Parents How many hours for 5 year old

[Anthurium]

How do you determine how much is too much? My daughter has been in a 1.5hr twice a week class for a few weeks and has now been invited to move up to class that meets for 3hrs twice a week. Does anyone else have a child this age doing 3hr practices? I’d like to hear how they handle it!! Thanks!

 

[MuggleMom]

My child started going to 3 hour practices at 6 but there were 5 year olds in that class. I would say it depends on the child.

 

[duyetanh]

i would say it depends on the intensity of the program and the maturity of your child.

 

[Madden3]

I agree it depends on the child and program, and also it matters if sleep is disrupted. My 6 year old in in Acro practices that much. She handles it well, the biggest problem is it means 2 late nights before school days. Luckily her school day starts pretty late so she can sleep later. If she had to get up early it would be a problem.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Mine did 5 hrs she was 6.

 

[Akl597]

When my daughter was 5 she went 9 hours per week then went to 12 hours per week when she moved to training team. She was fine with it and in fact begged me to let her go to “turbo” practices, which are additional hours. I agree that it depends on the kid. I don’t think my older daughter could have done those hours at that age.

 

[skschlag]

At 5, I think my son was doing 3-4 hours a week. To me, that seems reasonable. I think 6 would be ok, especially if she is on the older end of 5, and can handle it. You will know know until you try it. I would watch closely. At 6yo, my son was doing 4-5 hours. It is important to just keep an eye on her, and see how she is doing. There isn't too much need to be doing too many hours at this age. she should love it, and should want to do more.

Good luck! It is always tough to make these decisions. And hard to think down the road to the cumulative effect over time. Hope it goes well!!

 

[scgymmom322]

My younger daughter did 9 hours/week at age 5 (3 hours 3x a week). She had a one hour TOPS practice followed by a 2 hour team practice. She is now 7 and does 16 hours/week (4 hours 4x a week). Her TOPS practices are now built into her regular team practice.

 

[Anthurium]

Thanks for the input everyone. The hours are for like a pre-preteam kind of program. I think I’m going to have her try it for a few weeks and see how it goes. She is never tired after her current class so we’ll see how doubling it works out lol. I wish it wasn’t so long but I’m glad it’s only two days a week. She’s only in preschool twice a week so she’ll be able to sleep in if it does wear her out at the beginning.

 

[CuriousCate]

Both of mine did 6.5 hours at age 5, but it was divided among three days. I am not sure that they could have kept their focus for 3 straight hours at that age.

 

[Peachy88]

Mine did 6 hours at 5.5 but is up to 9.5 at 6.5. It’s hard on her sometimes but she loves it.

 

[FlippinPrincess]

My dd did 5 hours at age 5.

 

[FlippinPrincess]

My dd did 5 hours at age 5.

Just to clarify, that was 2.5 hours, 2x week (not 5 hour practices!)

 

[SMH]

At age 5 mine did 5 hours (2 2.5 hour practices) I’d say 2.5 hours at a time was the outer limits of what was reasonable for her- I don’t think she could have focused for much longer.

She’s 9 now and does 9 hours (3 3 hr days) and could do more.

 

[Maxcat83]

My daughter was 5 when she was asked to be on team. She went from 2 hours a week rec to 4 hours to now 6 to 7 and she is now 6. She was tired and sore at first but now she comes home and wants to work out more. Her practices are 3 hrs at a time.

 

[Anthurium]

Thought I’d give a little update.. She did the 3hrs the other day and had a lot of fun and even made a friend. She was obviously really tired once we got home and went right to bed lol. Since the first class went well I’m going to have her stick with it for a month and reevaluate then. Hoping she’s in this group till she’s 6 I honestly thought we had a WHILE before we went to 6hrs a week but I guess reading here that was wishful thinking!!

 

[Anthurium]

Thought I’d update, she was recently invited to a 9hr a wk group and I don’t know if I’m going to move her up. 9 hours seems like a lot, but so did 6. Got to love gymnastics

 

[gymisforeveryone]

I think you should stick with 2 x 3 hours for at least until she's 6. 5 year olds can definitely "get the work done" in 6 hours a week. She's obviously very talented and the gym is very interested in her, but don't let the stars in their eyes take away your DD's childhood- There's plenty of time in the future to spend all of her free time in the gym. 3 hours is a long practice for a 5 year old. We prefer 1,5 or 2 hour practices for that age group. But this is just my opinion

I would also like to add... Try to make sure that the coaches are teaching her age appropriate skills and teaching her in age appropriate ways. There should be fun and games etc... And they should not be spending a lot of time doing bridging skills (like walkovers, tic tocs, back bends, limbers) at that age when the spine just can't take it yet. This might sound overly protective, but I keep seeing 4, 5 and 6 year old kids on Instagram videos doing all this bridge stuff days in and days out in the gym and I wonder how long their little bodies will last in that kind of training.

 

[mobeans]

My daughter was a 5 yo Kindergartener and attended her Hot Shot class for one hour twice a week. She would have loved more time but was also in dance and swimming and had afternoon K to attend. While I do think kids can usually handle more hours than we think they can (and then that becomes the new normal), 6 hours a week for a 5 yo does seem like a lot to me. Does your child have other activities and/or school? I suggest trying it out and if she seems overwhelmed or does not enjoy it move her back.