Parents Other parents taking video of your kid

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Okay, I am just wondering if it happens to anyone else. If it does happen to you, what do you think about it and how do you handle it? I am personally having a bit of a problem with it, but not sure how to approach this parent.

Also, I feel sorry for the child of this parent. The girl gets upset and doesn't like it when her parent is recording her during practice. It gets her very frustrated.

Just wondering what everyone's thoughts are.

Thanks,
Imat3
 
I was just wondering what the parent is actually filming, is it the whole practice session? How often? Are they filming all the other gymnasts, too? Are other parents using video cameras during practice sessions, too?

I have never seen any parents here using video equipment for recording practice sessions. I wonder what the head coach thinks about it - have you asked them?

I don't blame the child for being upset. My dd would absolutely hate it too!!
 
The only time I take video at practice is when they have a mock meet the Friday before a meet weekend.

I have also taped when they have special events - on the last day of camp - showing new skills. And only my own DD.
 
This is the only parent who ever videos practice. I feel sorry for the little girl because she is just working on her routines...they are not perfect yet. She should feel comfortable making mistakes at practice, but when she is being recorded she has commented to my daughter that she wishes her parent would stop and she gets very frustrated.

I believe that the parent is trying to only record her child, but that is impossible to do with all the other athletes around. I think it would be more appropriate to record her child during a private lesson or maybe after practice if you wanted to record her doing a new skill.

I have mentioned it to one of the coaches, but not the head coach. The coach I mentioned it to said that she should not be recording. And she too felt sorry for the child who was being recorded and noticed that the child looked uncomfortable with it.

Other parents have mentioned that they are not comfortable with it as well.

I guess I should talk to the head coach and just see what she thinks.

Thanks,
Imat3
 
That does seem a bit over the top - poor kid!! Must be a bit embarrassing for her, too.
 
I take short videos of DD at practice sometimes at her request so she can show her dad and because she likes to send her videos to grandma and grandpa. My digital camera has pretty good quality video and I almost always have it in my bag. Sometimes if one of her 3 close gymmie friends gets a new skill and their mom isn't there, I will try to get in on tape to show them. I would never video other kids on purpose, but sometimes they get on camera.

I think that an anonymous message to the head coach about girls feeling uncomfortable maybe?

I do see many parents with cameras/video in our gym at various times taking video or pics of their kids. It can't be that uncommon. My DD loves to see herself on video and I am sure other kids do as well. It just depends on the reasoning for the video. If that mom takes it to then go home and critique her DD and make her feel bad, then that sucks. Poor thing.
 
I think if the mom is only filming her daughter then the issue is between them and the coaches. I would stay out of it. It is her daughter and she does have a right to film her child. However, if she is filming your daughter then you have a right to refuse to allow that. In which case, you will need to tell the HC/O and have them step in on your behalf. It is your child, but it is also their gym.
 
My granddaughter likes her mom to come video her when she is struggling with a skill - then she can watch it at home and see what she is doing wrong. The coach has always approved her mom doing this. Team mom's have videoed all the girls' at different times and they use the videos as part of the end of the year presentation.
 
While I have never done it at the gym, I have video taped and photographed my daughter practicing at home. She really likes that because it really helps her to see what she's doing wrong.
 
With 4 kids it's hard for both me and DH to see how the kids are doing in their respective activities. Since he usually ferries the boys to and from swimming and I take the girls to gym and ballet, we both carry small digital camcorders with us to record special moments, new skills, that kind of thing. DH is a techie and he uploads the footage and makes nice little slideshows for us to share with family or to just reminisce over.

While we try very hard to only film our kids, it's pretty hard to avoid catching another kid in some frames. Our gym is pretty small and we moms are pretty close-knit, when one of the other mom's girls masters some skill or a group of the girls are just being too cute for words, I'll try to catch it and pass it on to the mom(s).

I would never film a kid if the parents objected to it and I would certainly not do so if it upset my girls or others. I can't help but wonder if the little girl is so upset because the mom in question makes her go over the tapes analyzing her faults or something awful like that. I hope not, but not much surprises me these days.
 
I have taped at the gym and often do. It is always at the end of class as I don;t watch practices, when one of my girls wants to show me something new. I upload it to show their Grandparents in the UK who have never seen their grandbabies do gym live.

I also tape the end of year dance and demo, but I do that for the owner/head coach and I give her a DVD of it.

Our head coach also tapes every routine our girls do at meets, she uses it to help the girls score better at future meets as she is also a judge.

If I thought a parent was using the video in a negative way or if I saw the child was unhappy I would just tell the coach that your DD said this child was unhappy with the videoing and could she send a not home to request that taping only be done at meets or demo days.
 
Thanks to you all for your thoughts, ideas, and input. The whole situation just makes me a little uncomfortable which is why I asked.

Thanks again...
Imat3
 
If the parent really is just trying to record her daughter and only gets your daughter from a run through or by glance then who cares. That is between her coach, daughter, and mom.

I as well take short little videos for dd to show dad and email to grandma and grandpa. And at times you cant avoid someone on the beam next to them or on the tramp.
 
YIKES! I would not be OK with another parent taking videos of my daughter at practice. I really can't think of any reason why somebody would need too. If they were taping their own DD at practice & my DD just happened to be doing something same time and got in the video that's fine, but if it was clearly my DD alone like doing her routines...I would get UGLY very quickly! There really is no taping going on at our gym really, especially during Summer practice it is dump & run. Unless my DD said someone taped her chances are I would never even know about it. But even at evening practices I rarely see cameras or videos unless it is for a rec class kid. Most of us parents only video at the meets and only tape another teammate if someone asks who forgot a camera/video that day.

If I were you I would probably ask the coach, gym owner why this parent must tape at practices. It must be distracting to not only their child, yours, but others in the gym too! Maybe if the staff knows, they can put a stop to it. Maybe they have no clue it's going on? Sounds like another wacko parent to me!
 
YIKES! I would not be OK with another parent taking videos of my daughter at practice. I really can't think of any reason why somebody would need too.

Interesting.

There are perfectly valid reasons why a parent might take video of athletes at practice. I occasionally tape my daughter's practices, usually at the express invitation of her coaches, and I also sometimes tape some of her teammates as they work on particular skills. I burn DVDs for the coaches, who use them as a teaching tool. In addition to this basic presentation, the coaches also sometimes use some specialized software (which was donated by the parents club) to mark up the video frames to emphasize particular teaching points.

I first became interested in this process some years ago when my daughter visited another gym while we were vacationing. The coach used a remotely-operated video camera while he worked with my kid, then he sent the video wirelessly to a monitor where my child could see what she had done moments after she completed her attempt as the coach discussed with her the corrections that she should make on her next try.

Video can be extremely useful. I'm rather surprised that some people view parents taking video (or still photographs) with such mistrust and even apparent hostility.
 
Interesting.

I first became interested in this process some years ago when my daughter visited another gym while we were vacationing. The coach used a remotely-operated video camera while he worked with my kid, then he sent the video wirelessly to a monitor where my child could see what she had done moments after she completed her attempt as the coach discussed with her the corrections that she should make on her next try.

That sounds like a great teaching tool. What gym was that?
 
I completely agree that recording an athlete as a teaching tool or to show off to family are great ideas.

However, that was not my concern at all in my original post.

Imat3
 
That sounds like a great teaching tool. What gym was that?

The gym was run by the city of Vail, Colorado as part of their city recreation program. It was certainly very well-equipped. The coach seemed very knowledgeable, and he was certainly helpful and very kind to my daughter, who spent only two practices with him--but learned a great deal in that time.
 
I may be misunderstanding the OP RBW, but it really doesn't sound like the parent was using video as a teaching tool.
 

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