Parents How old was your child when you knew you had a gymnast?

[Dr Maleficent]

I didn't know. Not a clue. And I am still totally astonished.

 

[kimmypie1]

Looking back on it, I should have known when she was under two. The girl would sleep in a sort of splits position in her crib.

She was always freakishly strong for being so skinny and when she would play soccer she would sort of bounce all over the field. And then when she couldn't cross a room without doing a cartwheel, I knew it was in her blood.

She started in rec one day a week at almost 7 and joined preteam 6 months ago (age 8) and now is L3.

 

[iagymmom]

Dd started walking at 8 months and would climb on everything. She started rec @3.5 and was put in preteam pretty quickly. She was also in soccer but she literally wouldn't stop doing cartwheels during her games. She said my brain tells me to do it. We stopped soccer and now she is 8 and a level 4. She still doesn't walk around without throwing in cartwheels, or walkovers. She lives and breathes gym. She even says when she is 100 and passes away she wants to be in a Leo so she can be in heaven doing gymnastics.

 

[mobeans]

She has always been very coordinated and had exceptional balance and musicality-great rhythm, etc. She also could pedal a bike early, climb quickly and had no fear of anything! She also was crazy flexible-at 3 she would flip her legs over her head in a move she called the spider. I think once I knew it was the real deal is when, at age 5, she broke her arm (in gymnastics) and I caught her doing a back walkover w a full arm cast at home :/. Once that cast came off she begged to go back and it's been full speed ahead since!

 

[htimcj]

At about 2 when she climbed on the end of the coach and said, "Look, Mom! I can fly!" and proceeded to jump off the end. I figured a padded environment was needed She's now twelve and competing L7 again.

 

[HoldThePhone]

I should have known at around 18 months when she would run and flip onto our coach, or climb up to the kitchen counters even though her hands couldn't even reach. But I didn't even consider it. We put her in a class right after she turned four, and then it was pretty evident.

 

[barcrawler]

18 months old, when she learned to jump and would not stop. But I had two older kids playing soccer and baseball. And that was enough activities for all of us.

I finally let DD pick an after school activity when she was 5..,and she chose soccer...then baseball...then soccer (wanted to be like big brothers I guess).

At 6, she finally decided to give gymnastics a try and has not looked back.

 

[BachFlyer]

At 3 she wanted to do the monkey bars by herself and was trying handstands. That (along with the fact that she had infinitely more grace at 3, than I've had in my entire life) got my attention. At 4, I put her in a rec class, but it seems really disorganized, so I put her in ballet for a year. After a year of looking very pretty, but being totally bored, she picked gym. At 13 she still lives and breathes it.

I have a picture of her at 2 after she dumped cornstarch all over the floor and was covered head to toe in white powder. Nothing has changed LOL

 

[blueredzone]

We took our daughter because my wife wanted our daughter to learn how to do a cartwheel. Didn't take her to long to get on pre team. Now she is competing. Crazy how things work out

 

[cbifoja]

This thread is making me all reminiscent! Found this picture from that mommy and me class so many years ago.

 

[munchkin3]

At delivery.....she was doing summer salts in my tummy!
And DS around 5 constantly was moving and dancing.....

 

[wgymmom]

My daughter was very active in utero so I felt like she would be a pretty active child. And she always has been. We did a Mommy and Me class because at the time, our family lived in a townhouse and she was very active. Plus it was about the only physical endeavor that accepted kids her age. We had fun but I had no idea that she would return to the gym with a vengeance one day.

We did a couple of sessions of that and then she got old enough to do soccer and then finally dance which turns out, I wanted more than she did. After her first dance lesson, the teacher came out and told us we had a gymnast, not a ballerina....sent us packing to a small gym in a neighboring town. I was heartbroken but when I did finally get over my grief and embarrassment, we took her to the gym.

After about two months, it was obvious. She was probably a young 5 about then. But she took to it like a duck to water and we've never looked back.

Hey, mine too! She moved so much, I discarded the "kick charts" after a few days.

She was a very active toddler. Signing her up for gymnastics was just because they took 3 year olds and I thought it would fit her personality better than dance. She advanced quickly, but unfortunately I waited too long to put her in a competitive gym.

 

[auswi]

Dd enjoyed lots of different sports and came to gym as a slightly older child BUT looking back the day I was called to kinder because she had climbed the child proof fort and was balancing and pointing her toes as she skipped along the ridge pole 6 metres above the ground while all the lovely adults talked sweetly to her and promised her really nice things if she would stop skipping and come down. ... I should have known LOL

 

[mom04010109]

When my 3 1/2 year old daughter shocked us at the park and did the monkey bars by herself and then wouldn't stop until her hands had blisters. She would would also climb up the counters, walls, bunk beds and just about everything. She is 5 now and on pre team, she can't get enough she would go everyday if I let her When home she is usually upside down and cartwheeling everywhere she goes.

 

[headoverheels]

I suspected for years but I knew for sure as soon as she started rec classes at age 6. I would call my husband from the gym and tell him that he really needed to see it because her body seemed to be made for this sport. She has so much natural flexibility and muscle control that she makes it look easy. Her former coach said she had "beautiful lines". And she is always working - practicing floor routine moves (minus the tumbling) and doing handstands at home. I admire her determination!

 

[jessmomto2]

My dd has always been a monkey climbing everything crawling and walking very early. We started mommy and me classes when she was two, and she has loved it for the two and a half years she has been doing it.

 

[momto8in10]

We always joked that DD was a little gymnast...at 2, she just had the build. Most of my kids are long and lean, but she is short and muscular. We called her "our little gymnast" from toddlerhood.
That said, we never put her in any classes or anything. When she was 6, a coach saw her at a bday party at the gym, and inquired about her, saying she was interested in her for team. A few weeks later, I put her in a Beg 1 class. 4 weeks later to Hot Shots, 4 months later to L3. She is 9 and an L6. Not bad for only 3 years in. She has never done any other sports, but has no real desire to. She loves where she is.

 

[Cakequeen]

We always joked that DD was a little gymnast...at 2, she just had the build. Most of my kids are long and lean, but she is short and muscular. We called her "our little gymnast" from toddlerhood.
That said, we never put her in any classes or anything. When she was 6, a coach saw her at a bday party at the gym, and inquired about her, saying she was interested in her for team. A few weeks later, I put her in a Beg 1 class. 4 weeks later to Hot Shots, 4 months later to L3. She is 9 and an L6. Not bad for only 3 years in. She has never done any other sports, but has no real desire to. She loves where she is.

Funny that you said that.. My youngest is 2 1/2 and after talking to coaches at ds small gym they are dying to have her but I can't get to the toddler classes so have to wait until she's 3...
She is also built like a power house... She can forward roll,, walk her legs up a wall to an almost handstand position, can hold on to a bar for 10 seconds easily and can pike and straddle and still touch her toes..
She copies her big brother and her big sister all the time...

 

[gymbeam]

i knew she very strong and coordinated as a young toddler, but for some reason gymnastics was never on our radar.
it wasn't until last year when she was 8 that i even realized there were gyms in our area for this. so after trying soccer, horseback, and different types of dance- we finally discovered gymnastics and, of course, i'm just kicking myself i didn't discover it sooner because she loves it and is really good!

 

[x98peterson]

When the school teacher came to me when she was five and said, "did you know your daughter is the only kid that can do the monkey bars all the way across?" I enrolled her and she has loved it since! Lots of upper body strength, she was first out of the level 3's to climb the rope without her feet.