Parents My kids!!

[Monkeygirlsmom]

I have 2 girls in Gymnastics my oldest who is 6 (almost 7) just does it fo rfun!!
my youngest who is 5(just turned) started before she was 2 since her big sis was in it! The coaches at that gym saw we needed an outlet for her since she was swingin on everything and already was able to do more than the 3 year olds they had there!! she is now 5 and has said for a year now that she wasnts to be an olympic! we will see!! she is till young now but I feel that She knows what she wants!! she has always been strong willed!!
anyhow I found thi sgroup hoping I could start learning ways to help her have fun but still attain her goal!! and make sure She does it all for herself not us parents!! (tho I admit I love to see my children suceed)
Like I said we are not at competition levels yet but my youngest who is in PReK has been with 1-3rd graders for a year now!! She keeps up with them so I do feel she has a chance and I would liek to let her do well if that is what she wants!!

 

[JBS]

Welcome to The Chalk Bucket.

My advice would be to keep up the positives. As in any sport, there are good times and bad times. Help them with both. Don't ever let them give up....however....if month after month, it's just not fun anymore....it's OK to do something new. Gymnastics is a foundation sport. The motto of USA Gymnastics is "Begin Here, Go Anywhere..." Your daughters will be better at any sport they try because they were first in gymnastics.

Many parents are scared to ask, but it is very important to ask your children, "Do you like going to gymnastics?" and "Do you have fun at gymnastics?".

You could start off as a gym mom and end up a soccer mom. The point is, just being a MOM is something to be proud of.

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

Whenever parents come to me for advice (which I wish they would do more often), here's what I tell them:

1 -- when your kids make you proud, TELL THEM!

2 -- when your kids do not make you proud, LIE TO THEM!

I say that partially for comic effect, but partially serious: my opinion is that the most important thing for the parent of a gymnast to do is to be unconditionally positive regarding their abilities and accomplishments as a gymnast.

Seems obvious, I know, but I also know a lot of kids whose biggest problem is their parents.

 

[Megley]

Hi and welcome! I have two children in gymnastics too and they both seem to really enjoy it. My son is 8 and in preteam and has recently caught the "bug." He cannot stop doing cartwheels all over the house. My daughter is close in age to yours (5 and in preschool) and is on preteam also. Gymnastics has been great for them - physically and mentally. Not enough can be said for learning to work hard on something to acheive your goal. I hope your daughter gets to the Olympics!

 

[gracefulone]

It's funny you mentioned using gymn as an outlet. For me, it's carried into cheerleading, and I want to start taking ballroom dance lessons and competing in that some day.I told my mom that if i was ever famous, I wanted to be on Dancing with the Stars. She said, I think you could end up as a professional partner. I also do track-i have a great long jump from all that vaulting, and I've known many who went from gymnast to diver. ( My standing long jump is 7'1" and I'm only 5'4".)

 

[Monkeygirlsmom]

Thank you for your great replys!! I look forward to
learning more to help my daughter acheve her goals if thats what she still wants as she gets older!!

 

[littlegymchampsmom]

little gymnast here too

hi all, I am new to this board. i was thrilled to see a place like this to go to. I have 3 that got bit by that same gymnastic bug. My older boys (14 & 12) do T&T completely for fun and I have a 5 year old daughter that started on a pre-team a couple of months ago. I have noticed the more they learn the more they want to go back to the gym... my daughter still thinks that gym time is completely play time. It is sometimes difficult to remember watching how serious they can be about getting a new skill, but they are still babies . To make sure it stays fun for her I leave the coaching to the coaches and just beam at her and tell her how great she is whenever she shows me her latest achievement + we try to color and play games at home on her off days. It is hard to get them not too tumble all of the time I know, but at least it distracts them for a while and is always great fun. Thanks to all that post here, you all have really given a lot of great information...

 

[Megley]

Hi and welcome! It seems that several of us have 5 year olds in preteam programs. It would be cool to stay in touch and compare notes on how things are going for each of our dds. My dd will continue in preteam until June when she'll move to Level 4 and her hours will go up to 12 a week (right now we are at six hours). I know it is all going to get much more serious very soon so I'm trying to keep it as fun as possible for the next few months.

Meg

 

[littlegymchampsmom]

gymnasts, gymnasts everywhere

Thanks lol, there are a bunch of these little young hotshots running around. Our pre-team has 3, including my angel, all very talented... I have heard of so many all over the country - lots of talent, gymnastics is so popular, but over time some will go in diff directions I imagine. I think its wonderful and it says a great deal about the future... I figure if these girls can leap, jump, turn, jump backwards on a skinny beam almost as tall as they are, they can do absolutley anything in life and the boys too, so incredibly strong! I have a lot of admiration and respect for gymnasts of all sizes. I am very new to this world and simply amazed by how hard these kids work.

 

[littlegymchampsmom]

schedule

Our gym does not compete until level 5 so we have a ways to go before team, for now our pre-team practices 4 days a week for 2 hours each day. The program is very new to our area so we only have about 13 girls, no boys gymnastics team just yet. The ages range from 5 to 12 years old. I think the coaches are absolutley wonderful, they manage to keep it fun. The girls don't even realize how hard they work....

 

[Monkeygirlsmom]

our gym doesnt really have a preteam level!! tho she is in a class with older kids (she is soo tiny compared to the other kids its funny!!) she only goes 1 hour a week!!

should I be having her go more than that?? she does have an hour of dance as well!! my problem is we just dont have much money for too much!!!

 

[gym law mom]

To me it comes down to how much she likes it and how much you can afford. Our gym doesn't have pre-team as a specific level. It is designed for girls who are about 6 and older that have been selected by their rec coaches or were in some advanced classes that fed directly into the pre-team program. They all have to have certain skills---back hip circle on bars, back handspring(with spot is ok), good flexibility and strength. I know there are some other requirements, but forget them now. Since we don't have a Level 4 team, girls are expected to complete the 3 levels of pre-team in 1.5 to 2.5 yrs.

I knew nothing about it until the Level 5/6 coach approached me and asked about adding my daughter to the class. The 1st level is 1.5 hrs, 2 days/week. You might want to ask if your gym has anything like this as I found out it wasn't really advertised at our gym.

At age 5, if you can afford it, why not see if she can do an extra hour class? That will give you some indication as to how much she enjoys it without putting too much extra $ into it too soon.

 

[littlegymchampsmom]

Gymnastics is definitely an expensive sport... we struggled with this as well. I was not financially ready for more time in the gym either... My daughter was at a gym that only offered rec classes and did one hour a week and then an occasional open gym at a local club. She had been asked to join their pre-team a few months back but at the time it seemed like too much ($ and time) When she started to get more daring at home I was afraid she would end up hurting herself so we opted for more gym time and joined, and just take it one week at a time.. I was worried (at that time they trained 6 hours a week, now its 8) that it would be too much to go from 1 hour so much more. That was 2 months ago… so far so good, she is having a blast... It is a stretch but is worth it. But honestly, I was really afraid she was going to hurt herself at home, she was constantly flipping backward (doing back "head" springs - ouch) I wanted to wait until she was a little older before we broke the piggy bank, but it just got here a little sooner for safety reasons. As far as waiting though.... there is a girl on Team in our gym that did not began club gymnastics until she was 9 years old and was elite by 14. She is phenomenal... I think the love of gymnastics is what really pushes these girls so your little one has plenty of time to make her dreams real good luck

 

[Megley]

I agree with Gym Law Mom, why not see if there is another hour a week she can attend. That should not be too much more expensive, but at the same time you will get to see whether she really enjoys it and, if she does, she will get to have that much more fun. The hours ratcheted up on us very quickly. My daughter started only about a year ago and has quickly advanced through the beginner classes to developmental and now to preteam and shortly to Level 4. In about a year, our hours have climbed from 1 a week to 6 a week and soon will go to 12. Add to that my son's gymnastics - currently at 3 hours a week and soon to go up to 6 hours - and we going to be paying what amounts to a car payment every month in gymnastics fees. Then add on team costs for both kids . . . ugh! At the same time, we are thrilled with the strength and flexibility both kids have gained and they are having so much fun with it. Gymnastics is definitely hard on the wallet, though.

 

[littlegymchampsmom]

I am not sure how our prices compare to other rec or club gym's but it was actually pretty close to the same price for us to add one hour a week as it was to go ahead and do the pre-team route...