Parents No parents allowed

[emorymom]

I think gym owners need to focus on excluding parents on a case by case basis if they have problems with them. I also would not send my kids to a gym where I could not see what was going on.

 

[jsfofec]

At our gym, many parents are there throughout practice. We even have Wifi available so that we can work. There are benches, tables with chairs, picnic bench style seating. I leave work early each day to bring DD to gym, and then I continue to work once I get to gym. I'm thankful the gym has Wifi and my boss lets me do it.

We do have strict rules for parents at gym and these rules are taken very seriously. Once your DD walks through the gate and onto the floor, there is to be no communication what's so ever from that point on. If there is an issue where the coach needs your attention, you will be notified at that time.

This policy works very well, us parents police each other and strictly adhere to these rules. If we get new overly anxious parent, we talk to them and "lay down the law".

I've seen DD crotch the beam many many times, when it happens, I look, I think to myself "ouch" and go back to what I was doing. If the coach needs me, she'll come get me, but until then, I know DD is well taken care of. I've watched DD get a couple of black eyes, a head on collision, a cut over her eye, peel of the bars and land bad. Each time, I just let the coach deal with it.

Also during break time, the kids all eat together and the parents stay together, we don't interact with them at that time either. Maybe to give them their dinner, but that's it.

This has gone on for so long with so many of us, that the kids don't even realize we are there. They act and talk like we aren't even there.

If the coach needs us, we will be called, otherwise it's their show and we are just hanging out. Sometimes we leave, sometimes we stay. It's more of a social event than anything else. A bunch of us fathers talk sports all day, or the "good ole days" from when we were younger. Some parents sit on their computer playing video games for hours and hours...it's just a big hangout which happens to be a gym where they do gymnastics

 

[marie83]

Our gym has always had a no viewing policy, simply because we have no room!!!!
We used to have 'open week' once a term (once every 12 weeks) for parents to watch on mass. It was a nightmare. Because it was a novelty, they didn't really understand rules such as keeping chatter to a minimum and not letting siblings run onto the floor or climb over equipment.
We now have open weeks a little more frequently, and parents can come and watch by appointment only (to reduce numbers watching because of space issues) We usually couple it with a fundraising event.

We have NEVER had a NO PARENTS EVER policy

We have just had a grant for an extension which will include a parents viewing gallery - upstairs, with glass separating the viewers from the gym.

We want to have certain rules such as 'please do not compare your child to another' 'Do not openly moan about a coach in front of other parents, if you have an issue, please raise it with the head coach' Just common courtesy basically. Our club welfare officer has also said she will sit up in the gallery for a few nights a week initially to remind parents that they are there to watch their child or sit and do work if anything nasty does start.

I wish all parents had the same attitude as a few of you who have posted that you just want to see your child enjoying themselves!

 

[SamIam]

Also during break time, the kids all eat together and the parents stay together, we don't interact with them at that time either. Maybe to give them their dinner, but that's it.

I like your gym's policy, but dang how long are you there?
Daughter is 5-8:30 five nights a week, and 9-1 on Saturdays with no break time or dinner time.

To the original question. There are bleachers to watch from, and yes some stay for the entire time. We drive a 1/2 hour each way and stay to watch rarely.

 

[curlygirls]

At our gym, many parents are there throughout practice. We even have Wifi available so that we can work. There are benches, tables with chairs, picnic bench style seating...

Our gym is very much like this. Many of the parents of younger gymnasts stay throughout practice. I take time to workout at a gym that is next door and then head over to practice. I am usually there at least 1 1/2 hours of their practice. They are only 5 and 7 years old and I enjoy being there. Traffic is also so congested that attempting to go home or anywhere else would be a waste of time and gasoline. It has become a social time for me as many of the team parents have become friends. Many of us work in education and we have a lot to talk about other than gymnastics.

A no parent viewing policy would be a deal breaker for me.

 

[SGMOM]

I would not allow my daughter to go anywhere that barred parent observation. Excluding parents is a big red flag. I would not send my child to a daycare that did not allow parents, nor a school, nor a swim class, nor a gym. Period.

I am not saying that I need to be IN the gym, but free to observe. At our gym, the parents have a glassed off area. Some portions are one-way glass, so the kids cannot see the parents. I feel very safe at our gym, but I do stay sometimes. For example, if my daughter is acting a little off and I want to make sure she settles in, or when she was first learning to wear contact lenses and repeatedly needed help getting them back in.

 

[jsfofec]

I like your gym's policy, but dang how long are you there?
Daughter is 5-8:30 five nights a week, and 9-1 on Saturdays with no break time or dinner time.

Our Daughter is there 20 hours a week. Monday 5-9, Tue & Thur 4-8:30, Fri 4-6 and Sat 8-1. They get out early on Friday so that the older girls can still go to their schools social activities, like basketball or football games.

So...yeah, I'm there a lot. Sometimes a group of us leaves to go out to dinner or something. We are so busy talking and hanging out, you don't even realize how long you are there

 

[Canadian_gym_mom]

Well this thread has been interesting to read through. I just want to say that I am so impressed and happy to see SO much difference of opinion being expressed in such a respectful manner. What a great crowd.

I can see both sides of the picture. I think having a seperate parent viewing area, behind glass, plus a written policy on viewing is the way to go.

As a parent I really hated the policy at our old gym, of observing the first or last half hour of training. To see the warm-up and them stretching or cleaning the gym? Then I found out it wasn't really enforced.

At our current gym we can watch any time but just not be in the hallway entrance, stay in the lobby. But they are also REALLY easy going about coming into the gym if your child has learned a new skill to take pictures or videotape.

Again, I am so impressed by how civil this thread has been, because we all know there have been some doozies, lol!

 

[LilHawkMom]

I would also not go to a gym or any kind of activity that said no parents allowed to watch. Just recently we went to sign my 5 yr daughter up for dance class and they said she could come for a free class. When we got there they took her into a room and closed the door for what would have been a 2 hr class. We left based on that policy and found a dance studio that has viewing glass.

In regards to my son who is in gymnastics, the gyms he has been to as a viewing area behind glass or separate area away from where they are working. Maybe I am stronger than most but I don't understand the comment no one should watch higher levels train, too scarry to watch. It doesn't scare me at all. I have watched my son learn "scarry things" and others train all the way up to level 10 and it was high level training since they went on to make college teams. I am not scared because I know our coaches know what they are doing to train them.

My son's first gym had a viewing area. They were not stretching and the time management was awful. Like someone said a parent wouldn't know what good coaching is BUT common sense made me think it wasn't what it should be. I went to another gym that again had a viewing area and could see how they did a boys practice. Now if both of these gyms had closed door practice where would my son be? Opening viewing is to see the bad and the GOOD too. Many times I am so proud how the coaches work with my son and tell them so because of what I see.

I drive 1 hr to my son's to practice so I am not going to drive all the way home or go spend the time doing something I don't want to do just to waste time. I watch him (and the other amazing kids in the gym learning their kip or landing a double) and bring something to do on the days it is my turn to carpool there. I watch him just as I watch my other son play baseball practice and now my daughter take dance.

 

[AGM78910]

I agree with all the posters that would not allow parents to watch anytime. Personally, I never stayed much, stretching is boring! But I could stay if I wanted to.
One of my DDs coaches use to recruit parents to come on the floor and pretend to be judges right before meets. Helped to get the gymnasts used to a critical audience and have adults in their space. Also great fun for the parents who always gave "perfect 10s" and got to see their DDs up close.