Parents How far would you or do you travel for a high quality gym?

[raenndrops]

We travel 25-35 mins each way for gym... luckily, its only 3 nights a week... and I stay while my brother does running around in town.

 

[Iwannabemargo]

We have 2 gyms both 15 miles ( 30 mins) away, used to go to one, now go to the other. We could go to another 45 miles (just over an hour) away but a) they are full and b) I don't think she is a high enough level to warrant the trip, plus I have 2 other children to consider. We do 9 1/2 hours at the mo and they would require 15 hours - its just too much

 

[gymboymom]

We travel 25 minutes. It is our closest gym. That is my limit because my other kids (luckily older and can stay home while I drive) need me home while ds is at practice to bring them to their activities. If I didn't have other children and planned on staying (although this would get old for me real fast) I would do up to an hour.

 

[emorymom]

I drive 35 to 55 min each way. 35 is all fast crowded highway and fairly harrowing. I don't know if I could take much more.

 

[IreneKa]

My limit is half an hour for any extracurricular activities. But we are lucky to be living in the area with 5-6 good gyms withing half hour distance. If it weren't the case, and one of my kids showed a great potential in a sport, I guess we would have to make some adjustments.

 

[MaryA]

Our gym is about 30 minutes away, and we have a good carpool worked out too. I would travel further if both of my kids were in gymnastics, or if carpooling was assured. There are a growing number of kids at our gym who travel more than an hour to get there, so I will count myself lucky that we are relatively "close."

 

[Deleted member 14190]

Isn't it amazing how much we do as parents to make this gymnastics thing work!?! I never thought in a million years my child's sport could take up so much of my time and finances and it's only getting worse!

==
That is what one of my parents once said, but now her oldest is in cheer and...... It's way worse.

 

[wallinbl]

We switched from an 8 minute drive to a 25-30 minute drive (each way), and I'm not that thrilled about it. I probably wouldn't go any longer. The longer drive has certainly taken a lot out of my enthusiasm for DD's involvement in the sport (it's her sport, so my love of it isn't particularly relevant, but I'd love to have that time back).

 

[Flossyduck]

We travel an hour. There are a couple of gyms half an hour away, but they are not at the same level and I sort of feel that once you're in the car and driving the difference between half an hour and an hour isn't worth worrying about.

I try and hang on to the positives. We talk about school, we practice times tables, the kids eat their tea and read, it's a calm chill time, they're not watching tv... ok, yes it gets me down sometimes at the start of a new week!

 

[Sidnito]

My DD started out in a gym close to my work over the summertime. She went once per week, its about a 20 minute drive. After 1 month they invited her to join their level 2 team program. She was so excited but when school started we tried to make the practice times work with my work schedule. Long story short it was way too much traffic. We found a gym 10 minutes from home, she outgrew the gym within a year. We found her a gym with a Tops program 1 hour away, we loved the area and decided to move. Good thing because she is training 20 hours 5 days per week. I couldn't make it work where we were living. There would be no way to go home and come back. Now the gym is less than 10 minutes away. We love our new home and my son's swimming class is right up the street from her gym. Husbands work is much closer and my commute is not bad. So everyone is happy.

 

[l.c.o]

We used to travel nearly an hour and it lasted about 18 months. It just didn't work for our family (DH and I had/have the equivalent of full time jobs plus a younger child). It really took a toll on us. Now our drive is about a half an hour and we carpool (bonus is gym is such a better all-around fit, too). It's so, so much easier on our family.