Women Daughter Discouraged because of gymnastics videos

[supernicegymmom]

Hi parents, my daughter has recently been watching these ‘’ Gymnastics Evolution ‘’ videos on YouTube. If you are unfamiliar with these videos, they are basically showcasing a very talented young gymnast. All these videos have kids doing double backs and giants at 7/8/9/10 years old and she feels she’s not good enough as a gymnast. If you know any strategies to help her not be so hard on herself I would appreciate it.

 

[Coach Kate]

Get off social media. Kids growing up now have not only social pressures from people they know, but also the entire Internet and only the image they want to present. As an adult, it can be hard not to get caught up in the comparison game. How much harder is it for young impressionable children and teens?

 

[Dad1234]

My daughter doesn’t watch these types of videos much, but when she starts talking about little kids on YouTube who can do really big skills we talk about how those kids must not have much free time outside of gymnastics. We talk about how strict their coaches might be to get them to that level and how much conditioning they probably have to do. We also talk about how they might have very driven parents who might put a lot of pressure on them. This works for my girl because she hates conditioning, likes to work but not too hard, hates to miss out on anything fun because of gymnastics training, and gets mad at me when I start put pressure on her to work during practice. When she starts thinking about how much work goes into getting to that level at such a young age, she realizes that isn’t really what she is looking for in this sport.

 

[InMyGymMomEra]

To the OP, that sounds so tough! My daughter is too young for social media but has been really enjoying a lot of gymnastics content from other sources that depict (at least to my understanding!) more age-appropriate skill development trajectories, like the series “My Perfect Landing” and “Gymnastics Academy: A Second Chance” on Netflix and the book series “Perfect Balance Gymnastics (in this one the characters start in L2 in 1st/2nd grade and go through the levels as they get older). She also likes to watch past meets on YouTube where it’s clear that the girls are older elite gymnastics/Olympians rather than regular elementary school kids. I hope this helps!

 

[Janneke]

Ughh, those videos. My daughter found those too. We very early on agreed that she does not watch those types of gymnastics videos. We did have a discussion on about how some of those girls must do way more gymnastics than her and therefore obviously have better form and more impressive skills. We did talk about how that much gymnastics may not be good for your body. We have also seen enough videos of kids just chucking skills that are frankly way above their skill level and probably dangerous. Once I pointed out the bent legs, the crooked arms and the head that narrowly missed the floor, she was very quickly cured of those. She now watches the Olympics and that's pretty much it. As parents we have to set boundaries, and that is one of the boundaries in our house (that and any video with over the top shouty kidfluencers, yuckyuckyuck).

 

[RTT2]

I watched those show Inmygymera mentioned with my daughter when she was younger and she loved them- we still bring them up from time to time! Much better than watching Instagymmie videos!

 

[kecks]

Hi parents, my daughter has recently been watching these ‘’ Gymnastics Evolution ‘’ videos on YouTube. If you are unfamiliar with these videos, they are basically showcasing a very talented young gymnast. All these videos have kids doing double backs and giants at 7/8/9/10 years old and she feels she’s not good enough as a gymnast. If you know any strategies to help her not be so hard on herself I would appreciate it.

I would not let her decide alone what to watch on social Media. Only watching together while talking about what she is seeing. These videos are not for her (yet) if she reacts that strongly to them. Kids that age shouldn't be on the internet alone in my opinion.

 

[BusyMomof2]

How old is she? I agree with the comments about managing online activity but also think that in this sport, girls have to learn early on how to manage their feelings about other girls getting skills faster, scoring higher, being a better gymnast, etc. There is just about always someone who is outperforming you and it shouldn't take your own joy away.

My daughter has a teammate who is in her 3rd year of gymnastics ever, competing level 8 and training level 9. Her ability to pick up skills, almost perfectly the first time she learns them, is unlike anything I've seen. I encourage my daughter to be okay with being in awe of her. It's healthy to recognize that some people have advantages we don't have and it doesn't negate any of our own hard work or passion. Just my two cents.