Parents Gymnastics accessories for 6 year old

[Steph_davies]

Hi there,

My budding gymnast is 6 years old. She’s been placed into a recreational competitive group so she is showing real progress but she broke her arm earlier in the year and had to take 3 months off, this has set her back, her flexibility and strength has suffered.

We have a beam, bar, mats at home. I’m considering buying a stretching strap and a door strap. Would this be recommended and anything other ideas please throw them at me? Thanks

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

My recommendation: slow down, don't get any more home equipment, and don't make any effort to get her to do gymnastics at home.

I know it's counterintuitive, but for long-term development the best thing is to leave the gymnastics at the gym and treat home as a sanctuary away from any sort of training pressure. That applies to any age and level, but it especially applies to young gymnasts who are just starting their competitive journey.

The most coachable kids, the ones who will be most likely to stick with it for the long haul, are the ones who do little to no gymnastics at home, and arrive to each practice hungry for every second of gym time they can get.

 

[ItsJustAnotherHokie]

My recommendation: slow down, don't get any more home equipment, and don't make any effort to get her to do gymnastics at home.

I know it's counterintuitive, but for long-term development the best thing is to leave the gymnastics at the gym and treat home as a sanctuary away from any sort of training pressure. That applies to any age and level, but it especially applies to young gymnasts who are just starting their competitive journey.

The most coachable kids, the ones who will be most likely to stick with it for the long haul, are the ones who do little to no gymnastics at home, and arrive to each practice hungry for every second of gym time they can get.

I am curious about your thoughts on my perspective. I actually bought an inflatable mat and bars because my (now 7 year old and on team) was trying to use my couch for tumbling and I couldn't get her to stop. I figured at least the mat would provide a safe(r) place to do this. Similarly with the bar. She was using our home gym lifing setup and I had to find a way to make it safe(r) because I couldn't stop her - she would find ways to do it anyway. I don't encourage practice at home. Often times I'm discouraging it. I only got the equipment to make whatever she was doing less dangerous. I know she likes to use the bar at school and tumble in the grass at school during recess and I ask her to stop because I think our home set up is at least safer than that.
Lately (luckily for me) she doesn't use the mat as much and the bars she just uses to hang upside down like a bat most of the time at this point.

 

[Gym_momma]

Generally it's not recommended to do gymnastics at home. I don't think it hurts to do some conditioning and flexibility work. My daughter enjoys doing some of Anna McNulty's flexibility videos which she watches occasionally on YouTube.

 

[Pineapple_Lump]

I am curious about your thoughts on my perspective. I actually bought an inflatable mat and bars because my (now 7 year old and on team) was trying to use my couch for tumbling and I couldn't get her to stop. I figured at least the mat would provide a safe(r) place to do this. Similarly with the bar. She was using our home gym lifing setup and I had to find a way to make it safe(r) because I couldn't stop her - she would find ways to do it anyway. I don't encourage practice at home. Often times I'm discouraging it. I only got the equipment to make whatever she was doing less dangerous. I know she likes to use the bar at school and tumble in the grass at school during recess and I ask her to stop because I think our home set up is at least safer than that.
Lately (luckily for me) she doesn't use the mat as much and the bars she just uses to hang upside down like a bat most of the time at this point.

The inflatable mats are more dangerous than the couch imho because they give more power/opportunity to push limits and are are harder landing when the result of that goes wrong.

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

I am curious about your thoughts on my perspective. I actually bought an inflatable mat and bars because my (now 7 year old and on team) was trying to use my couch for tumbling and I couldn't get her to stop. I figured at least the mat would provide a safe(r) place to do this. Similarly with the bar. She was using our home gym lifing setup and I had to find a way to make it safe(r) because I couldn't stop her - she would find ways to do it anyway. I don't encourage practice at home. Often times I'm discouraging it. I only got the equipment to make whatever she was doing less dangerous. I know she likes to use the bar at school and tumble in the grass at school during recess and I ask her to stop because I think our home set up is at least safer than that.
Lately (luckily for me) she doesn't use the mat as much and the bars she just uses to hang upside down like a bat most of the time at this point.

Several thoughts.

First, trying to get gymnasts not to do gymnastics at home is like trying to get college students not to drink beer; it's a wasted effort. I personally wouldn't necessarily try to stop them from doing gymnastics at home, but if I were getting home equipment, I'd do so with an eye towards safety and basic strength/handstand work. Small mats (say, a panel mat), a clear space of wall, MAYBE a stall bar or pull-up bar, but I'd try to put that bar in a space where the gymnast doesn't have room to swing on it.

I wouldn't make any active effort to get them to do gymnastics at home. I wouldn't stop them as long as they aren't being unsafe, but I wouldn't encourage them either.

You know what I would encourage, though? Some sort of outdoor play structure or climbing wall or something like that, if it's realistically possible for you. I hate to be the proverbial old man yelling at clouds, but I don't think modern kids spend enough time playing outside. I think the best thing for kids to be doing at home is running, jumping, climbing, etc in a completely uncoached, unstructured, unorganized manner. I honestly think this brings more gymnastics benefit -- and more general benefit -- than indoor gymnastics-specific equipment.

 

[Coach Kate]

You know what I would encourage, though? Some sort of outdoor play structure or climbing wall or something like that, if it's realistically possible for you. I hate to be the proverbial old man yelling at clouds, but I don't think modern kids spend enough time playing outside. I think the best thing for kids to be doing at home is running, jumping, climbing, etc in a completely uncoached, unstructured, unorganized manner. I honestly think this brings more gymnastics benefit -- and more general benefit -- than indoor gymnastics-specific equipment.

Love this! I'll throw out the idea of jump ropes and hula hoops too! Hula hooping with feet together and arms overhead can benefit handstands as well, used to do it as a side station with my preteam kids.

 

[ItsJustAnotherHokie]

The inflatable mats are more dangerous than the couch imho because they give more power/opportunity to push limits and are are harder landing when the result of that goes wrong.

Our couch is set up so that it has holes/gaps that legs and feet have gotten stuck in before. I would otherwise not disagree. She was doing back handsprings, front flips etc. I am deflating it now thanks to the feedback on this thread. Maybe I can throw it outside and make it a fun slip and slide this summer.

 

[raenndrops]

Our couch is set up so that it has holes/gaps that legs and feet have gotten stuck in before. I would otherwise not disagree. She was doing back handsprings, front flips etc. I am deflating it now thanks to the feedback on this thread. Maybe I can throw it outside and make it a fun slip and slide this summer.

Lol. Make sure you secure the inflatable in place and that the area is free from anything that could poke it or children at either end if you use it as a slip and slide.
We couldn't get ours to stop doing gymnastics either, so we tried to keep them safe.
We had lots of stuff for them to do outside, so they were outside as much as possible. They were also in different kid activities (softball, baseball, basketball, soccer, cheer, and gymnastics plus they rode bikes, had a tree swing and a swingset, and liked to climb the tree).
In our basement, we had a stack of old mattresses (with a old foam mattress on top) that OG and YG would use as a little vault stack. Without a springboard, it was safe because they could only do forward rolls on it. (Plus, they could only use it when supervised.)
YG would pull her (4-inch thick foam) mattress off her bed to practice handstands and rolls, and stretch on it starting when she was 3. They wanted a beam, so their dad brought over a 6-foot-long 4x4. I covered it with carpet and attached 2x4 "feet" to it. They would use it on the carpeted floor for turns, jumps, balance stuff, and the occasional handstand or cartwheel.
Whenever they decided to do something they weren't permitted to do (front flips off the long low dresser to the mattress with some pillows and blankets (YG 4 yrs), suspending the beam between 2 kitchen chairs with couch cushions underneath, and a friend helping to stabilize the beam, to practice current L3 dismounts (OG 8 yrs and YG 5 yrs ... "spotted" by OG), or using the card table to practice squat ons (OG 9 yrs) ... with the friend holding the other side of the card table down), we would talk about WHY whatever it was it wasn't safe. Their coaches were informed about their antics too, so they could reinforce making safe choices.