Parents Dfk

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JumpingQueen

Proud Parent
It’s a story as old as time...dd can’t kip, been working on it for months, she’s so close, everyone else in her group has it, can’t move up without it, yada yada yada.

So far it hasn’t seemed to phase her and she is still working hard, not losing faith. She still tries to kip on anything that looks like a bar. I can see it bothers her though and she’s made comments about how she’s “the only one” who can’t do it. I say “it’ll come when it comes, I tell her about Shawn Johnson, I try not to bring it up. What can I do to keep her from getting discouraged? If I were her I would have cracked long ago and quit. Appreciate any tips!

I can’t wait for the day she gets it so she can see what happens when she works hard. But seriously she’s may never get it lol
 
Oh she’ll get it! My dd was the last in her group to get it, she’s the kid who took every correction every time and refused to just muscle it up.... he coaches told us when she gets it, it will be pretty.... I didn’t believe her at the time but she was right! When she got it it was nice with straight arms and her friends who had it for months were still muscling up.

Same thing with her giant, last to get it in the group . Finally did it and competed it 3 weeks later....

Every kid is different ! She’ll get it.
 
Loving these responses, thank you!! Any advice on what to say to the kids while they are working on these skills, to keep them from getting discouraged?
 
And then it will be some other DF thing.

It was DFBHS on beam......

Followed by DFconnection

We are currently on DFG

Wine, sometimes wine helps

Yessssssss. I can't tell you how many DF (fill in the blank)'s we've had over dd's gym career. It will come. As long as she's not frustrated and still working on it, it will come.

Dd actually got her long hang kip first, coming out of the jump to the high bar. She found that the momentum of the jump seemed to help her. Once she understood what it was supposed to feel like, she was easily able to translate that to the low bar.
 
It took my DD at least a year to get her kip. Her best friend got it in 3 weeks, so she started to get very discouraged. I tried to only talk about it when she brought it up and when she did mention it I pointed out how well she was doing on the other events. It was difficult because she spent last season competing without it, getting 7s to mid 8s on bars (she's in USAIGC, not USAG, and in her level, not having a kip is penalized but not prohibitive).

She "got" it for the first time in September but it wasn't consistent until November, when she got her long-hang kip. For a while, she had to put the springboard so far away from the bar to get the momentum she needed that her teammates nicknamed her "the city jumper." Since then, she's gotten her flyaway, mastered the connections, and scored a 9.25 on bars with these elements a couple of weeks ago. I've never seen her so excited as when she saw the 9.25. It was a long process but I think she's a more confident gymnast after working through the challenge.
 
It took my DD at least a year to get her kip. Her best friend got it in 3 weeks, so she started to get very discouraged. I tried to only talk about it when she brought it up and when she did mention it I pointed out how well she was doing on the other events. It was difficult because she spent last season competing without it, getting 7s to mid 8s on bars (she's in USAIGC, not USAG, and in her level, not having a kip is penalized but not prohibitive).

She "got" it for the first time in September but it wasn't consistent until November, when she got her long-hang kip. For a while, she had to put the springboard so far away from the bar to get the momentum she needed that her teammates nicknamed her "the city jumper." Since then, she's gotten her flyaway, mastered the connections, and scored a 9.25 on bars with these elements a couple of weeks ago. I've never seen her so excited as when she saw the 9.25. It was a long process but I think she's a more confident gymnast after working through the challenge.
love this! congrats to your daughter! I agree - as hard as it is to struggle, I firmly believe they are better for it.
 
Any advice on what to say to the kids while they are working on these skills, to keep them from getting discouraged?

Don't worry you'll get it............

And if they protest, dial them back. Video and pictures are best but anyway you can...

In the middle of a rant by my kid about whatever is "too hard" "I stink at" I'll never get it.......

I've been known to ask what 2+2 is. To which she will rapidly reply 4. And I go uhh, you used to need to use your fingers. Or I'll point out that there was a time she couldn't walk............... or ride a 2 wheeler, or swim.

Or she'll be complaining a skill is hard and I'll go to a skill she has well, but your layout is beautiful. And she'll go but that's easy. Me, deadpanning.... NOW............ Or remember when you couldn't do a front tuck without butt planting.

My fav though is the video from her toddler class where I can be heard saying during her cartwheel, wow her legs are finally higher then her butt, I'm hopeful she'll get it.

Usually followed by and how did you get better at all these things. To which she responds with her classic mom you are exasperating me eyeroll.............. Practice.......................

See, girlie, you'll get it...............

Then I go have wine.
 
Don't worry you'll get it............

And if they protest, dial them back. Video and pictures are best but anyway you can...

In the middle of a rant by my kid about whatever is "too hard" "I stink at" I'll never get it.......

I've been known to ask what 2+2 is. To which she will rapidly reply 4. And I go uhh, you used to need to use your fingers. Or I'll point out that there was a time she couldn't walk............... or ride a 2 wheeler, or swim.

Or she'll be complaining a skill is hard and I'll go to a skill she has well, but your layout is beautiful. And she'll go but that's easy. Me, deadpanning.... NOW............ Or remember when you couldn't do a front tuck without butt planting.

My fav though is the video from her toddler class where I can be heard saying during her cartwheel, wow her legs are finally higher then her butt, I'm hopeful she'll get it.

Usually followed by and how did you get better at all these things. To which she responds with her classic mom you are exasperating me eyeroll.............. Practice.......................

See, girlie, you'll get it...............

Then I go have wine.

love all this, thanks! especially the wine part.
 
My son can not do a full twist, and I would not describe his half twists as things of beauty and grace. Everyone else in his group can do a full and most are working on one and a half and Arabians. He was able to get away with it this year, but next year he will be Level 9, so I'm hoping he will eventually get it. They start up training right after regionals, so he has 8 months to learn it. Kips seem to be really hard for many kids. In Level 5 there was one boy who always had to be spotted up and the first time he did it without spotting was at states. His mother screamed so loud even her son on the high bar looked at her.

There is always some skill they struggle with. you always think, I will have nothing to worry about once child gets his/her X. Then you immediately start wondering why your kid is the last to get Y. So just enjoy the ride, be happy when they get it (because they nearly always do) even if it takes years and keep your wine glass handy.
 
remind them of all the other skills they worked hard to learn and do easily now.

Definately this and they will likely roll thier eyes and say "thats different" but really they still hear the message and they know you believe in them and it helps (even with the eye rolls--I had to tell mine that I sure hope her eyes dont roll out of her head and she told me thats impossible...she's not even a teeenager yet heaven help me)
 
I also note that we often forget about the skills our kid was one of the first to get, and stress about the ones they don’t. Kid does the moy support before anyone else, no big deal....kid can’t do a full twist, the world is coming to an end, how will they ever progress?
 

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