Parents Gymnastics at Home

[clee]

Hi all. I am new to this forum. I am a former gymnast and coach. I would love to hear everyone's opionions on this issue I'm having with my DD. She is 6yo and has been doing gymnastics for the past 3 yrs. Currently she is on the preteam and will be moving to compete in level 2 next month. She loves doing gymnastics, however, I have noticed that she will say "aww man" and ask if she has to go when I tell her it's time to get ready for practice. But when we are at home she always wants to do gymanstics with me (we have a mini gym at our house). I have asked her if she wants to stop going to class but she keeps telling me she wants to continue at the gym and compete next season. It just seems like she has more fun when we are at home. Should I keep her on team or take her out and just do gymnastics at home? I don't want to be one of "those " parents and make her feel obligated to do gymnastics, but I also know how hard it is to get back into the sport once you have left. Any opinions from coaches or parents is greatly appreciated

 

[cbifoja]

I think it's probably just more of a "I'm having fun doing what I am doing right now and even though gymnastics is going to be fun too, I'm still a little bummed that I have to stop doing fun right now." I wouldn't sweat it.

 

[2gymkids]

I wouldn't sweat it too much. My daughter is same age/also on pre-team and earlier in the year we were having a little bit of this issue. It was the rush of getting home and having to get changed, grab a snack, and run back out the door that was tough, I think. I did have more of a "sit down" discussion with her at one point to let her know that if at any time she wants to stop gym, she can, but in the meantime there is no complaining about getting ready to go. I explained to her that I'm happy to pay for gymnastics and take her if it's something she wants to do but when she complains about getting changed to go it makes me feel like she doesn't want to do it (even though I know, in reality, it's likely that she just walked in the door from a long day at school and wants to relax for 5 minutes).
She was horrified that I would ever think she didn't want to do gymnastics, lol, because she's going to do it "for the rest of her life" and she really hasn't complained since. I think sitting her down and talking to her rather than dealing with it in the "heat of the moment" was helpful.

 

[wnl256]

Yeah this sounds like a "shifting gears" or "changing tasks" problem than an issue specifically with gymnastics. Our gymmie had Saturday morning practices for a few years and it was nearly impossible to get her there on time. She still wanted to be there...she just didn't want to be there "now".