Off Topic Spending a lot less time watching practice

[Amusibus]

I have had less and less desire to watch as time goes on. My 8 year old daughter is a level 2 and competed level 1 (common around here) so seeing the monthly competitions is enough for me now.

When she was in developmental, I wanted to watch as often as possible because of some of the same reasons people mentioned above: pouring boatloads of money into this sport, curiosity about my daughter's abilities, not fully trusting the gym or coaches yet (we had a couple bad experiences early on with certain coaches being uncommunicative and unwilling to work with my daughter's adhd/aspergers "eccentricities"). And another big reason for wanting to watch was that she was not competing yet, and never talked about practice, so I really had no idea what was going on there.

Now we have been settled a while at our gym and I really do trust that she is in a safe and nurturing environment, I don't need to watch anymore. Once in a while the urge will strike me and I stay a little while after dropping off. Lately I am just bored. Competitions are much more interesting to watch than practices.

A big bonus of not watching is I really am amazed at how much she has progressed!

 

[Seeker]

My ds has told me that he does better when I am there. Mianly because he knows i might see him goofing off and that keeps him on task more

I think would be true for my daughter too as I am much meaner than her coaches when it comes to stuff like that. I never watch, save for the last few mins if I arrive early, but I have told her to "hear" her coaches corrections in my "mean Mommy" voice because he is far too nice!!

 

[SPX]

Someone always stays. We are often doing other things while we keep an eye on my son. If its just me I usually am reading and will look up every few minutes to see what they're up to. If its all of us, we use the time to catch up with each other and give my daughter some time with the both of us. The new gym has a great waiting area and is very open to parents watching or staying because of a long drive. They even have some tables so you can have space to get some work done if needed. This is a huge change from the old gym whose only interest in me was my wallet. The owner at the old gym actually came into the waiting area once and told the team parents to "just drop the kids off and go the f*** home!" That is one of many reasons it is my son's former gym.
Mostly I want someone responsible for him (not him and 8 other boys) to be there in case something unexpected happens. Like the other night when he bit his tongue dismounting from rings. The coach took care of it and brought him over to me. I looked at it because he was concerned and wanted me to. Once I said " ew, but I think you'll live." he calmed down completely. The coach figure he'd be done for practice but asked us to wait so we could finish the accident report after. I asked him if he wanted to wait with me for the half hour or go back and he said go back. She was stunned. If I hadn't been there, he would have been much more concerned about what was a minor injury and may have missed out on the rest of practice. I'm sure that by the end of the year, he (and I) will know and trust his coach and the staff at the new gym much more. Perhaps then we will just drop off and pick up occasionally.

 

[z2akids]

I love gymnastics so much more when I avoid spending significant time in the gym. I enjoy seeing leaps in progress much better then the one step forward, 2 back, 3 forward, 1 back of day to day practices.

My DD doesn't seem to care whether I am there or not. She does ask me to stay for open gym now and again to show me a new skill. But, she is a pretty confident 9 year old and never looks to see if I am there.

The other reason I avoid staying is the CGMs who do stay. We have a group of 4ish moms who stay for all 10 hours a week. They are a clique of their own and you can hear them complaining about whether a girl had more turns than another in a rotation, etc. Like Jr. High. They are way to involved. They dont talk to the moms who have DDs they think night get extra attention. A couple of their DD's look up to the viewing area for approval frequently and I have seen these moms actually mouthing/motioning directions. Very sad actually. Hopefully most will move on and their DD's will benefit from seeing that mom trusts them and the coaches.

 

[wallinbl]

I really don't see why a child cannot "own" their sport if a parent watches. Hockey parents, soccer parents, etc. don't have any qualms about attending their children's practices, why is gymnastics so different?

The parents in those sports are also very much a problem for the kids and coaches. They're yelling from the sidelines, telling the kids what to do, and it's usually in opposition to what the coach says. Most non-rec coaches tell parents not to stay at practice. It's bad enough during games that most of the coaches in our club have a rule that if they hear the parent do anything other than cheer or provide positive encouragement, they'll bench the kid. Refs toss parents out every few months. At least in gymnastics, I haven't seen parents shouting insults at the judges.