Parents hey patient parents

[Jroberson]

I was just wondering if any of you parents get impatient waiting on progress or growth or competitions or whatever? I have learned that gymnastics can be a waiting game. How about you all? Joscelyn spends alot of time perfecting learned skills at gym class, while I'm ready for her to move on and "wow" me again but I geuss the coach knows best. I don't mind as long as she is having fun! But I really really look forward to competitive gymnastics, competition is something I have always loved, but I thought I would be cheering for soft ball or baseball teams. The more conventional sports is what I was expecting, but gymnastics will do just fine when the day comes!

 

[bogwoppit]

Now I am ten years down the road I can safely say that I have seen my oldest do 10,000,000 kips all in the name of getting it right. Well she has then right, but she still is doing them.

Gymnastics is ALL about repetition. Watching the regular training can be very boring and very tedious to the untrained eye. A coach is looking for perfection, and only when that is acheived will a gymnast move on. Some skills will be practised every day of a gymnasts life, even if they seem so basic that they cannot possibly be necessary any longer.

Patience is the key and letting go is huge. I don't even watch anymore, I love going to meets and seeing the progress that they have made. But going back to preschool days, it was lovely to watch, but sometimes it was like watching paint dry!

As you say her having fun is the key, my kids have loved their gym careers. Now I can see my 13 year olds is drawing to a close. Her heart is not in it as much as it once was. Desire to learn is essential, and allowing them to OWN their sport is aqually huge.

It is lovely to read about your begining steps on the road and the fact that you are embracing all that it brings, even when it seems odd or unfamiliar. You will do great as a gym Dad.

 

[Gymdad2]

Bog you are so right about 'watching paint dry', and that just re-inforces my signature line. I haven't watched a practice for years - actually, since dd got her driver's liscense I have only been to the gym a couple of times in the past year. Also, have you ever thought about how much time your dd actually spends competing? Bars, beam, floor and vault add up to, at most, 5 minutes in times maybe 10 meets in a year. That's less than 1 hour of actually competition for the season - same as 1 football game. Add in $6,000 and 1000 hours practice for that hour and it makes you wonder why we (and our dds) love this sport so much.

 

[gymjoy]

LOL Gymdad2

I don't know if I am patient, or if I have just been worn down by this sport

Over time you learn that real progress is slow. Days, weeks, months go by then Bang!! they make those new skills they have been working on. Then more days, weeks, months go by as the tweak and perfect those skills for competition. It goes on, and on, and on in an endless cycle. Finally you get to a competition and you miss that skill because you sneezed or the person in front of you stood up at the wrong moment to go use the bathroom. Or you close your eyes during beam because you just can not watch that new combination your dd has struggled with for the past 6 months. You watch the video after she's done because her score was good. Then you watch it over and over and over again thinking - wow! that's my kid.

I think real patience is needed for Little League!! Especially if your son is the relief pitcher

 

[emorymom]

My younger child was very precocious sort of like your daughter. But now that he's 5 he's not out there in new territory all the time. Gym practice is about as fun to watch as swim team practice these days. At least at the pool if I decide I want to be all psycho I can go buy myself a stopwatch.

 

[UnoMas]

I had to laugh at a lot of these posts... I love the one about sneezing and missing the beam routine and not being able to watch the event but watching the video later!!

Gymnastics is indeed a lot of waiting. Right now we are waiting for our younger DD to have her next meet so that she can hopefully score high enough to move to the L4 team. Then we wait again, many months so that she can compete as a L4 next season. We are also waiting on older DD (L5) to get her kip. Let me tell you, watching a few hours of practice where a child is attempting a kip and falling in the exact same way for hours requires a LOT of patience. It makes me want to scream!

And yes, it is all over so very quickly when they do go to those meets and compete. And all it takes is a tiny mistake to fall off the beam or bars or whatever and then your score is all thrown off and they get upset and then you wait again for the next meet...

Ahhhh...such a fun thing we have all signed up for!

But..........I wouldn't change a thing. Gym is what my girls love and I love it, too. I love watching them (even the kip thing) more than just about anything else. I love seeing them love what they do...even if what they do sometimes seems to move slower than paint drying!

Enjoy the ride...even if it is a slow-moving one at times! Your DD is precious...I looked at the trampoline videos...she is so tiny and has so much potential! My youngest DD who will be 4 in July is about the same size. I need to get some video up of her sometime...but she's so fast it's hard to catch her!

 

[Pickle's Mom]

It can be tedious, especially if you are in a gym that does TOPS.

I remember when Pickle moved from the preschool program. About half the girls we knew went to league and the rest (including Pickle) went to a development program. While the league girls were all learning skills, or girls were focused on conditioning and form. I remember thinking “great, she can do 10 consecutive leg lifts, but when is she going to learn to tumble?â€￾

But then there are the moments when it all comes together. A couple of weeks ago, Pickle did her first straddle cast handstand. She hit it the very first day she tried the trick (I think it was her third attempt that day). Of course, she didn’t just go out there and do it. There were months and months before where they did drills for balance, strength, and timing.

There are many, many girls who have the physical aptitude to become successful gymnasts. But only a small portion of those girls (and their parents who actually drive to practice and pay the bills) have the perseverance to stick with the months of training to gain a single skill.

 

[Panda-girl's Mom]

You get used to it but watching practice is just frustrating I think it is better to just watch the meets then you can actually enjoy the progress.

 

[Shelovesthebars]

I just had to laugh at the paint drying analogy. Gymnastics is always going to be repeating skills over and over and over. There will be times that she will wow you but mostly it will be about skill repetition. I don't think I am patient with it either. I just don't have time to really really focus on it because I have 5 kids and they all need me. My 4 year old is on the level 3/4 team and I want to leave practice so I can get errands done but I am just a little torn because she is 4 and I am still trying to figure out if that is going to be doable with her being so young. But I am tired of watching the paint dry but ok with it.
I am typing this and realizing that I would expect my 4 year old to be complaining about the repition of the skills with her personality. I have not heard her complain once about the need to perfect skills so if she isn't complaining then that is what counts.
BTW, your daugter is adorable!

 

[taximom]

My younger child was very precocious sort of like your daughter. But now that he's 5 he's not out there in new territory all the time. Gym practice is about as fun to watch as swim team practice these days. At least at the pool if I decide I want to be all psycho I can go buy myself a stopwatch.

Our lives must be very similar! I have 2 gymmies and 2 swimmers. If I ever see a swim mom with a stopwatch at practice I'm running the other way LOL