Parents Anyone else not allowed to watch?

[skschlag]

How do your schools afford that? The ones I run on employees are $33 each, plus fingerprints? Is there a different back ground check?

And, I guess I don't see that as a big deal. We do not let volunteers alone with the kids. But, I know all the parents. We all know each other. It is a big community. So I guess that has never been a concern for me with volunteers at the school.

 

[cbifoja]

I'm not saying I *would* do this, but parents can check in on their child's class any day, any time, here at least.

Around here they can too. We have actually had parents who because they found out their kids were misbehaving at school, opted to "spend the day with Junior" and attend all classes with them. It sends a very strong message to a high school kid that if they won't behave for a teacher, then Mommy will come to school to make sure they behave! LOL

 

[cbifoja]

It is crazy to me that parents are allowed to just decide to enter the classroom on a whim. At my daughter's school, all parents that wish to volunteer in the classroom must first pass a background check.

If you are working with kids then I can see the point, but just to observe a classroom under supervision of a teacher? That would get expensive fast because background checks ain't cheap!

 

[cbifoja]

At our gym, parents are allowed to watch, which is fine. But, the coach in me wishes there was glass between the observation area and the actual gym, just to stop the parents from being a distraction. One way glass would be even better.

This is our set up. We have a lobby and then a set of doors into the gym. No parents allowed on the gym floor but the parents can sit in the lobby and watch through the one way glass. It is hysterical when the gymnasts approach what is a mirror on their side but a window on ours. Any time the littles make faces in the mirror is fine entertainment! We also have a little gymmie who uses the mirror to refine her epic dance moves that will never appear in a routine. High comedy, that.

 

[cbifoja]

I'm just very grateful that coaches aren't allowed to drop in at any time in my home to ensure that I'm creating a safe and healthy environment for their gymnast .

In my imperfect little world I have some bad mommy moments.

Just the other night my 8 year old asked me:
-What are we having fo dinner tonight?
-You can choose between apples or bananas
-But we had fruit last night
-Fruit is good for you
-When is dad going to start cooking us dinner again?
-When he gets over his midlife crisis
-What's that?
-It's when men buy expensive toys to forget they're loosing their hair and getting fat
-Why don't you get a fun car like daddy
-Because I'm not loosing my hair
-But you always complain you're fat
-That's why we're having fruit....

Boy am I glad I'm not constantly being judged for being a bad cook,a disgruntled wife,a cynical mother.No big glass windows looking in to every moment of my imperfect life.

Go fix all the little uglies in your own lives,let your kids and their coaches work through their own little uglies.

And I certainly wouldn't walk into my daughter's coach's HOME either. But a place of business doesn't have the same level of privacy as a home. Who says that we are looking to judge the coaches?????

And I don't really know how to take the "uglies" comment. I think it has been made clear that many people don't stay to watch because they are worried about fixing something in their child's gymnastics.

 

[Natalia]

Don't sweat the small stuff and in the end it's ALL small stuff.

"The uglies comment",you don't know how to take it?

Don't worry, don't take it at all,it's small stuff...so is gymnastics,so are we,so is our pretty little rock called earth...it's small stuff,we mess up,we try our best,we loose perspective,we try harder...just let go, it's small stuff.

 

[Canadian_gym_mom]

How do your schools afford that? The ones I run on employees are $33 each, plus fingerprints? Is there a different back ground check?

And, I guess I don't see that as a big deal. We do not let volunteers alone with the kids. But, I know all the parents. We all know each other. It is a big community. So I guess that has never been a concern for me with volunteers at the school.

You know every single parent of every single child in your entire school? Better than you know the 2 or 3 coaches that work with your child on an almost daily basis? Wow.

And coaches aren't alone with the kids either. That is the whole point I think dunno was trying to make earlier in the thread. Staying to watch practice wont prevent your child from being abused. Not letting them alone with the coach, doing things together outside the gym, texting, getting rides, accepting gifts, etc. That is part of how to prevent abuse.

And here you pay the $45 for your own police check if you want to volunteer. Everyone with contact with kids. No exceptions. Because as well as you think you know someone, you don't just take their word for it, or assume because you have a BBQ with them, that they have never nor have the potential to do something terrible.

Because you just never know.

 

[skschlag]

Canadian_gym_mom - I never said I was worried about abuse at all at gym. In fact, I agreed with dunno on everything he said! I stay because it costs a lot for me to drive back and forth daily. Honestly, background checks are only as good as what people have been caught doing. Until they are caught, there is nothing. So you still, never know.

 

[Canadian_gym_mom]

Canadian_gym_mom - I never said I was worried about abuse at all at gym. In fact, I agreed with dunno on everything he said! I stay because it costs a lot for me to drive back and forth daily. Honestly, background checks are only as good as what people have been caught doing. Until they are caught, there is nothing. So you still, never know.

Oh okay. I must have people in this thread mixed up. It is a long thread after all, and I apologize for mixing you with someone else.

And it is true about the background checks. But it is one tool in the way we can protect our kids.