Parents What do you do when your gymnast is completely worn down?

[my4buffaloes]

Dd is exhuasted! 6:15 comes early and that is wake up 5 days a week. Saturdays are not much better at 6:45. Combine that with 4 hour late night practices and she is really struggling. I find myself always trying whatever I can to get her a bit more sleep. But it doesn't do much, especially when it is only 20 or 30 minutes extra. She will easily sleep 10-12 hours every night if she could. I had figured she would adjust to the new schedule - it has been almost 9 months of early rising - but she really hasn't.

So, what do you do to make sure your gymnast doesn't get run down, worn out, sick, etc?

 

[bogwoppit]

Cut back on training hours. Not sure how old your DD is, but sleep is hugely important.

 

[my4buffaloes]

She is 12. The practices themselves don't go that late (around 8-8:30), but with a 30 minute drive, shower, and homework it is frequently 10 before she gets to bed. Which puts her getting 8-8.5 hours of sleep a night. Once competition season ends in a few weeks I might have to pull her early, you are right. I hate for her to miss, but we can't keep going like this.

 

[bogwoppit]

I went through a similar time when mine was that age. Sometimes she would just skip gym. Between school, early mornings, long school bus rides, homework and the 35 minute trip to gym she was exhausted, so was I. There are just not enough hours in the week to fit everything in and I saw that if she didn't sleep well then everything else soon began to fall apart, school and gym included. Now she doesn't do gym at all, 14, she still sleeps from 9pm to 7am. Some kids just need more sleep. I am sure the coaches will understand.

 

[gymmutti]

I enforce naps on Sundays - not every week but probably the majority. The bus comes at 7:10am even though school starts at 8:15 - therefore, I now drive her to school almost every morning and allow her to sleep 30 min longer each morning. If homework is too much, I pull her or she pulls herself out and completes homework in the gym. Most nights I can get her to bed by 10pm - on the one weeknight she's off, I try to get her to bed by 8:30. She's still tired (she's another kid who can sleep 10-11 hours if I let her) but less so than before. The naps really do help (even if she protests).

 

[MdGymMom01]

I had this issue with Dani when she was about 12 as well. She tries to do some homework at school (sometimes the teachers give them a few minutes at the end of class to get a head start on homework) or she brings her homework to dance and does some during breaks. Is there any time after school before she has to go to gym? That is the best time to squeeze in homework.

Another thing that helps is to pack lunches, book bags and lay out clothes the night before. Plan some quick breakfasts--yogurt, granola bars or waffles are quick and easy. If you have everything planned out the night before, your dd can sleep in and will only need about 15 minutes to get ready, eat and be out the door.

Our pediatrician says that kids in middle school need about 9-10 hours a sleep a night, and unfortunately you can't "make it up" on the weekends. Maybe you can have her leave gym practice early a few days a week?

 

[GymBee97]

an occasional "mental health day" is a good one for my DD. We basicly just miss a practice and let her catch up on a little sleep if she is tired that day. She will tell me that she is tired and needs a day off and I'm ok with that.

Also no gym before homework is done - I don't care what time practice starts. There have been a few days this year where DD has either missed the practice or arrived late.

She has learned to use the free time at school (lunch the 10 min or so if a teacher finishes early, ride on the bus, ride to and from gym) to do homework too and usually has most of it done by the time she gets home. This takes some time to get in the habit of and most want to socialize and gab at things like recess or the bus.

DD come home about 2:35 on the bus. We will leave about 3:15 to make the 4pm practice (30 - 45 min drive depending on traffic) She gets a snack to eat on the ride over. When she comes home a light dinner and bed by 10 pm. She seems to be able to handle the hours now but when it first started it was harder for her to get use to the new routine.

 

[iwannacoach]

Kids need their sleep, it's just that simple. I didn't fully understand the sleep thing as a coach with no children of my own, but now that I've kids of my own......

The tough part is figuring out how to spend enough time sleeping to be able to train, and how to squeeze enough time out of the day to train, which then, geez, increases the need for sleep.

I don't know any other way than to work with the teachers and coaches to find minimally disruptive exceptions to the norm. No, I don't mean sacrificing their education, nor blowing off a bunch of training time.

What works is to recognize that a school day includes a bunch of sitting around while other things happen for other kids. So in the context that your child can simply keep up with what the assignments are, and get them done in a timely, capable manner, what time can be shaved off from the school day, and in what manner. What's interesting is the kid's I've had do this maintain their grades well above the norm, and in fact we required that no grade fall below a B and that they maintain a 3.5 GPA.

On the coaching end...... Most kids get a snack break while at the gym, and that's something that can be looked at as well. Instead of a 15 minute snack break, try a 25 minute snack/homework break. They seem to be able to concentrate just fine while chewing away, so they really can get 20 minutes of home work done. It seems to help in more ways than one, as the kids can get a little extra rest to help them through the remainder of practice, and the relief of getting some of their homework out of the way gives them a lift.

If trimming from the school and gym time can't work out, I'd suggest a few personal holidays, or just showing up late/leaving early with either school or gym.

The bottom line, in my humble....and experienced opinion, is that there is a way to carve out time for rest that will harm neither school nor training, because better rest means better study, better training, and a better time at home.

 

[my4buffaloes]

Lots of good ideas here, thanks! I had her take a nap yesterday because she had a break between school and gym. That made a world of difference in her attitude and she had a great practice - the coach even commented on it. Unfortunately they don't normally have that break. But it is so good to know that if I put her in bed she will sleep - I wasn't sure she would be able to.

Her first class is enriched language arts, so no skipping that to sleep in. My oldest always had PE first so if he needed to sleep extra I would let him. For next year though I can try to talk to her school about having her study hall first period - having a study hall helps her get her homework done, but there is frequently things to finish up at home because she needed help with them. If she has it first period that would likely prevent the late night homework scramble PLUS if she needs extra sleep I won't feel guilty for letting her. Great idea iwannacoach!

I also have an idea of a practice that we could maybe cut short so she could be home earlier. Leaving 30 minutes early doesn't seem like much but can make a difference in how she functions for sure. Thanks everyone!

 

[GymBee97]

With my DD in High School I make sure her study is the last class of the day that way 2 things can happen. I can pick her up early if needed and she won't miss anything. It also gives her that time to do her homework that she got that day (she usually gets it all done in that time - very smart girl) So between that study and the bus ride home she almost never has homework left to do. If she does its usually a project where she has to build something.

 

[iwannacoach]

Cutting practice 30 minutes short on a consistent basis will have a harmful cumulative effect on her progress, and that's going to cause her stress. It would be far better to cut practice half a day each Wednesday to do homework assignments provided by co-operative teachers.

 

[my4buffaloes]

I wasn't thinking of cutting it short everyday, but just once a week on her latest day if I feel she is very run down - like right now. I obviously need to talk to her coaches about it though and see what would work best for her and them.

 

[bogwoppit]

I talked to both the school and the coaches, asked for homework to be assigned more for the weekends and at the beginning of the week. Asked coaches what days would be easiest to cut. Both groups were understanding. Some weeks we would skip one gym session, some days we would drive to school to get the extra time in bed for her.

 

[iwannacoach]

Here's a suggestion based on my experiences........

Wednesday is the best day if you can work it out that way..... well it worked for me. Having an easier day, and I don't know that 30 minutes is enough to make it an easier day, in the middle of the week makes it a lot easier to get through the week. It allows for full energy practices on Monday and Tuesday with Wednesday as a recovery day, and the rest of the week can go full energy because of the benefits of that rest.

Resting is more effective if it's done to maintain an energetic kid, and less effective if it's used as an energy crash recovery tool. Keep that in mind if you're thinking of using "short days" on an as needed basis. Sure it can work, but your child needs to learn to realize she's getting pooped out and let you know.

Just a short lecture here, for those who think practice time is too valuable to cut in favor of rest.......

Sure, in a perfect gymnastics world, I'd say gym time comes first, and expect parents to adjust their own and their child's schedule outside the gym to allow for adequate rest time, and school issues would have to resolved with the cooperation of the school staff.

Yeah, there's programs that have kids in the gym for 35 ish hrs a week, but those programs usually have a coach in the center with a reputation for training high level kids. They collect kids from the region and across the county who want that sort of experience, with parents who're willing and able to shell out a modest person's annual income to pay for gym time, privates, tutors, physios, and well, whatever else helps their Susie, who at last can kip like a champ, advance just a little farther.

But this is not a perfect gymnastics world, well for most of us, and you just have to get a little creative and do the best you can with what you have. A good start is realizing the kid in front of you is a complete person who has needs in many aspects of her life, and to get the most out of the kid........

Well let me sum the above paragraph up.

You get more gymnastics out of a kid when they have no unfulfilled needs. Figure out how to help the total child, and the gymnastics gets a lot easier...... for you, and the child.

And remember, it's never easy, but it's usually a lot of fun.