Anon Advice Needed

[Anonymous (f4c4)]

My daughter watches these gymnasts on Instagram (Koko.and.Gigi) They are very talented and beautiful gymnasts. But my daughter seems to be obsessed with them, she wants to have all the Little Stars Leotards and Leanne Wong Bows. But I simply can't afford it all. They also have a super nice at home gym, which she wants so bad, which is also a lot of money. Is there anyway to buy equipment cheaper? Ideas for her to make money to buy the leotards, she thought about running a bow business, but idk. One of the big reasons she loves them is because she LOVES Leanne Wong.

 

[Anonymous (a33e)]

As a coach, I am really not a fan of the home gym set ups, so I really wouldn't put your money into that. Way too many opportunities for injuries and bad habits.

How old is she? That might help us with money making ideas, and lead into what appropriate limits and discernment concerning social media might be.

But this is also the problem with social media culture in my opinion. Adults are easily influenced into buying things we don't need - how much more susceptible are our children? If she's a teen, I think it's appropriate to talk about influencers, money, wants, needs, and how social media is not real life. If she's younger, I would honestly recommend severely limiting the amount of time she spends watching this kind of content, or really any social media. USAG has dozens of full meets to watch on its YouTube channel and that would be a great alternative if she likes watching gymnastics. They have the hopes and Nastia meets too if she likes watching younger athletes.

 

[Anonymous (deed)]

Mine is 10 and has never seen any gymnastics social media except for the occasional college routine and pictures of her team after states.

Sometimes I click on something and my feed fills up with #tinygymnasts and very young gymnastics influencers with crazy setups, hitting optionals in 2nd grade, and having hundreds of leos on their walls. I’m an adult and a mom and even though I know better, the videos make me question everything about myself and my daughter. Am I a bad mom? Is she good enough? What are we doing wrong? Why don’t we have a backyard strap bar? Should we have said yes to the TOPS group when it was an option? Are we naive to not homeschool?

And then I blink and come to my senses and back away slowly. Videos and gymnastics influencers are really not healthy for people of any age, but young gymnasts especially need to steer clear.

Phone down. Lemonade stand for charity on the sidewalk (because there are worse things happening in the world than not having a wall of leos and why not take action to change that?). Gymnastics stays in the gym. Stretch and do handstands at home.

 

[Anonymous (b90a)]

it sounds like your daughter is not be old enough to be using social media. Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube shorts are particularly addictive and manipulative. If your daughter is unable to recognize that the content is designed to manipulate her into asking you to buy her things that she does not need and you cannot afford, then she is not old enough to be watching it.

 

[Anonymous (8280)]

Lets also remember that while your daughter is the target market for buying all those leotards - she is not the main demographic viewing all those images and driving up the view count.

 

[Anonymous (cbb7)]

How old is your daughter? And I am assuming she is on a team? My daughter has been obsessed with gymnastics since she was about 7, is now an 11-year old optional and is still just as obsessed. A couple of ideas for you:

1. Eliminate the influencers in place of college meets, historic gymnastics videos on YouTube, Olympic replays etc. There is plenty of wholesome content if she likes to watch gymnastics. My daughter also likes watching some of the at-home drill content for the skills she's working on as there is a ton of this from true high level athletes. It helps her in watching shaping etc.

2. if you are okay with screen games, my daughter love the game "Gym High Bar" - it's kind of like a Roblox but for gymnastics.

3. The LW bows are expensive - it's a bday or xmas gift around here but if you are in any way crafty, you can make a fun activity of making similar style bows for your daughter and her teammates.

4. Start a meet leo" trend on your daughter's team. Our team girls coordinate EVERY DAY from the various meet leos they all have. Not all girls have all the same ones with meet/team shuffles but they have the best time coordinating this! Our gym culture is not big on fancy leos and bows for practice, thankfully.

5. I agree that the at-home equipment can be a slippery slope and most girls will outgrow it quickly because it doesn't actually feel like gym equipment. However, my daughter still uses her floor beam to practice turns and leaps and those can be found on Amazon for $50ish. She also uses her at home mat and resistance bands regularly to help with some at-home stretching and drills she likes to do. Both can be found relatively inexpensively so perhaps you can put something realistic together for less than $200.

Gymnastics is an expensive sport. I just paid almost 3k today for the upcoming season meet fees/new leos/coaches fees. You have to help your daughter understand what is reasonable and what is not. Good luck