Parents Not excited, but not sad

[Mamabear123]

She is 7yo. She loves gym but is way too young to be all out committed. Totally normal. It's good that she enjoys spending time with friends. It's good that she has an activity she enjoys. At 7yo, it is hard to spend a lot of time committed to something while your friends are off playing. If she isn't balking at going to practice though, then I don't see an issue. I would stop asking if she's excited about practice. If she says she wants to do gymnastics, then take her to the practices eh is committed to. If she starts to say she doesn't want to do it anymore, then address it then. She may stick with gym all the way through college, she may quit in a year. Either way she is having fun and learning some great life lessons for now.

My dd was very committed to gym, while also doing some other activities she loves. 6 months ago she was starting to train level 5 and talking about making it to optionals afterwards. A few months ago she decided to do more of the other activities and last month she quit the gymnastics team. You just never know what the future holds. But I do not regret the years she spent in gym. She is strong and flexible and learned a lot about hard-work and resilience.

I do think that even is she decides to do something different, gymnastics has set her up with an excellent foundation. If you don't mind me asking, what other activity did your DD decide to switch to?

 

[Mamabear123]

I'd say now, at age 7 level 4 leave it. If she still is blah in the coming years, I'd re-evaluate, mostly because of cost/time- its expensive and time consuming to be a gymnast, and a parent of a gymnast.
I think her attitude about gym is fine/normal for a 7 yr old ( I also have a 7 yr old training level 4) - I don't think 100% of gymnasts are always super intense and focused on gymnastics. This sport just tends to encourage/create that mindset because of the commitment required at an early age.

With your 7 year old, did you find that things were more exciting for her during competition season?

 

[mom2newgymnast]

My 9 year old is similar to this. She likes gymnastics, is happy there and definitely doesn't want to stop (and I do ask her that occasionally). But she is not one of those that lives, eats and breathes gymnastics. She enjoys her time at home a lot and doesn't particularly "miss" gymnastics when she is not there. She likes playing with friends and just relaxing. She's not really interested in any other sports, although she has dabbled in a few over the years. She does well at practice and the coaches are happy with her work ethic and her effort. It's just not her entire life right now, which I am fine with.

 

[rsm]

My DD was the same at 7. She always liked gym, but it was never her life. She would go when she had practice, never asked to go any more or any less than the rest of her team. And the majority of the times, came out happy. She also wants to spend time with school friends and do other things which she manages to fit in around her gym schedule. Nothing very time consuming obviously. She has never had any goals beyond getting the skills for the next level, and hasn't shown a lot of interest in watching or doing gym outside of the gym (unless she is with gym friends or it's the olympics). I have often thought that she wouldn't continue for very long and will get tired of it. But with each increase in hours, she stuck with it and hasn't complained or asked for more. Now she is training for level 9, and still has the same attitude. I'm still waiting for her to get tired of it

 

[SMH]

With your 7 year old, did you find that things were more exciting for her during competition season?

Yes for sure. She enjoys competing and creating goals from one meet to the next. Now it's just training training.
Also a big part is it being summer - the lure of bike riding, pools, playing outside with friends, jumping on the trampoline- sometimes it's harder to be excited about going to a closed up, stuffy gym when the sun is shining and a whole street of your friends are outside.

 

[John]

My two cents.

Summer is hard. Day practice is better than evening in the summer. Team friend time can be spent after gym. At 7 my DD didn't have a clue about team or competition, just love flipping. I agree its too much to do gym on team as a fun activity. I have told my DD she can train gym no competition if she would like. But if she was going to be on team it was her job to train hard and be motivated. Time will tell what will happen.

Analogy for everyone. If you took you gym child to an amusement park today it would be fun. If you took them tomorrow it would be fun. If you took them 4 times a week for 5 years straight it WOULD NOT be fun. Gym is something they love, if they go with no complaints they are content in the relationship with gym.

 

[MeetDirector]

Mamabear -

Others have said it and I will say it too - she is 7, this is normal. Relax and support her passion and enjoy her childhood. If she has other interests, great! If she sticks it out in gymnastics, the time available for those other interests will rapidly diminish as she progresses in level. Enjoy it while you can; they grow up very quickly in this sport.

Good Luck.

 

[Mamabear123]

Mamabear -

Others have said it and I will say it too - she is 7, this is normal. Relax and support her passion and enjoy her childhood. If she has other interests, great! If she sticks it out in gymnastics, the time available for those other interests will rapidly diminish as she progresses in level. Enjoy it while you can; they grow up very quickly in this sport.

Good Luck.

I totally get it. I will take a deep breath and keep writing these pretty little checks for this very expensive sport. It's nice to hear from everyone that her behavior/attitude is normal though.

 

[MeetDirector]

I totally get it. I will take a deep breath and keep writing these pretty little checks for this very expensive sport. It's nice to hear from everyone that her behavior/attitude is normal though.

Hopefully you have planted your money tree by now. You think its expensive now, you ain't seen nuthin' yet. Just so you know what lies ahead, optional gymnastics for us easily was over $10K per year. Just sayin' ...

 

[EGPtriumph]

@Mamabear123 I feel like I could've written your exact original post and all the answers have been helpful for me to read. So, thank you for posting!

 

[SMH]

Hopefully you have planted your money tree by now. You think its expensive now, you ain't seen nuthin' yet. Just so you know what lies ahead, optional gymnastics for us easily was over $10K per year. Just sayin' ...

I think I just got a little queasy thinking about this

 

[Seeker]

I think I just got a little queasy thinking about this

Don't think about it!!!

 

[sce]

I totally get what everyone is saying. She's ONLY 7 and has so much life to live and expericence. I will take the advice that if she starts to show disinterest then we will re-evaluate. Maybe look at it with a getting there is half the battle approach. I always tell her, I can't want this for her.

I forgot to say, she is 13yo and was on the gymnastics team fir 4 years. She has also been
Doing musical theater and dance for those 4 years but limited due to gym. She quit gym to allow time for more dance and a lot more theater. Add to that a bit of aerial silks too.

 

[Ms.Pak-Man]

Mine is intense at gym, but she leaves it there. Second she walks out she's moved on, lol, which also means it's fruitless for me to try to get any information about how practice went. But she is also ready to go to gym everyday, leotard on, snack, water, etc., without me even having to ask. So I feel like it's a good, healthy, balance. She has room to up her intensity level if she wanted to at some point, without risking burnout. I worry more about kids who are super intense at a really young age as longevity in gymnastics is difficult mentally and physically.

 

[Mamabear123]

Hopefully you have planted your money tree by now. You think its expensive now, you ain't seen nuthin' yet. Just so you know what lies ahead, optional gymnastics for us easily was over $10K per year. Just sayin' ...

Ok, so I hear of these things all the time and it literally makes ne nauseous. Where does the bulk of the expense come from? Is it mostly due to travel?

 

[amiandjim]

Ok, so I hear of these things all the time and it literally makes ne nauseous. Where does the bulk of the expense come from? Is it mostly due to travel?

I know at our gym level 10s pay over $400/month and then their meet fees and such are an additional $400 and something a month for 7 months out of the year. Add to that travel and other expenses it's easy to see how that adds up.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Mine is 11 and a L6. She likes gym there is nothing she would rather do. She is good at it. And she doesn't want to live there and go a bunch hours. So we found a gym that has lower hours. She competes, works her behind off when she is at gym. No idea how far she'll go. But she has no desire to do the college gym thing. And she has her down time and time to do other things.

I'm scratching my head wondering why she is doing track if she doesn't like it, but to each their own.

 

[Mamabear123]

Mine is 11 and a L6. She likes gym there is nothing she would rather do. She is good at it. And she doesn't want to live there and go a bunch hours. So we found a gym that has lower hours. She competes, works her behind off when she is at gym. No idea how far she'll go. But she has no desire to do the college gym thing. And she has her down time and time to do other things.

I'm scratching my head wondering why she is doing track if she doesn't like it, but to each their own.

She told me she wanted to do track. Found out practices are on Saturdays and now says that she doesn't like it. Goes to track as has fun. It's a free program, track looks so lovely to mommy and daddy.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

She told me she wanted to do track. Found out practices are on Saturdays and now says that she doesn't like it. Goes to track as has fun. It's a free program, track looks so lovely to mommy and daddy.

Ah I see.... a typical 7yr old

 

[duyetanh]

This is my exact concern. This stuff is so expensive for her blah attitude. But on the same token, she just got the "hardest worker" award at the end of the year banquet. Her coaches would be shocked if they knew she had this attitude about gym.

Maybe she shows a different side to the coaches than what you are seeing...