Parents How would you handle with 5 yo?

[duyetanh]

Kindy teacher here...also mother of an only. Has to chime in. My only child was 5 going on 15. Mature wayyy beyond her years. My goal is for her to be a kid! Ugh.

As a k teacher of many years, I can attest to the fact that it just doesn't seem to matter if a child has 5 siblings or none, one parent or two....children develop focus when they are developmentally ready to do so...unless of course they truly do have ADHD or FAS/FAE, or live in extreme poverty, and then that is a whole different ball of wax.

 

[OzZee]

Two children both with older sibling/s doing gym - 1 I pulled out at 5 due to being distracted 1 was competing.
So don't think siblings has a major impact more personality.

 

[Committed]

Two children both with older sibling/s doing gym - 1 I pulled out at 5 due to being distracted 1 was competing.
So don't think siblings has a major impact more personality.

I agree.
Actually, I think that the oldest child is usually the most focused and takes more leadership positions than their siblings.

 

[OzZee]

I agree.
Actually, I think that the oldest child is usually the most focused and takes more leadership positions than their siblings.

Lol not sure about my eldest - she sure does know how to shop though.

 

[OzZee]

Two children both with older sibling/s doing gym - 1 I pulled out at 5 due to being distracted 1 was competing.
So don't think siblings has a major impact more personality.

And to add, the one pulled out at 5 did go back at 7 and do competitive gymnastics with lots of focus. She just wasn't ready at 5 to have that kind of focus.

 

[mylittlemiss]

Yes, conditioning at age 5 for gymnastics can be this intense. There's a chance they could be preparing her to compete starting at age 6, next season. If that's the case, they have one year to get her ready. That time will fly! They will want to build strength, flexibility, focus and then the skills. I'd definitely ask the gym what the plan is. That may help put it all into much better perspective for you. She may not want to even compete in a year, she might just want to learn skills and will be ready for it all at a later time. There's no big rush at age 5. Some kids just need more time. My dd was on pre team at barely 5 and competed at age 6. She's never minded the conditioning much at all. She thrives off of it most of the time! She's 10 now. Each year the conditioning gets more intense and focused as they move through the levels. It won't ever stop, just change. I've seen girls over the years decide they want to try rec program again or a rec team, with less conditioning/focus. It's all good! Just find where her heart/interest lies. Best wishes!!

 

[GymAuntie]

Thank you all for chiming in on the sibling thing. I admit that I've not spent time around kids so I don't really know the normal progressions. My niece is the only kid I've ever been around steadily. Before that I didn't even really have friends with kids because I never thought we had anything in common.

I do recall being quite focused and a perfectionist even at a young age (and I had 2 siblings and cousins all around before starting school), but I know for us growing up things were different. We didn't have ipads and video games to occupy our minds. We had to create our fun. I remember playing for hours with a Play Doh set. We molded the Play Doh and set it up as a bakery so our molds in our minds were cookies and we'd take turns coming to buy them. We certainly to my recollection didn't jump from one thing to another the way kids seem to today. I genuinely wondered if my niece not having siblings or cousins around hurt that, but I'm more inclined to believe now that it's Poppy influencing it. He travels so much for work that he kind of babies her when he's around. lol

 

[COz]

He might reinforce what kind of behaviour is acceptable etc, but it really still comes down to personality I think.
My kids get A LOT of screen time and I really do mean a lot, both of TV and electronic devices. I am fine with that. They are also perfectly happy if for some reason I limit their screen time and the play with play doh or spend all day with scissors paper and sticky tape making things that they invent.
But put my ultra focussed child in a suitable situation and she, like someone said, is 5 going on 15.
I was the same and I bet that you would have been too even if you'd been babied by your family and whether you had siblings or not.

Just like adults, kids can be quite different. It's more obvious in some ways as they are still developing, but it's fascinating watching as they become little people rather than babies and seeing which of their traits are "them" and will stick with them as they grow up even amongst all of their developmental stuff.

Some kids thrive on the discipline of conditioning. Some take longer before they tolerate it, some never do.
Some adults love it and some would laugh if you suggested they do it