Parents Can your kid just come to your car after practice?

DON'T LURK... Join The Discussion!

Members see FEWER ads

Do you need to go to the gym door to pick up you kid

  • Yes I need to physically show myself my kid is >16

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    42
  • Poll closed .
D

Deleted member 18037

Coach and I are at odds. I have a kid about to drive. I think she old enough to just come to our car at pick up. And no I didn’t do this when she was 8.

Coach is saying it’s a USAG/safe sport thing. I doubt this but could be….

I say you don’t treat 15-17 year olds the same as the little. I’m willing to sign a waiver or text we are in the parking lot etc…. And FYI, I live in the NE where the weather is crappy this time of year. I’d rather keep the car warm and get work done.
 
We have several gymnasts that drive to practice, and some of them also drive their younger siblings or former carpool buddies home. We also have several families that still carpool. The entire front of the gym is windows and the doors (We are in what used to be a sporting goods store), so in bad weather, the girls being picked up make sure their ride is there before going outside.
 
It could be a safety issue... In our gym parents can opt to call/text their daughters to come outside but they can't go outside without knowing their ride is waiting. Gymnasts who drive themselves may do so but parents must sign a waiver once a year that they allow the child to do so. I choose to come inside to pick up my kids as I like to thank the coaches and escort them out, and I'm talking about an 8,13 and 15 yr old. But I only fetch them twice a week as we have rotas. My 8 yr old finished practice half an hour earlier but I opted she should watch practice on the days I fetch.
 
Most of the girls at DD's gym just come out the back door after practice, but one of the coaches looks to see who's in the parking lot and watches the girls walk out. Though my 11 year old sometimes gets dressed quickly and is the first one out the door, no coach in sight. She sees me and tells them I'm outside.
 
Prior to Covid, I would always park and walk in. I think most did. Then, during the first 6 months or so of Covid rules, everything was via carpool line. So we would get in line and when you reached the front by the door, your kid would run out and get in the car. There were always coaches outside with the kids. Once they relaxed the rules, they stopped the carpool, but many parents, including myself, never started going back in. So I wait in the car in a parking spot now and she comes out when she is done. The coaches are not sending them out or watching them (This is the level 9 and 10 practice groups). She's almost 14 and I feel comfortable with that. I'm not sure what the younger ones do though.
 
My dd is nine. After 10+ years at the gym (older brothers also) I honestly often cannot be bothered to walk in after every practice. She knows not to come out unless she sees my car, and the doors/parking lot of the gym are such that she can do this. I would feel differently if she was waiting outside alone esp at night.

When my teen sons were last in the gym, pre-shutdowns, I did not go in typically.
 
My girls are allowed to walk outside when they see there parents. If it is crowded, I walk out with them. If I find them waiting outside by themselves they get in trouble. It is too dark when class gets out for little girls to wait outside by themselves.
 
My girls are allowed to walk outside when they see there parents. If it is crowded, I walk out with them. If I find them waiting outside by themselves they get in trouble. It is too dark when class gets out for little girls to wait outside by themselves.
I wouldn’t let littles kids wait in the dark. And these are 15 yr olds.
 
My 15 year old walks to the car herself. She has done this for years- I hardly ever go in the gym.At this age they are almost old enough to drive (and in some states they can!), they can hold down a job, they can baby sit and care for other minors. its insane that they won't let her walk to the car alone IMHO.
That is exactly my feeling. She has an appointment for her learners permit….
 
My DD's gym did something related to this which they blamed on safesport. Parents must communicate to the coaches if their kid is arriving late or leaving practice early. Kids aren't allowed to text the coach (safe sport) so the parent has to do it. I understand this for younger kids but it's a little awkward for a 17 year old. My DD had total ownership over her academics and if she felt she needed to leave practice early to study or she found out during gym break that her study group was getting together she would have to text me to text the coach so that she could leave.
 
My DD had total ownership over her academics and if she felt she needed to leave practice early to study or she found out during gym break that her study group was getting together she would have to text me to text the coach so that she could leave.
I’m totally fine with this. We text my kid anyway so she knows we are outside.

I have offered to sign a waiver,
text the coach
or have my kid show our text to her as a pass of sorts.

When I asked what she plans to do in a little over 6 months and my kid is driving to practice and still a minor. She had no answer.
 
My 9 year old comes outside on her own. They did not used to allow this but after the team returned to practice during COVID, the coach would actually walk the entire group out and wait with them until parents arrived. Now the kids just come on out whenever they are ready. That said, she practices by day so the sun is out at pick up. If it was dark, I would likely still go in to get her. But we have never had to let a coach know that we were getting our kid... not the safest i suppose.
 
The gym is not in the best area and the parking lot is a poop show so they ask that you come in and get them and that is the official policy (no age range stated on policy). That being said its not enforced with older team girls my kid can come out to my car in part cause they know me and my car and know my kid wont leave unless she sees me and my car. Its mostly a rule for younger rec kids that would go out into the parking lot to their parents car and I was honestly worried they would get run over....or sometimes kids would wait outside in the dark corner at night for their parents (I have no idea why).
 
Our gym had an incident with a transient groping one of the girls as they were making their way to their parents car, so I can understand why the gym would have a policy like that.

For awhile the gym had a parents have to come to the door policy, but it has since be relaxed where you can waive at your kid and they can come out to your car.
 

New Posts

DON'T LURK... Join The Discussion!

Members see FEWER ads

Gymnaverse :: Recent Activity

College Gym News

New Posts

Back