L5mw
Proud Parent
- Nov 13, 2012
- 22
- 0
- Thread starter
- #21
When I was a child, I was a competitive figure skater. Different than gym, but very similar. LOOONNNG hours of training, six days (or seven) a week. It was physically and emotionally demanding. Being in a sport like gymnastics or skating is just so DIFFERENT from other sports like soccer or basketball. It is subjective and just so personal in a way that a team sport is not. That is a great thing, but when you are feeling "down" about it, that can be a very bad thing. I remember at around your DD's same age feeling like I was just "done". I had been doing the sport seriously (20+ hours a week) since age 7, and I was just done. My parents did a great thing for me. They said that my only "job" was to go to school and to be a kid. Skating was NOT to be a job, it was supposed to be a passion, a love of mine. I took a week/ ten days off, and then went back at a slightly modified schedule for a week or two. And I took that time to figure out that yes, it WAS still a love of mine. It WAS still my passion. And I continued on, back to my regular schedule.
My biggest fear for my DD is that the gym (now her "happy place"- better than Disney she says!) would ever become her "job". I agree that you don't want a child to quit and regret it, but you also don't want to do it because they feel they "should". I think that when something is your "love" or passion, it never really goes away. I still (at almost 40!!) just yearn to be on the ice. I crave it. I have days where I would just love to be there- with the cold, the smells, the feeling of it all. I don't have much time to do it, but I still try to sneak away and get my time on the ice. To me, that is what I want gym to be for my daughter. A happy place- somewhere she just loves to go.
Thank you for your post. The sport is physically and emotionally draining. I don't want her to feel like it's a job she hates doing. I want her to love it again but I can't make that happen for her she has to decide that. I like your idea of some time away then go back at a modified schedule. Her goal at the beginning of summer was to go all the way with her sport. Quite a sudden change from one end of the spectrum to the other. Right now its not her happy place. She goes there not happy but - get this - she leaves the gym feeling happy and talks about routines (hers and others) and is lively and happy about it. But then we talk about the season coming up and she isn't so happy...
Everyone's posts have been so helpful to me and I am so grateful to have this forum to go to. Thank you!