Parents Too many hours at the gym for a 3 year old?

[MILgymFAM]

The only thing I would add is that I would not have a talk with them, or discuss it any further with them at all. A gym that would even allow that is not one that I would want my daughter growing up in. That is not a good environment, and I can't think of one single justification that could change that. If I were you, my only communication would be to tell them you are pulling your DD.

 

[sce]

They do TOPS training. Mainly conditioning, strength stuff, stretching,working on TOPS skills.

Non of that sounds appropriate for a 3yo. She is barely out of toddlerhood. Gym should be about fun, and body awareness. Not long conditioning practices.

If you think she enjoys gymnastics and will want to continue it as she gets older, stop this now, as she will either stop liking it or could get seriously injured.

 

[duyetanh]

To the OP I am sorry. I too questioned if this was a real post. It just seems so bizarre. I was wondering if you needed her there 20 hours a week, meaning if she goes there, you don't need to think of childcare? I don't believe any of us mean to be cruel here, but it does seem quite crazy all the way around.

 

[JBS]

20 hours is too much for a 3 year old

 

[Deleted member D3987]

My daughter started gymnastics almost a year ago with a mommy and me class,then it snowballed into moving up several times and now right after she turned three years old she started training for TOPS. They do 20 hours a week. She enjoys gymnastics a lot, has big dreams and likes going but I am worried. She gets in trouble almost every day for not being focused the entire 4hours but I can't help but question how focused my daughter is supposed to be?? She doesn't run lose,she does almost everything that is asked of her but sometimes she will just sit down and watch what's going on around her,especially when the coach is working with the other girls (who are 2-3 years older than her) because she doesn't have the mind set her to train on her own and correct herself. I know nothing about gymnastics and I am not the kind of parent who pushes her child to be at the gym. She handles this all better than me. Are these hours normal for kids that age?? I love her gym and her coach is super nice and I want to trust the process so badly but lately I've been a nervous wreck about this.

what? she's 3?? and goes...20 hours a week??? shoot me now...

"forgive me father for i have sinned...the last time i was here i had a daughter"

 

[Deleted member D3987]

Well, personally I think she's way behind the game at this point. If she's not at LEAST doing her BHS before age 2, she's clearly never going to amount to anything in the gymnastics world. If they're not having her work Giants and fulls at this point, you might as well just hang it up and go to cheer.

Seriously, as many others have said, a 3yos body is simply not developmentally ready for hard training, and any coach who puts a toddler in that program is irresponsible and ignorant at BEST. Take her to a different gym and put her in a normal preschool class, stat.

hey! if you can't do a double lay coming out of the womb their time is past!

 

[Deleted member D3987]

Why is 20 hours a week wrong for a 3 year
old? Let me count the ways...
1. No 3 year old can focus on anything for 20 hours a week - that is why they don't go to school
2. They have small developing bodies. This is why they do baby gym and do not train like Olympians preparing for 2016
3. They need to be learning other stuff, like how to talk properly and count and read. Not how to do BHSBHS
4. There is no need for them to train 20 hours at 3 - why wear out the joints that early?
etc. etc. etc. If your 3 year old is really training for 20 hours a week then you need to read through a bunch of posts on CB about ages, training hours and injuries, then go to your gym and ask them what they are doing.

hey! how about learning how to wipe properly...and brush their teeth...this comes way before counting and reading. otherwise you have the smelliest kid with the worst breath no matter how well they talk on the first day of preschool.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

The issue is not the gym, it is you allowing your 3 year old to train 20 hours a week.

At what point does a parent just say "you must be nuts, no way is a preschooler training 20 hours".

Give me the gyms name by PM and I will look in to them. If this is for real they are nuts too.

me too! in a PM.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

My daughter started gymnastics almost a year ago with a mommy and me class,then it snowballed into moving up several times and now right after she turned three years old she started training for TOPS. They do 20 hours a week. She enjoys gymnastics a lot, has big dreams and likes going but I am worried. She gets in trouble almost every day for not being focused the entire 4hours but I can't help but question how focused my daughter is supposed to be?? She doesn't run lose,she does almost everything that is asked of her but sometimes she will just sit down and watch what's going on around her,especially when the coach is working with the other girls (who are 2-3 years older than her) because she doesn't have the mind set her to train on her own and correct herself. I know nothing about gymnastics and I am not the kind of parent who pushes her child to be at the gym. She handles this all better than me. Are these hours normal for kids that age?? I love her gym and her coach is super nice and I want to trust the process so badly but lately I've been a nervous wreck about this.

Mom, when you read my comments below please understand i have a sense of humor that takes awhile to understand given the context of what i read here. suffice, and before you tell me to go to...the other parents here will tell you i'm a good guy and a coach that has produced many athletes. and to the Elite level. Bog tells me to shut up when the need presents itself.

i'd like to see you stay, you're new, cause in the long run you're going to find this site helpful. like right now.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

No. I am dead serious. They train 20 hours a week

you'll be dead soon enough from starvation, as well as the rest of your family, after spending what you're spending this early on as you won't be able to afford groceries...or bottled water...or even 1 Starbucks a year.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

May I please add, that if your DD is that talented; them, she will still be talented at 4-5 years old. 20 hours now may burn her out also.

you're concerned about burn out? ever see that movie Chuckie?? i'd be afraid this kid would turn 5 and eat me!

 

[Deleted member D3987]

Utter madness, waiting for the Yikes @dunno

"here he comes to save the day" YIKES

 

[Deleted member D3987]

okay, now let's be honest parents. and i'm a grandparent now too. i could no more spend 20 hours a week with any of my own children, let alone someone else's child, at that age. no way no how. for all the tea in Boston. or all the coffee at Starbucks...any of which this family will never be able to afford.

now the grandchild is altogether a different story...

 

[munchkin3]

I am trying to un-read this thread.

 

[GymmieC]

The only common sense response to this predicament is quality before quantity. If your child is truly gifted, the hours Will do squat. She has nothing yet to fine tune, etc. If I remember right, at three my DD's arms didn't reach past her head. I actually enrolled her in gymnastics because at three she threw Her first flip flop. Her sister and I were watching gymnastics on TV and she climbed on the ottoman and Just flipped.. It was scary because she did more of a head flop. She landed in a preschool class. No way would she be at 20...but wait at 4yo she started with 16 hrs. In retrospect, I would have said "Let's wait. " She loved being in the gym. And thank goodness she hasn't been plagued with injuries. But the hours haven't moved her farther ahead than others who did less. Look at the big picture.
DD left a gym who in my book is training kids too much with some long hours. I hear of injuries daily. I come here to CB off and on, and one quote that I carry from here always is "Gymnastics is a marathon not a sprint. " Your DD Will not reach her goals faster with more hours. But you are running the risk of serious injury and or burnout. At three 20 hrs sounds more like a job. Child Abuse laws have been enacted to prevent children from working long hours... IDK...

 

[GymmieC]

Call around to successful TOPS gyms. See what they say about three year olds training 20 hrs. Their responses could be worthwhile.

 

[ShesAMonkey]

I have nothing more of substance to add to this conversation except to say that my children were all barely potty trained at just-turned-three!!

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Nothing before, nothing since. Starting to think, drive by.

 

[JBS]

Thread is closed.