WAG New and would like advice for 5 year old daughter

[mouey77]

Hi everyone!
My 5 y.o. daughter who is very active developed a love of gymnastics about a year ago. We are at the gym my younger sister competed at. It is a smaller, fairly laid back gym. We are actually pretty attached to her two coaches (very sweet girls). They have both indicated that my daughter is talented. She is a good tumbler (can do pretty decent backhandsprings), and seems pretty good on bars as well. Here is the dilemma: the gym is very adamant that they will not move her up until she is 6 years old (to a level 2 pre team), so she is in a preschool class with 3-5 year olds who are basically learning front rolls and back rolls. For the past 6 months, she acts silly, goofs off, etc. so she can get extra attention from her coach, and I am pretty sure it is because she is bored. She is leaps and bounds better than the other kids but also older by about a year too. So, we are frustrated that it doesn't seem like there is some place we could move her in the interim until she can get on this preteam. Also, I feel like it is a waste of my money to pay for this class when she has sort of plateaued out with this group. So here is what I am considering: private lessons until she turns 6, a floor tumbling class at the cheerleading place across the street in addition to gymnastics, or moving her to a new gym. There is another gym in town, but they are extremely high power competitive and have a homeschool program. I scheduled an "evaluation" for her there, but I am wondering if this was a bad idea. Anyways, if anyone could give me some direction, that would be great! I really want to encourage her, but we worry she is starting to lose interest in this preschool group. Thank you!!

 

[sglemon]

Honestly, I think the other evaluation, will give you a better indication on what direction to move in. It is not uncommon for gyms to promote just once a year. You can choose to be happy with it at the current gym or look for a more progressive program. The goofing around, will not help you dds cause at the current gym, her perceived immaturity, can hold her back. You need to put you foot down on that one.

 

[krisnkids]

I personally would not recommend going to a cheerleading place to work on floor tumbling. From my experience the cheerleading is more worried about attaining the skill than how it looks. I can't afford privates so that's not an option, and I feel that the girls have so much more fun when they are a part of a group. I would have a serious sit down with the owner and disucss options, if the owner did not agree then i would be looking for a different gym.

 

[sglemon]

I personally would not recommend going to a cheerleading place to work on floor tumbling. From my experience the cheerleading is more worried about attaining the skill than how it looks. I can't afford privates so that's not an option, and I feel that the girls have so much more fun when they are a part of a group. I would have a serious sit down with the owner and disucss options, if the owner did not agree then i would be looking for a different gym.

One other difference with cheerleading, they finish their BHS, with their arms down, gymnasts with their arms up. It could be a difficult habit to break, if she was to learn it wrong.

 

[gymmommy123]

I would probably tend to just do privates until she's 6. Some of the cheerleading tumbling I've seen can be really sloppy, so not sure that is the best route when learning those basics are so important. And if you're not wanting to jump QUITE yet, to the super competitive gym, the privates would really help your daughter while waiting to move up. We did them 1x a month, even on preteam, as I didn't feel she was getting quite enough out of just the group classes. My dd loved them, and it really helped her with her form, and learning a new skill every now and then. Speaking from experience, we just moved my DD, who turned 6 last month, up to team, and to a really competitive gym, and although they gave her a couple weeks to adjust with 3 hr practices, starting next week, she'll be moving to 4 hr practices, 3x a week. She's fine with it, since she was on preteam for 1 1/2 yrs, and is pretty strong, but it would be a big jump if your dd was only at a preschool class length with no conditioning. You can also try sort of mentioning that you are looking around to move her to a hot shots/preteam level group, and maybe they'll reconsider their policy. Age 6 seems REALLY late to just START in the developmental classes, especially since they can start competing at 6 y/o. Every gym is different though, they all have paths they find are most successful...

 

[Quadqueen]

I would probably tend to just do privates until she's 6. Some of the cheerleading tumbling I've seen can be really sloppy, so not sure that is the best route when learning those basics are so important. And if you're not wanting to jump QUITE yet, to the super competitive gym, the privates would really help your daughter while waiting to move up. We did them 1x a month, even on preteam, as I didn't feel she was getting quite enough out of just the group classes. My dd loved them, and it really helped her with her form, and learning a new skill every now and then. Speaking from experience, we just moved my DD, who turned 6 last month, up to team, and to a really competitive gym, and although they gave her a couple weeks to adjust with 3 hr practices, starting next week, she'll be moving to 4 hr practices, 3x a week. She's fine with it, since she was on preteam for 1 1/2 yrs, and is pretty strong, but it would be a big jump if your dd was only at a preschool class length with no conditioning. You can also try sort of mentioning that you are looking around to move her to a hot shots/preteam level group, and maybe they'll reconsider their policy. Age 6 seems REALLY late to just START in the developmental classes, especially since they can start competing at 6 y/o. Every gym is different though, they all have paths they find are most successful...

Going to disagree with you there....there are plenty of kids who start at age 6 and later and do just fine Comments like this often put parents of preschoolers in a panic mode, as if they need to get them in 4 hour practices NOW, and that's just not the case.

 

[gymgal]

I agree with Chris in staying away from the cheer place. If you have the money, a private lesson would work and would show the coaches that she can behave when she is properly challenged - something they are not seeing now. If you really like the other aspects of the gym, then stay. She will be 6 before you know it and it will no longer be an issue. I would also stress to your dd that goofing around is not acceptable. She is there to do the best she can. She may have the skills but she can always improve on them. Maybe talk with the coach about having more appropriate goals within the curriculum for her (focus on pointing your toes in the cartwheel, holding handstand for __ seconds).

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[MaryA]

A year is a short time to wait in the grand scheme of things if you are really happy with the gym otherwise. I assume that the coaches are aware of your frustration? Are they also aware that you are considering a different gym because of it? They may be saying "not till she's 6" because she is acting silly and goofing off, and think she may need to mature before she's ready for pre-team (and they may be right). Maybe they would allow her a "trial run"?

As for the other gym, there's certainly no harm in going for the evaluation. I would just say to think about it carefully. If they are very excited about your daughter's potential, it may be hard for you not to get caught up in their excitement and end up signing on for a bigger committment than you really want at this point. After all, she's only 5 and this should be fun.

Good luck, and let us know what you end up doing!

 

[wallflower]

If she is 5 and learned a back handspring she must be in a pretty decent class that is somewhat challenging her. There is a lot of stuff between a backward roll and a backhandspring so if she learned that skill I'd say they are preparing her to move on.

 

[cbone]

Moving onto preteam at 6 doesn't seem like a bad policy, but what happens once she's there? Will she be evaluated and moved up? It sounds like she's clearly new Level 3. It would be a shame to be working a level below where her skills are.

 

[mouey77]

She taught herself the back handspring on her own, so I don't think it had anything to do with the gymnastics class per se. She did a one week cheer day camp for fun and saw older girls doing them, started on our trampoline, started piling pillows up on the floor and doing it on the floor, and is now doing it on the floor. It makes me extremely nervous, and I have asked her to stop. When she gets tired, her arms are not straight, and she almost lands on her head. We did meet her coach before class for 30 minutes last week to work on back handsprings, and she did beautifully one on one. She spent hours on the trampoline teaching herself the back handspring, so I think the determination is definitely there. I guess it's just hard for her to be super motivated in a group of young kids. My gut says that she would behave herself and work much harder if she had peers who were better than her if that makes sense. I don't feel like they are holding her back due to maturity because I feel like they would tell me if that were the case. I talked to the gym owner, and he said the coaches typically decide about moving girls up. Her coach told me that she is very talented but they have never moved a child up before age 6. I am just puzzled since I am seeing numerous reports on here and on youtube of younger kids moved up before age 6.

This is a HUGE help to hear this about the cheerleading because I have noticed from my oldest daughter's group of friends who cheer that there is a big emphasis on just throwing tricks instead of technique, so I wondered about that. In fact, I am trying hard to keep my 5 year old into gymnastics rather than cheer because there is a big push among the kids to do cheerleading around here.

Part of my fear is that we are also talking about a 5 year old, and I do not want to be an overly pushy mom and have her burn out early. I am worried if I talk to the gym owner again, he might think I am one of "those moms." When we spoke the other time, I put it in terms of safety--that she is attempting to do tricks that she really needs to learn properly.

Thanks for this feedback!

 

[nameless]

i'm a mom to a talented 5 year old as well.. she competed last year nonsanction L3 when she was 4 and is now in her 2nd season of L3 doing sanctioned meets. she turns 6 before summer so i am assuming she will be L4 (new 3) next year. i know you aren't supposed to rush things, but if i were you i'd be frustrated. there are no inbetween gyms in your area? boys and girls clubs or YMCAs? my lil one practices with older girls at the boys club.. the coach is cool and does not coach her, just lets her work her skills on the rotation.. my dd loves it.. not sure if 5 year plds would have fun doing privates.

 

[Gymmommy71]

My advice to parents of talented young gymnasts (like the type that can do a BHS at 5) is always make sure they are somewhere that is working all 4 events (especially bars) at a pace that will lead to a *balanced* proficiency of the current L5 skills as quickly as possible *for the individual gymnast*. I.e. you don't want them getting all amazing on one or two events w/o being just as good on the others or they will will get bored/but at the same time struggle later (I learned this the hard way w/ my DD).

I also say do not worry about competing until the current L5 either (as time competing lower levels takes away from learning the L5 stuff ) - but I'm sure there are a lot of people who disagree w/ me on this one.

What types of skills is she working on bars at her current gym? What about beam and vault?

 

[nameless]

yay, my 5 y.o. best event is bars!! hear thats the hardest one.. her gym definately uptrains.. working on her shoot through/mill circle and front hip in bars.. she basically has everything else in all events to move up when it's time.. or stay the same level instead of dropping back a level next year..

 

[mouey77]

See, that's the other issue. She is amazing on floor, but not as strong on the other events because frankly they don't do that much with them on the other events. She can do a pullover and back hip circle by herself. I think I know what a mill is, and I have never seen them do that. Definitely no front hip circles. A friend gave us a balance beam last weekend that her daughter is no longer using, and she spent most of the day Sunday doing hops and turns (no idea of names for this stuff) and rolls and cartwheels. This is a low beam, and she can land all of these skills on the low beam, but they do not do higher beam ever (likely because of the many 3 yr olds in the group--my youngest child being one of them). All they do for vault is work on landing on the springboard. Never seen them do anything else with this particular group. It is obvious to me that the stuff they are doing with the kids is important stuff to learn before progressing. It just seems there is has to be some kind of transitional spot for her. I guess I'll take her to the evaluation on Thursday. It is right after her regular gymnastics class, but apparently that's the only time they do evaluations. I feel guilty going to this other gym. Ha!

 

[gymmomtotwo]

I would be frustrated with the fact that they really have nothing that fits her. 5 is plenty old enough for an advanced preschool/developmental/preteam class. DD had to wait it out in a regular preschool class until she was about 4 3/4 to start our first level of preteam. Her teacher was good though, and would try to help her learn some more advanced skills within the class. Now the gym has a 1 hour preteam class for advanced 4 year olds which would have been perfect for her. Anyway, I can't imagine her being stuck in a regular preschool class until age 6. I'd look at the other gym.

 

[LizzieLac]

One caution is the trampoline and the at home gymnastics. Kids can get hurt easily on trampoline as well as teach themselves bad form/habits that would need to be corrected.

Unless I missed it, not sure how the gym's JO program. Did you mention it? I would look at that as an indicator of a few things. 1) their coaching 2) their philosophy of what age works in what program 3) the pace at which they move kids up.

If you are happy with the gym based on the above, then waiting it out until she is 6 is not a big deal - it will be here before you know it. I understand what you are sayin about spending money on a class that she may be too advanced for. Have you asked if there are any other options besides this class for her until she turns 6?

I think it is fine to do privates if you can afford it, but I honestly don't see the value in terms of advancing a 5 year old. There will plenty of time for that kind of spending down the road and she is still in need to learning so many basics, and really there shoudl be a class that fits her age and development. I would ask the gym about the bars and beam training. And don't feel guilty about looking at another gym at this point! Good luck!

 

[Deleted member D3987]

Hi everyone!
My 5 y.o. daughter who is very active developed a love of gymnastics about a year ago. We are at the gym my younger sister competed at. It is a smaller, fairly laid back gym. We are actually pretty attached to her two coaches (very sweet girls). They have both indicated that my daughter is talented. She is a good tumbler (can do pretty decent backhandsprings), and seems pretty good on bars as well. Here is the dilemma: the gym is very adamant that they will not move her up until she is 6 years old (to a level 2 pre team), so she is in a preschool class with 3-5 year olds who are basically learning front rolls and back rolls. For the past 6 months, she acts silly, goofs off, etc. so she can get extra attention from her coach, and I am pretty sure it is because she is bored. She is leaps and bounds better than the other kids but also older by about a year too. So, we are frustrated that it doesn't seem like there is some place we could move her in the interim until she can get on this preteam. Also, I feel like it is a waste of my money to pay for this class when she has sort of plateaued out with this group. So here is what I am considering: private lessons until she turns 6, a floor tumbling class at the cheerleading place across the street in addition to gymnastics, or moving her to a new gym. There is another gym in town, but they are extremely high power competitive and have a homeschool program. I scheduled an "evaluation" for her there, but I am wondering if this was a bad idea. Anyways, if anyone could give me some direction, that would be great! I really want to encourage her, but we worry she is starting to lose interest in this preschool group. Thank you!!

well...don't you trust the decision your parents made in sending your sister there or what your sister might have to say about this. she is only 5. your "thinking out loud" sounds just a bit over the top to me, and maybe me only.

 

[gymmommy123]

Going to disagree with you there....there are plenty of kids who start at age 6 and later and do just fine Comments like this often put parents of preschoolers in a panic mode, as if they need to get them in 4 hour practices NOW, and that's just not the case.

I definitely wasn't suggesting panic mode, lol, simply thought that was a little old to just START thinking of moving out of a preschool level, especially if she was bored and needed a little more challenge. I was lucky to start at a gym that had preschool, then advanced preschool (a group of the same age, but more talented kids that hoped to go the team route in the future), then hot shots, then pre-team. Had my daughter had to stay at "preschool" level, doing forward rolls, chin holds on the bars, and walks on the low beams for THREE years, she would have been bored stiff, and honestly, we would have likely just stopped after a year or so as she's the type of kid that acts like a complete doofus if she's bored. I fully believe that a 5 yr old, can at least handle an hr long class, 1x or 2x a week, with a group of other 4/5/6 yr olds, that are beyond the complete beginning level you get in the run-of-the-mill preschool group. I wonder if you could ask if they could put together an advanced preschool group? Our gym had that class available 2x a week for 1 hr that was by invitation only. Some kids went just one day, and others went twice a week, and the fact that kids were only moved up after they had done regular classes for a while, and had some basic skills (pull-over, back roll, ability to work a bit on the full size beams, etc) meant they could learn some slightly harder skills, and the coach was not quite so tolerant of them rolling around on the ground and acting crazy (she was still SUPER nice, but a little more strict).

 

[SignHere]

In the past, Some coaches at our gym didn't move kids onto pre-team until 5 years old/almost 6 (and we have 3 levels of pre-team) and some moved 3 or 4 year olds onto preteam so that they could be ready to compete level 5 at age 7 (assuming 1 year at each level of preteam). It was an individual preference for each coach and a total crapshoot as to which coach you got when your kid was in preschool class, as you signed up by time. One coach told me when my daughter was 4 that she should be on team track, as she was strong, and just seemed to naturally point her toes, then followed it with, " in a few years". Because she personally didn't think kids should do gymnastics more than 1 hour a week that young. I'm realising now, that coach is not employed at our gym anymore.