AgingHippie
Proud Parent
- May 5, 2015
- 512
- 575
Let me start by saying we are pretty adamant about going to practice. DD has only missed for the one week summer vacation and the rare times she is sick. She has missed A LOT of birthday parties, sleepovers and family gatherings (including Christmas dinner when my Aunt had it one week early last year) for gymnastics and she very rarely complains about it.
We made an exception on practice this week (she goes 4 days) so she could attend a party. It really didn’t sit right with me but I talked to the coach beforehand and the coach was really good about it. Now DD has asked to miss another practice next week to attend a HUGE annual Fall event at her school. She asked dad while I was not around and he told her no right off the bat. He is the strict one when it comes to gym and working hard. He told me about it later and he said she was a little upset and reminded him it was her last year of elementary school and her last chance to attend this event with her friends.
Her first meet is in early December and DD says she is struggling with a lot of the L5 skills and feeling behind most kids on her team. The coach has told me this is not true but I watched the tail end of a few practices and I know DD is having trouble with her BWO and blocking on Vault. I have not really seen the other events. That being said DD is usually slower to get things in the beginning of the season but ends up doing really well by the last few meets and States.
I am playing devils advocate in my head as follows:
Is one more practice really going to kill her?
DD is not going to the Olympics.
What if the missed practice would be the one where things just click on Beam?
A lot of kids on her team miss one practice a week….What other kids do have not bearing on our family.
It’s crunch time.
It looks like practice is on Friday for the next 4 levels, am I setting a precedent if we miss a Friday whenever something social comes up?
What if she quits next year and I made her miss this for nothing?
Is this fair to the coach who is working so hard to get the girls ready?
Is it fair to my daughter?
She is 10 and should be able to figure out what is more important to her and it’s just one night.
As you can see I am making this harder than it needs to be. I could probably just text the coach about it and ask them if they think the night would make a difference but who wants to be put in that situation?
Anyway, I surely can’t be the only parent that has felt this way before and I am sure you coaches have had some experiences with this type of stuff.
Let me know your thoughts please.
We made an exception on practice this week (she goes 4 days) so she could attend a party. It really didn’t sit right with me but I talked to the coach beforehand and the coach was really good about it. Now DD has asked to miss another practice next week to attend a HUGE annual Fall event at her school. She asked dad while I was not around and he told her no right off the bat. He is the strict one when it comes to gym and working hard. He told me about it later and he said she was a little upset and reminded him it was her last year of elementary school and her last chance to attend this event with her friends.
Her first meet is in early December and DD says she is struggling with a lot of the L5 skills and feeling behind most kids on her team. The coach has told me this is not true but I watched the tail end of a few practices and I know DD is having trouble with her BWO and blocking on Vault. I have not really seen the other events. That being said DD is usually slower to get things in the beginning of the season but ends up doing really well by the last few meets and States.
I am playing devils advocate in my head as follows:
Is one more practice really going to kill her?
DD is not going to the Olympics.
What if the missed practice would be the one where things just click on Beam?
A lot of kids on her team miss one practice a week….What other kids do have not bearing on our family.
It’s crunch time.
It looks like practice is on Friday for the next 4 levels, am I setting a precedent if we miss a Friday whenever something social comes up?
What if she quits next year and I made her miss this for nothing?
Is this fair to the coach who is working so hard to get the girls ready?
Is it fair to my daughter?
She is 10 and should be able to figure out what is more important to her and it’s just one night.
As you can see I am making this harder than it needs to be. I could probably just text the coach about it and ask them if they think the night would make a difference but who wants to be put in that situation?
Anyway, I surely can’t be the only parent that has felt this way before and I am sure you coaches have had some experiences with this type of stuff.
Let me know your thoughts please.