Parents Sour grapes/navigating jealousy

[gymbeam]

Yes, that I totally agree with.

 

[LizzieLac]

I think the gist is to not judge either way. My son and his team prefer to take theirs off, to make each medal "stand on its own." Others, like to wear them. SOme like to shake hands. Some like to run up to the podium before their name is called for first. What we think is not ok, others do not and we should live and let live.

I agree.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Once again not understanding how wearing medals you earned for a few minutes at the end a meet equals showing off. Odd outlook to me.

 

[Mish]

I don't think any child should be told to take their medals off, unless they are behaving in an unsportsmanlike manner. These kids work too hard and rarely get to savor the moment before going back to the grind. The girls all wear them around here, does not seem to be an issue. Honestly, can't imagine it would be anyway, except for the youngest of athletes ( and oh yeah, the parents).

 

[skschlag]

My son (nor I) never said it was showing off. He just likes, on the podium, to have just the medal for that event. His coach taught them that it lets each event be its own thing, rather than a cummulation of all events. He does wear them for team pictures, etc after. And I don't think it is an issue if they wear them, and it shouldn't be an issue if they take them off. Their choice. Their medal. Their sport

And by level 9 they don't really even think about it, honestly. THey smile for teh camera, and into the bag it goes

 

[lovofu]

Sophia started taking hers off very early...didn't have a good reason....said she didn't want to "show off" and then did it every time. She noticed herself in a video in compulsories spreading them out so you could see all of them...because she saw pictures of Olympians that did that. She didn't like seeing herself do that so off each medal comes. Now, she rarely medals more than once or twice if at all but it's her thing.

 

[ProudDad]

As mine has gotten older (9 now ) the medals stay on less and less time. The first few meets they stayed on through a celebration dinner. Her last meet we had to have her get them out of her bag for pictures.

In a sport where 9 months of training culminates into about 25 minutes of total season performance time, a certain level of personal accomplishment should be had. I would also imagine that an athlete who set a goal for themselves and met or exceeded that goal would take more away from that... the medal would just be gravy.

 

[LizzieLac]

I am not saying that no one should wear their medals. For our gym, the kids were taught that once you received a medal for an event that part of the ceremony is over. The medal is a symbol - it is isn't the accomplishment. So, taking the medal off doesn't negate what you have done in competition.

No one at our gym questions this practice. The parents and kids all respect it and like it. Not sure what else to say... The kids know what they have achieved. My DD, who is the only one I am responsible for ;-) puts them in her bag and forgets they are there! Sometimes they are still in there at the next meet she goes to and she has even accidentally put them in a teammates' bag. She's 15 now, so she is more interested in my getting her car when she gets her license!!!

 

[sce]

Or they remove them because they don't like the perception that "people are looking at me".

This is exactly why my ds' teammate removes them. He does not like all the attention of winning and is very uncomfortable on the medal stand.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Again around here pretty much all the kids keep them on. Our coach likes team photos with whatever awards are won, so our kids keep them on. Can't speak for all the kids on our team, just mine. Putting one on then off then back on for photos would make her crazy. So when she gets them they stay on till photos. Then off and I become the keeper of any hardware. Last time she kept a medal on longer then getting to me, she was 6, her first meet. That hardware stayed on until she hung it on her bed at bedtime, her Leo stayed on all day too. She is long over that.

 

[duyetanh]

First off, winning more than 1 medal at a meet is not a given for my child. Hell, at some meets, 1 medal is a miracle, let alone more than one.

Second, to each their own in terms of how they handle it. I think everyone's way is interesting, but never gave much thought to it, and nor did my child when I asked her...she actually thought (no offense here) it was silly to take them off each time...we have never seen this happen btw...her comment was gee, maybe the people handing out the awards would be offended, it's like the kids getting the award aren't proud of themselves, or don't care about the medals...on that note, I do agree with her about being gracious. But really, as I told her, everyone does what they do for different reasons, and, as long as they are being respectful to others, that is what counts.
Peace out.

 

[OzZee]

I guess when most competitions medals are only given out for 1-3 overall they are treasured more.
And no issue of whether to take them off or not
Confused as to where your kids put them? Ours don't have bags etc at presentation.
The ribbons or certificates they get for 1-6 apparatus, some leave next to where they are sitting some hold onto if they place again.
But with such few awards given out it just not such a big deal here I think.

 

[sewgood]

Seems like a good way for a medal to get lost or broken.

 

[skschlag]

Seems like a good way for a medal to get lost or broken.

in 7 years of competing, he has never lost or broken a medal......

 

[sce]

in 7 years of competing, he has never lost or broken a medal......

The only time I've heard of a kid losing a medal, he was wearing it and it somehow came off the ribbon.

 

[Texasmomof3]

My kid is notoriously hard on medals. She is always forgetting medals. Half the time she lines up at her place without getting the medal first; sometimes they see her without it and give it to her, sometimes they don't. She forgot to get the AA medal at state this last meet. And if she takes it off before we get home, it is lost. This year she also broke two Alamo Classic medals on the drive home.

 

[ProudDad]

My kid is notoriously hard on medals. [...] This year she also broke two Alamo Classic medals on the drive home.

Holy smokes... when you say "kid" you don't by any chance mean baby goat... we've only had one medal partially break and it came that way.

 

[Texasmomof3]

The Alamo classic medals were a circle with a cutout of a floating gymnast attached only at the bottom. Hers came with bent gymnast. She tried to straighten them back up and the gymnast broke off. They were very flimsy medals. They also looked like someone had already been playing with them. (We were the last session of the weekend, last awards group, so I wouldn't be surprised if our were a bit roughed up.)

 

[2gymkids]

I am just catching up on this thread and find it fascinating that there are such intense feelings about whether or not a child wears a medal that they won. In the end, who cares either way?
I will say, at our recent state meet there was one girl who was so sour about being called up for the later places (she got called up at least 3, if not more times, but all through like 6-10 place). I don't know the whole story so I try not to judge, maybe she had a really bad meet or a bad fall or has really intense parents, but she was obviously so displeased about not being higher up. Her coach was trying to joke with her, get her to smile, but she just had this nasty face and half-salute. All I could think of was how much my DD (who did end up with one event medal for 8th place) and her little teammate who ended up with nothing would have loved to trade places with her and were all smiles just from being there and enjoying the day. Her attitude up there was really embarrassing, especially for an 8 year old.

 

[GymDad9.9]

What exactly are these medals made of anyway?