Parents Frustrated!

[GymMom22107]

My daughter takes a ballet class in addition to her gymnastics. She isn't technically required to do it but they "HIGHLY RECOMMENDED" it which basically means, you need to do it. So, my daughter has a great time in class, comes out happy as pie BUT yesterday she had a break down crying yelling about how she didn't want to go because her leg hurt her. (which it wasn't and I know this because she switched which leg hurt) I just don't understand why she doesn't want to go in when she is clearly having fun in class and comes out happy?! My only explanation is maybe it's just too much for her? She gets out of school and we go right to gymnastics, then immediately after gymnastics she goes to dance (it's in the same building) I swear the entire building probably thought I was nuts the way my daughter was acting, as if I was forcing her to go to dance. The problem is I knew she was lying about her leg and didn't want to give in to her and give her the idea that when she lies she gets her way. Now had she said to me. mommy I just really don't want to do today, I would of been okay with it. So after her ridiculous "fit" she went to class, had a great time and came out as happy as a clam. It's just very frustrating! I'm having a hard time deciding whether I should have her stop going to ballet, put her in a regular ballet class on the weekend when she doesn't have gymnastics, or just keep her in the same class and hope it gets better as she does enjoy it once in there. Also there have been times that other girls have been whining about how they don't want to do ballet and a few have stopped doing ballet and she started saying she didn't want to go after they did. Usually she just says she doesn't really want to go but ends up going and has fun. But yesterday was the first time she had a fit. Just not sure what to do. Also the reason I haven't had her go sat instead of after her gymnastics is because this particular ballet class is for the kids in that level gymnastics so all the kids in her class are there. So it might not be the same if she goes to another class and there may be younger kids there and she won't know anyone. It's just so embarrassing having her do that in front of everyone! I really don't want a repeat!

 

[sglemon]

My Opinion, I would put her in a separate ballet class on a non gymnastics day, with different girls, maybe girls who are just into ballet. She could make some new friends. My DD spent a year doing ballet and jazz for an hour before 2 of her 3.5 hour gymnastic practices and it really wore her down. When she is tired, she wants to quit. Her dance classes were finally move to days she doesn't have gymnastics and it has been awesome. She is excelling in both and LOVES it. Her dance friends are different from her gymnastic friends, each set with different goals.

 

[LysiMom]

In my experience, there are just sometimes when they need a break. We had an episode this summer when my daughter didn't want to go to practice for an entire week (which happened to be the first week of school). I reluctantly gave in (to save myself the drama at the gym) and after the week she was ready to go again. Of course, week long absences aren't necessarily the best thing but if it's what she needs....it's what she needs.

 

[BlairBob]

Yep, sounded like she just wanted a break.

Ivan Abadjiev, quite possibly the greatest Weightlifting coach ever out of Bulgaria used to comment that his lifters were always trying to get out of and away with things. That's how hard their training was. For your daughter, it's the same on a different scale.

"Oh, I'm hurt" "Didn't you see lift the weight? (when they would pick up a weight and drop it when their attention was elsewhere). All kinds of little games.

Granted it was probably the most intense, hardest training program in WL ever (besides using a lot of "restoratives").

I think he actually commented that he expected them to do so. Very much a chess match with them because the training was so hard, that the lifters started having to do such things. On the one hand, they can't simply say " I don't wanna. " Not when you are on the National Team. OTOH, they have to do something.

Now had she said to me. mommy I just really don't want to do today

Kids don't get this. I would frequently have to tell my boys or girls that if I caught them coming to practice when they were injured or sick and not telling me about it that there would be hell to pay. Mainly because it annoyed me. Come out and tell me from the first moment that something is injured or you don't feel good or I might think you are just slacking off or having a crappy day and start trying to figure out what is wrong.

Kids just don't want to let you down or quit some days.

And let's be frank, most ballet is boring as hell for a gymnast. Let's do 3 moves about 100x in 30 minutes...completely opposite from gymnastics.

 

[nameless]

this happens to my daughter every so often.. how old is your daughter? mine is 5 (training level 4) and like you said she comes out happy, but really i think it is that she just does not love ballet the way she loves gymnastics. gymnastics (especially bars and floor) come easy to her, but ballet does not (and she says it is boring). her dance class is in the middle of practice and she is not exhausted. from what i can tell she just does not want to concentrate on slow fluid movements. my guess is if it's not exhaustion, it may be a lack of interest..

 

[GymMom22107]

this happens to my daughter every so often.. how old is your daughter? mine is 5 (training level 4) and like you said she comes out happy, but really i think it is that she just does not love ballet the way she loves gymnastics. gymnastics (especially bars and floor) come easy to her, but ballet does not (and she says it is boring). her dance class is in the middle of practice and she is not exhausted. from what i can tell she just does not want to concentrate on slow fluid movements. my guess is if it's not exhaustion, it may be a lack of interest..

I think my daughter kind of feels the same way. I have noticed that while she does really well in gymnastics and it comes easy to her, she does not to well at all in ballet and I think it bothers her. In gymnastics she is often the one who is an example of how to do it right and in ballet she is told often she needs to fix things (nicely) and it seems that the majority of the girls in her class are learning it easier than her. So i'm not sure if she is a bit discouraged because of that and I hate to mention it to her just in case she is not aware of it. It's funny how a child can do well at one and not at another. One girl who has a lot of difficulty with gymnastics and tends to be the last to get things does really well in ballet. I guess maybe I just need to give her a break from ballet once in a while, and hope she goes to most classes! Also she is 5 training to be a level 4 next year like yours. This all started when she started kindergarten, starting school is such a big change and the gymnastics and ballet on top of it was hard on her.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

maybe it's simpler. ballet has 6 letters= boring, which also has 6 letters. some personalities are just not cut out for ballet. gymnasts want to run, jump, swing, flip and twist. none of those have 6 letters.

 

[dmytv]

maybe it's simpler. ballet has 6 letters= boring, which also has 6 letters. some personalities are just not cut out for ballet. gymnasts want to run, jump, swing, flip and twist. none of those have 6 letters.

agree. Some gymnasts just don't have the patience for ballet.
BTW dunno has 5 letters.

 

[Kiwi]

My DD went through a phase of this last year (she does gym and ballet). I think she was just overtired.

 

[Canadian_gym_mom]

maybe it's simpler. ballet has 6 letters= boring, which also has 6 letters. some personalities are just not cut out for ballet. gymnasts want to run, jump, swing, flip and twist. none of those have 6 letters.

I was thinking this as I read it. My dd took a year of ballet and she HATED it. "Mommy, it's SOOOOOO BOOOOOOOORING."

More than 6 letters, but that was the amount of DRAMA involved.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

agree. Some gymnasts just don't have the patience for ballet.
BTW dunno has 5 letters.

i'm racking my brain as to whether there is something subliminal or otherwise in that...

 

[Muddlethru]

i'm racking my brain as to whether there is something subliminal or otherwise in that...

6 letters = boring. Since Dunno is only 5, you fall under the category of exciting, like the all non-6 letter words? Yes? Wild guess. Maybe? Just hope your real name does not have 6 letters! Then what?

 

[Moxiegrl83]

The only dance class my 6 yr old wants to take is hip hop. She has a hard enough time slowing down enough for beam, but is slowly getting better. Dunno's totally right. She wants to run, jump, swing, flip, and tumble. Standing still is way too hard. If I only had a little bit of that energy. How they can do all day school, 2 hours of gym, and still be bouncing off the walls is amazing to me.


My baby just turned six today. It feels so weird to write six not 5. She's getting way too big way too fast.

 

[Krystan]

Agree! I was a ballet dancer from age 8 to 18, but neither of my kids show the LEAST bit of interest in it! My L5 dd has two free weekday evenings now and I tried to get her to take a dance class. Her response: it looks SO BORING! I think after gymnastics, anything where your head stays above your hips seems super-boring.