Parents 4 Year Old Gymnast Advice

[LittleGymnastDad]

My 3 year old absolutely loves gymnastics. She goes twice a week and comes home every day practices as long as we'll let her. She's very gifted athletically and in size (she's the size of a lot of the 5 and 6 year olds). She was moved through classes very quickly. She got moved up to the class that was supposed to be for a minimum of 4 about 6 or 7 months ago. When she first got in the class, the gym manager said she was skilled enough to go to the next level, but was worried about burn out, because she is so young.

Fast forward to yesterday, the gym manager told us that she would like to have the level two coaches take a look at her. They tested her and agreed that she was ready. But she doesn't turn 4 until next month. Their competition season starts next month and ends in January. So, they suggested that she remain in her current class and then join the team in January. She won't be able to compete until she is 5, but they want to work with her.

I'm completely new to this and don't really know what it entails. As far as I can see, here are the pros and cons:

Pros: They will teach her how to do the skills with the proper form. She is very athletic and learning things on her own. I'm worried about her hurting herself doing more advanced skills incorrectly and hurting herself.

No longer be bored in class and learning more skills.

Cons: Burnout. They meet 3 times a week for 3 hours. I worry about taking the fun out of it.

She won't be with any girls very close to her age.

Sorry for the long post. But, if you have any advice for a parent that knows nothing about gymnastics, it would be very much appreciated!

 

[GymDadWA]

Burnout is very real and she can't start competing XB/DP3 for a couple of more years. If it were my family I would keep with rec classes until age 5 and do swimming/soccer/dance/ninja/etc. along with gymnastics for as long as you can.

I know you must feel like if you take a miss step now you are going to miss out on her chance of being the next Simone Biles, but trust us parents that have gone through a decade+ of gymnastics, you don't need to dive in 100% into gymnastics right now. It won't be the difference between her getting to level 10 or not. But having a little girl hate gymnastics in a couple of years can start right now if you don't let her be a little kid and play and try other things with her friends. If she is as talented as she seems the skills she would learn on pre-team she will learn in a couple of months. Learning them at 3.5 or 4.5 or 5.5 won't make a difference.

I get it she rather stand on her hands than her feet and anything can be a balance beam if she tries. Welcome to the club, hopefully she has a long gymnastics career ahead of her.

 

[Dahlialover]

So they are purposing to move her to level 2 at 9 hours per week starting just after her 4th birthday?

Don’t do it. Stick with pre-team.

If she has time and energy for more sports, put her in swimming lessons. Swimming is an essential safety skill that every child needs to master as early as possible. If she goes to 9 hours per week of gymnastics next year, she won’t have time to take swimming lessons, so focus on that this year.

I required my kids to do a season on swim team before they were allowed to select their own sport. My son switched from swim team to gymnastics at age 7. He was so strong and coordinated from swimming that he was put on the team after his first trial rec class. After a couple months he passed the level 3 boys who had completed rec and preteam and competed level 3. He moved to level 4 for his first competition season and he won the regional AA title. There was another boy his age with a similar level of talent. This boy started training with the team at age 4. He started training level 5 with teenagers at 20 hours per week at age 6. My son caught up with him in skills in under a year. These kids were very similar, the only difference is that my late-starter was excited to be at gym and the other boy was completely burnt out and miserable. Extreme early specialization is not a good idea.

 

[LittleGymnastDad]

Burnout is very real and she can't start competing XB/DP3 for a couple of more years. If it were my family I would keep with rec classes until age 5 and do swimming/soccer/dance/ninja/etc. along with gymnastics for as long as you can.

I know you must feel like if you take a miss step now you are going to miss out on her chance of being the next Simone Biles, but trust us parents that have gone through a decade+ of gymnastics, you don't need to dive in 100% into gymnastics right now. It won't be the difference between her getting to level 10 or not. But having a little girl hate gymnastics in a couple of years can start right now if you don't let her be a little kid and play and try other things with her friends. If she is as talented as she seems the skills she would learn on pre-team she will learn in a couple of months. Learning them at 3.5 or 4.5 or 5.5 won't make a difference.

I get it she rather stand on her hands than her feet and anything can be a balance beam if she tries. Welcome to the club, hopefully she has a long gymnastics career ahead of her.

Thank for your advice. This is definitely how I'm feeling. When they said move her up a level, I just thought they meant to the next level in rec. Was definitely surprised when they wanted to go straight to level two.

She is already in swim. She has also done soccer and dance. She's not too into soccer yet. But we'll see what happens there.

I think we'll talk to the gym manager again next week and try to see if there's a step that may not be so daunting. Thank you!

 

[LittleGymnastDad]

So they are purposing to move her to level 2 at 9 hours per week starting just after her 4th birthday?

Don’t do it. Stick with pre-team.

If she has time and energy for more sports, put her in swimming lessons. Swimming is an essential safety skill that every child needs to master as early as possible. If she goes to 9 hours per week of gymnastics next year, she won’t have time to take swimming lessons, so focus on that this year.

I required my kids to do a season on swim team before they were allowed to select their own sport. My son switched from swim team to gymnastics at age 7. He was so strong and coordinated from swimming that he was put on the team after his first trial rec class. After a couple months he passed the level 3 boys who had completed rec and preteam and competed level 3. He moved to level 4 for his first competition season and he won the regional AA title. There was another boy his age with a similar level of talent. This boy started training with the team at age 4. He started training level 5 with teenagers at 20 hours per week at age 6. My son caught up with him in skills in under a year. These kids were very similar, the only difference is that my late-starter was excited to be at gym and the other boy was completely burnt out and miserable. Extreme early specialization is not a good idea.

Agreed with swim lessons. She's been in those since she was 11 months. She has also excelled there and loves it! Thank you for the advice!

 

[raenndrops]

Thank for your advice. This is definitely how I'm feeling. When they said move her up a level, I just thought they meant to the next level in rec. Was definitely surprised when they wanted to go straight to level two.

She is already in swim. She has also done soccer and dance. She's not too into soccer yet. But we'll see what happens there.

I think we'll talk to the gym manager again next week and try to see if there's a step that may not be so daunting. Thank you!

When you talk to them, see if there is an option to move to Level 2, but on reduced hours. There is no reason to need 9 hours at level 2.
Maybe she could do 1.5-2 hours, 2-3 days a week, since she is so young. And that way, she could continue other activities.

 

[LittleGymnastDad]

When you talk to them, see if there is an option to move to Level 2, but on reduced hours. There is no reason to need 9 hours at level 2.
Maybe she could do 1.5-2 hours, 2-3 days a week, since she is so young. And that way, she could continue other activities.

I think that's a good idea. Definitely worth asking about. Thank you!

 

[34gymcoach]

Asking a 3, 4, 5 yo to train 9 hours/week is absurd. She has plenty of time to foster her talent. She would be training for 2 years before she could compete! How will she feel when all her teammates come back from a meet taking sky the fun, the meet gifts (especially if they all wear the meet Leo, tshirt, etc), etc? That in itself will suck all the fun out of it. Keep her in na rec class/pre-team situation w low hours. No more than 3/week max.

 

[Gymgirl84]

We keep those young kids in their rec groups and sometimes we have them come for some extra training and work something more advanced.

 

[AlexandraU16]

When my daughter was barely five she moved to training six hours a week and it was a BIG and honestly somewhat painful adjustment and she was and is quite mature for her age. I cannot imagine her doing that a year earlier and for NINE hours a week. Until that point she was in a pre team class for two hours a week and was picking up skills left and right. Someone on here with decades in the sport and an extremely talented high level daughter told me “true talent doesn’t disappear. Our biggest regret is pushing too fast”. Please keep it fun and slow. If she’s truly gifted she still will be next year.

 

[Sebastian12]

Why does level 2 need 9 hours? Maybe before you commit, find out more about the team requirements and performance, ie how many hours do level 3&4 train, what about optionals, with that amount of hours, how do they perform at comps.

 

[charsgymnastics]

My 3 year old absolutely loves gymnastics. She goes twice a week and comes home every day practices as long as we'll let her. She's very gifted athletically and in size (she's the size of a lot of the 5 and 6 year olds). She was moved through classes very quickly. She got moved up to the class that was supposed to be for a minimum of 4 about 6 or 7 months ago. When she first got in the class, the gym manager said she was skilled enough to go to the next level, but was worried about burn out, because she is so young.

Fast forward to yesterday, the gym manager told us that she would like to have the level two coaches take a look at her. They tested her and agreed that she was ready. But she doesn't turn 4 until next month. Their competition season starts next month and ends in January. So, they suggested that she remain in her current class and then join the team in January. She won't be able to compete until she is 5, but they want to work with her.

I'm completely new to this and don't really know what it entails. As far as I can see, here are the pros and cons:

Pros: They will teach her how to do the skills with the proper form. She is very athletic and learning things on her own. I'm worried about her hurting herself doing more advanced skills incorrectly and hurting herself.

No longer be bored in class and learning more skills.

Cons: Burnout. They meet 3 times a week for 3 hours. I worry about taking the fun out of it.

She won't be with any girls very close to her age.

Sorry for the long post. But, if you have any advice for a parent that knows nothing about gymnastics, it would be very much appreciated!

i think i would consider keeping her in rec classes until she turned 5, some of my gyms silvers dont even train 9 hours a week so i dont know why a 4 year old would need to be doing 9 hours and not only that i think that seeing her teammates coming back from competitions knowing she wasnt able to attend them would probably suck some the fun out of it. keep her in a more advanced rec class so she can gain skills and maybe reconsider competing in a year or so to prevent burnout

 

[LittleGymnastDad]

Just a quick update here. Talked to the manager. We are moving her up to advanced, which will be two classes per week at 1.5 hours each class, until January. That way she is gradually increasing time and learning new skills.

They still want to work with her on the team and think it would be a good fit. They meet twice a week, once for 3 hours and once for 4 hours. Apparently not all of that time spent doing gymnastics. Part of it, they meet with a mental coach. There are plenty of breaks, including snacks and such. We shared our concerns about the length of the classes and they said they understand and would keep an eye on it and would make suggestions based on how she does with it. We will be keeping a close eye as well. Thank you for all of the suggestions! Very much appreciated!

 

[Gymgirl84]

I won't put a 4 year old in a 4 hour workout, even if it has breaks and other activities, it is just too much, especially if they already went to school. Even for 6 years old I find it too much.

 

[gymyogimom]

Let her be a preschooler and enjoy jumping and running. Twice a week is plenty at that age. Burn out is real. Over use injury is real.

 

[LittleGymnastDad]

Im definitely worried about the length of the class and I've shared my concerns with the gym. They think she's ready to try, and if she doesn't like it , we can move her back down or try the level 2 at a reduced amount.

Would there be any reason or incentive for the gym to push her up to the next level if they didn't truly think she was ready?

 

[InMyGymMomEra]

This is a really interesting thread! I can totally hear the arguments for letting this little girl be a kid, try other sports, etc. At the same time, if she joins a team, at some point she’ll start training more hours, right? My daughter started training 1h/wk rec at 4.5yo, then did 2-4h/wk rec at 5yo, and now having just turned 6yo she does 4h/wk on a L1 team, plus some camps/clinics. What are some of the factors that parents of younger gymnasts can use to determine when their child is ready for more? It must be more than pure age, since development varies so widely across kids? Like the OP, I often wonder about how to determine the sweet spot between burning out vs falling behind (e.g., my DD was told at 5yo that she was “too old” for DP, which only reinforced the falling behind concern, but also led to us finding a more inclusive gym!). Genuinely curious — thanks!!

 

[4theLoveofGymnastics]

My 3 year old absolutely loves gymnastics. She goes twice a week and comes home every day practices as long as we'll let her. She's very gifted athletically and in size (she's the size of a lot of the 5 and 6 year olds). She was moved through classes very quickly. She got moved up to the class that was supposed to be for a minimum of 4 about 6 or 7 months ago. When she first got in the class, the gym manager said she was skilled enough to go to the next level, but was worried about burn out, because she is so young.

Fast forward to yesterday, the gym manager told us that she would like to have the level two coaches take a look at her. They tested her and agreed that she was ready. But she doesn't turn 4 until next month. Their competition season starts next month and ends in January. So, they suggested that she remain in her current class and then join the team in January. She won't be able to compete until she is 5, but they want to work with her.

I'm completely new to this and don't really know what it entails. As far as I can see, here are the pros and cons:

Pros: They will teach her how to do the skills with the proper form. She is very athletic and learning things on her own. I'm worried about her hurting herself doing more advanced skills incorrectly and hurting herself.

No longer be bored in class and learning more skills.

Cons: Burnout. They meet 3 times a week for 3 hours. I worry about taking the fun out of it.

She won't be with any girls very close to her age.

Sorry for the long post. But, if you have any advice for a parent that knows nothing about gymnastics, it would be very much appreciated!

My 3 year old absolutely loves gymnastics. She goes twice a week and comes home every day practices as long as we'll let her. She's very gifted athletically and in size (she's the size of a lot of the 5 and 6 year olds). She was moved through classes very quickly. She got moved up to the class that was supposed to be for a minimum of 4 about 6 or 7 months ago. When she first got in the class, the gym manager said she was skilled enough to go to the next level, but was worried about burn out, because she is so young.

Fast forward to yesterday, the gym manager told us that she would like to have the level two coaches take a look at her. They tested her and agreed that she was ready. But she doesn't turn 4 until next month. Their competition season starts next month and ends in January. So, they suggested that she remain in her current class and then join the team in January. She won't be able to compete until she is 5, but they want to work with her.

I'm completely new to this and don't really know what it entails. As far as I can see, here are the pros and cons:

Pros: They will teach her how to do the skills with the proper form. She is very athletic and learning things on her own. I'm worried about her hurting herself doing more advanced skills incorrectly and hurting herself.

No longer be bored in class and learning more skills.

Cons: Burnout. They meet 3 times a week for 3 hours. I worry about taking the fun out of it.

She won't be with any girls very close to her age.

Sorry for the long post. But, if you have any advice for a parent that knows nothing about gymnastics, it would be very much appreciated!

My daughter is 9yrs old and in level 6. She was in pre-team when she turned 4. That was 4hrs a week of practice. At 5 (kindergarten) she did level 2 which was 9hrs a week half the season then 12hrs a week. They even offered her to train in the tops program and wanted her to come for an extra 4hrs a week, which I said no to. My daughter wanted to do all of these things, was upset to miss out on the tops program. Burnout is a real thing, we’ve lost teammates to it… and also kids develop fears and mental blocks. The parents get tapped out financially too and it takes a toll on the family. Out of the 12 girls who were in my daughter’s level 2 team, only 4 of them including my daughter are still in the sport and are all at different gyms and levels now. I would ask if your daughter can train 4-6 hours a week with the level 2 group until she’s actually old enough to compete that way she is still challenged. Staying in rec class might cause her to lose interest. Also it’s important to diversify like others have mentioned. We tried competitive dance, soccer and swimming but gymnastics was always the favorite. I’m still waiting for the burnout though, over the summer, my daughter practiced 25 hours a week and would have slept in the gym if you let her. Everyone’s journey is different but your daughter will tell or show you if it’s too much for her to handle.

 

[#BGymnast]

I know I probably won't be helping much, but:
On the one hand, you want to give her the best chance possible. If they are giving her the option to start younger, that means that she has the possibility of getting into higher levels at a younger age, and then possibly national / olympic teams. And thats what anybody would want for their talented daughter, right?

On the other hand, when I was younger, I was asked to join our level 3 team (this is when we start going to the competitions and become a "senior" at my gym). I said no, because at the time, I was also doing another sport which I wasn't ready to give up. I then joined level 3 the next year.

Looking back, I could be in a much higher level now, but I don't think that I was ready for competitions then. Let's face it, you can't go into a competition "just cos I can" and expect to come out on top. You need the right mindset.

Really, its up to you and her. It sounds like she loves gym and is very talented, so you could be giving her the best chance at higher levels. But if she wants to do other sports, experiences, and activities, and not have her life swallowed up by gymnastics, wait till she's atleast 4.
And remember, Simone Biles didn't even start gymnastics until she was 5, so you are doing AMAZING!!!
Good luck with whatever happens

 

[Gymgirl84]

I have a problem with the single sessions being that long, we would usually start with 1,5 or 2 h, 3 times per week, which is no that different in the weekly total, but makes a different in the individual days. I have some new gymnasts in my group that moved up to 3 h workouts when they can from 2 h workouts and they're feeling it (they're 7 and 8)