A girl with lovely mushroom circles, and a boy with an impressive cartwheel on beam.

 

[ZJsMom]

Apples to oranges.

Gymnastic skills need to be properly spotted. Huge safety concerns regarding space, stability and floor protection.

It doesn't require great skill or spotting to toss a kid a ball for them to work on kicking it, catching it, or batting.

And those kids aren't scored on some thing like foot or placement as they catch/kick the ball.

"Practice makes permanent" Getting excellent at doing a bar skill, can take more time to undo then it would to just leave it for practice in the gym. And doing it wrong can cost points at a meet.

And not sure who used the playground comparison. Just like my kid is not allowed to do higher skills on her tramp at home, she is not allowed to do it on bars at the playground either. And she knows if she does the consequence would be a loss of tramp/playground time.

I have a little different opinion. I totally agree that gymnastics skills should not be self taught, but I don't see pullovers and back hip circles as huge safety concerns. I'm going to venture to guess that there are a lot more surgeries from torn ACLs in soccer than injuries requiring surgery from pullovers or back hip circles.

I think every parent needs to decide what balance they want to strike on safety. I feel like in general society has become so safety conscious that we want to bubble wrap kids and keep them inside. I think there are risks to that in and of itself. The huge one being childhood obesity. I guess maybe I err more on the side of letting my kids do things physically.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

I think every parent needs to decide what balance they want to strike on safety. I feel like in general society has become so safety conscious that we want to bubble wrap kids and keep them inside. I think there are risks to that in and of itself. The huge one being childhood obesity. I guess maybe I err more on the side of letting my kids do things physically.

Your preaching to the choir regarding keeping kids moving. We bike, ski, swim, hoping to get her scuba certified this summer so we can get back to that..... She plays football with the boys in the neighborhood when she is out of the gym.

Again, difference of opinion. I too think my daughter needs activity, just not all gym, all the time.

And again regarding throwing a ball with Dad vs proper practice of gym moves, its apples to oranges.