Parents Mean Girls and Move-Ups

[Bella's Mom]

I also confided in my daughter's coach. She asked me if I wanted to set up a meeting with the gymnast and her parents or if I would rather let her handle it as a coach of a team. Because the parents have a reputation for being......difficult..... I opted for the coach/team approach. I figure that bringing the parents into it ups the ante and just injects more strife. Given that my daughter will be on the same team with this girl, I figured it would be better to keep the peace and let the coach handle it.

I have a hard time with people who are raising Precious Pollys. They had their daughter late in life and she is their only child. So yes, she is quite a present to humanity. Very over-protected and always coddled, allowed to speak very disrespectfully to her parents. They are convinced that she is about to hit her gymnastics stride and finally begin meeting their expectations. If the little girl hadn't played a part in hurting my daughter's feelings, I would feel sorry for her. But by age 9, I expect a kid to know some basic social skills.

 

[kimskids]

So sad! My daughter is 9 and will be moving up a level higher than her teammates and she is happy in one way but also so sad to be leaving the girls she has practiced with for the past year. She loves her teammates so much!! Hope the coach handles this and puts a stop to such nonsense!

 

[mpkbt]

Okay, I am going to take an unpopular stand here. You said that you can't imagine telling your friend( this girl's mom) what her child is doing/saying. I am in 100% agreement that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, but it sounds like this behavior is not typical of this kid. If this was typical, I doubt you would be on speaking terms with the Mom and consider her a friend. Is it possible that your dd, in the midst of regular teen age hormones, has misunderstood the situation? My advice if it were my level 9/10 daughter would be to have her talk to her friend one on one. It sounds like they have been friends for awhile and it is worth the shot that this is a one time misunderstanding. In my experience, most of the mean kids have been pushed out of the sport by level 9/10 or the other girls are aware of the situation and the mean kid is not well liked. Just another view for you.

 

[cathiann]

Okay, I am going to take an unpopular stand here. You said that you can't imagine telling your friend( this girl's mom) what her child is doing/saying. I am in 100% agreement that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, but it sounds like this behavior is not typical of this kid. If this was typical, I doubt you would be on speaking terms with the Mom and consider her a friend. Is it possible that your dd, in the midst of regular teen age hormones, has misunderstood the situation? My advice if it were my level 9/10 daughter would be to have her talk to her friend one on one. It sounds like they have been friends for awhile and it is worth the shot that this is a one time misunderstanding. In my experience, most of the mean kids have been pushed out of the sport by level 9/10 or the other girls are aware of the situation and the mean kid is not well liked. Just another view for you.

Thanks --I didn't just ask for popular responses. I'm open minded enough to listen to all responses without pouting and leaving if I don't like that answer ;-). And, yes, Beth might be misunderstanding the situation. One of her teammates is actually asking the girl for her if Beth can be invited too. Beth didn't feel comfortable talking to her herself, but her other friend wanted to intervene for her.

 

[lhmom]

Thanks --I didn't just ask for popular responses. I'm open minded enough to listen to all responses without pouting and leaving if I don't like that answer ;-). And, yes, Beth might be misunderstanding the situation. One of her teammates is actually asking the girl for her if Beth can be invited too. Beth didn't feel comfortable talking to her herself, but her other friend wanted to intervene for her.

Well, it would be good if they could work it out among themselves. Sometimes, it's just girls being a little snotty to each other, right? Around the time of level changes, there were a couple of older girls at DD's who mentioned starting a "club" and excluding my DD and the other 2 1st yrs. because they weren't moving up. I asked my daughter how she felt about it and she just shrugged her shoulders. She and the other 2 ended up ignoring the girls and soon enough, things went back to normal. Hope that she works things out with her teammates!!