Parents How do you feel about youtube?

[Canadian_gym_mom]

Someone brought up a good point that relates to us as well... here in Canada and specifically Ontario, the CPN or "pre-national" program is only done by very few gymnasts, and the requirements are purposefully kept hidden from the general public... so my dd and I love to sit together and search for girls in her level.

So when I put her routines on youtube, I made sure to label them with her level so if anyone is like me they can find them.

Again, not that my dd isn't the next huge Olympic champion... I just don't like to brag about it here...

 

[Gymmonkeymomma]

Youtube is great for looking up new skills when I have no clue what DD is talking about!

 

[MaryA]

Youtube is great for looking up new skills when I have no clue what DD is talking about!

Oh yes! I do this too! I frequently have no clue what DD is talking about!

 

[Flossyduck]

Me too. I can talk with confidence about skills that dd has already competed, because I've seen them and the pennies have all fallen into place! The eye rolling that goes on when I ask about a new skill! I tried to avoid my 8 year old's withering looks if possible...

 

[Mom2twingymnasts]

I love YouTube!! Love it for many reasons.

Like others I use it so I can pretend I understand what my kids are talking about when they come home excited about a new skill. I now get to respond with "That is awesome" and can go figure out what the skill is on YouTube. Occasionally I still have to suffer through the eye-rolling because I have to ask some questions so that I can find it on YouTube (e.g. What apparatus it is on?).

I also like to see what the next level up looks like. Helps me understand whats coming. I loved YouTube when my kids were starting TOPs and Future Stars - it helped me figure out a bit what it was all about.

I love watching gymnastics! I love the montages with the Olympians, former Olympians, the the amazing 7 year olds. Love it all!

I also like to post videos of my kids doing gymnastics, their school plays, talent shows... I use to not include their names just initials. I started adding their names because my kids teachers and friends wanted to see some video of them doing gymnastics. This allowed them to search for their name. I'm still not sure about including the names - so may be going back to initials.

My DD's coach told me that I should be creating seperate channels for my kids called: Recruiting - their name - their grad year. Seems a little premature for that - they are 11.

 

[Jenny]

I'd never post video's of my own child. Those who want to see meet videos etc can have the link to my Dropbox, or I'll burn a cd. It's too easy to identify country/meet/club/child.

having said that I do find it useful to see what levels and meets look like, especially here in the uk where it seems like a state secret! And to see the difference between "elite path" kids.

mostly though I like the amazing suzie videos . I also like to track them to see whether they do turn out to be amazing. As I said easy enough to work out names and then check mymeetscores or wherever. I actually saw a real life one compete recently, she wasn't as amazing in real life at 8 as her parents thought she was on YouTube at 5.

now I am searching youtube. I didn't know there were any british amazing suzies at 5! I thought they were all American!

 

[Pineapple_Lump]

There is that weird one (non US), who attempts to do a lot of artsy stuff with her daughter and from what I have seen it really looks like it is catering to a crowd you really wouldn't want watching your child.

 

[flippin out]

There is that weird one (non US), who attempts to do a lot of artsy stuff with her daughter and from what I have seen it really looks like it is catering to a crowd you really wouldn't want watching your child.

Funny, before even finishing the first sentence, I knew exactly which youtube channel you are referring to. There is always a soliloquy description to go with it too.

 

[SignHere]

I like the yellow unitard!

 

[JessLW]

Funny, before even finishing the first sentence, I knew exactly which youtube channel you are referring to. There is always a soliloquy description to go with it too.

Hah, same here. Know exactly which channel you're talking about. Let's put it this way -- if there had been YouTube in 1973, it is exactly the sort of thing I'd have expected to see.

 

[Jenny]

how could I forget about THAT one!

 

[cbifoja]

If one of you doesn't post or PM this link, I'll reach through the keyboard and throttle each and every one of you! I've GOT to see this!

 

[Flossyduck]

See I think this is now getting to the mean stage, because you've described this girl in easily enough detail for anyone who knows her to recognise. She's an elite track, level 2, gymnast - very talented (my dd is a big fan) and, as our UK gymnastics community is very small, any girl who gets to that level 'in age' has some national recognition in the sport. So not at all unlikely that parents, friends or coaches look at this board. As I've said, I would never do that and my dd wouldn't want me too, but she seems to be having fun and they I don't see anything wrong with what she's doing, other than it's a bit bohemian and you disagree with her dressing up style. I don't know her, but these comments made me feel uncomfortable.

 

[wallflower]

See I think this is now getting to the mean stage, because you've described this girl in easily enough detail for anyone who knows her to recognise. She's an elite track, level 2, gymnast - very talented (my dd is a big fan) and, as our UK gymnastics community is very small, any girl who gets to that level 'in age' has some national recognition in the sport. So not at all unlikely that parents, friends or coaches look at this board. As I've said, I would never do that and my dd wouldn't want me too, but she seems to be having fun and they I don't see anything wrong with what she's doing, other than it's a bit bohemian and you disagree with her dressing up style. I don't know her, but these comments made me feel uncomfortable.

I don't know who they are talking about, but there is a part of me that thinks if the parents are putting their child out there like that then she is fair game for discussions like these. That is exactly why I wouldn't put videos up the way some parents do. There will praise, attention, etc, but there will be criticism. You can't get the praise and attention without the criticism. So in my mind they are welcoming the positive and negative attention.

 

[Gymmonkeymomma]

See I think this is now getting to the mean stage, because you've described this girl in easily enough detail for anyone who knows her to recognise. She's an elite track, level 2, gymnast - very talented (my dd is a big fan) and, as our UK gymnastics community is very small, any girl who gets to that level 'in age' has some national recognition in the sport.

Well, if I didn't know who they were referring to before, you just made it a heck of alot easier to find her!!

 

[gymgal]

I don't know who they are talking about, but there is a part of me that thinks if the parents are putting their child out there like that then she is fair game for discussions like these. That is exactly why I wouldn't put videos up the way some parents do. There will praise, attention, etc, but there will be criticism. You can't get the praise and attention without the criticism. So in my mind they are welcoming the positive and negative attention.

are you saying that children should be held responsible for their parents' stupidity? because in the attempt to poke fun at the parents and the videos, the result has been some very callous comments toward the children.

 

[wallflower]

are you saying that children should be held responsible for their parents' stupidity? because in the attempt to poke fun at the parents and the videos, the result has been some very callous comments toward the children.

The parents should be responsible for their actions and how it impacts their children. As an adult I try to protect my child from this type of situation. Parents need to be aware that if they put their child out there they are inviting positive AND negative attention.

 

[GymGirl's Mom]

This is exactly what I am talking about- the child is now famous... or infamous- for better and for worse, and all the crap that comes with it. The risk of putting your kid on YouTube.

 

[JessLW]

Gentle ribbing in this thread aside, most of the comments on those super kids' YouTube pages are overwhelmingly positive, and the parents that I've seen are pretty quick to shut down anything truly nasty. The kids themselves don't have (I assume) unfettered access to YouTube and the parents should be savvy enough to realize that creating a large online presence for your child is going to attract comments and judgement of all kinds. Parents should be prepared for that, and if they're going to allow their kids to be on YouTube without supervision then they need to figure out a way to prepare their kids for it as well.

The problem is not the channel itself, or even the dumb comments that people make (which, sure, not nice, but par for the course. This is the internet!) but how the parent manages it.

I wonder if anyone here follows McKayla Maroney on Instagram? The comments that people leave for her there are absolutely sick and disgusting and it doesn't matter that she's a famous Olympian, if I were her parents I would have done something about it -- you don't have to have a public Instagram, even if all the other Fab 5 have one. It isn't that McKayla deserves to have those perverts making lewd comments at her, but she's 17 -- the adult in the situation needs to take control.

That's pretty much how I feel about YouTube. Make a public channel, fine, but make sure your kid is either mature enough to deal with the potential negativity, or restrict your child's access.

 

[SignHere]

Now, I apologize if I hurt anyone's feelings by mentioning the unitard.

I didn't mean to be mean about it...

It's just, so, visible, I cannot imagine my DD for one instant agreeing to put it on and be videotaped in it. And be put on you tube. So I wonder whose idea THAT was ?

Like in the hall of fame of bad ideas , yellow unitard should be prominently displayed.