Parents What other activities do your children participate in?

[Blackie6]

DD is 10 (L6/7) and she does softball, dive team (now) and has in past done Girl Scouts, dance (hated it!!) and played an instrument. She has also done some rec camp for field hockey. We had a lot of conflicts with the softball vs. gymnastics, but as long as it was "off season" I didn't have a problem yanking her out of gym practice for it. Going into a different level now, I am not even sure what the "season" is yet, LOL so we will see what happenes. Like former poster said, going up to L7 requires a different committment than in the lower levels and it just may be time she has to make a choice. At least now she is old enough.

 

[MdGymMom01]

How do some of you have time for your kids to do all those things? She goes straight to gym and gets out at 8:30pm. It doesn't leave time for anything else on gym days.

My dd's gym schedule is just two days a week (Tue and Sat) so she has most of her weekdays open. She gets out of school at 3pm and when she comes home she gets a snack, does homework and is able to relax for a while before ballet at 5:30 or 7:00 depending on the day. She was able to maintain an A/B average in her first year of middle school so she is managing her time well. The low-key, low time committment gymnastics league is the clincher--she is able to still compete in the sport but not have to put in the long hours of USAG--such a godsend!!

 

[NGL780309]

My dd's gym schedule is just two days a week (Tue and Sat) so she has most of her weekdays open. She gets out of school at 3pm and when she comes home she gets a snack, does homework and is able to relax for a while before ballet at 5:30 or 7:00 depending on the day. She was able to maintain an A/B average in her first year of middle school so she is managing her time well. The low-key, low time committment gymnastics league is the clincher--she is able to still compete in the sport but not have to put in the long hours of USAG--such a godsend!!

DD goes 3 days and I wish one of those days were Saturday. It would make life so much easier, but meet season gets in the way. The coaches are gone with whatever level is competing so it makes it impossible. When your DD has meets on Saturday do they just reschedule practice or just miss it for the meet?

 

[MdGymMom01]

When your DD has meets on Saturday do they just reschedule practice or just miss it for the meet?

They miss the Saturday practice for the meet. It boils down to about one Saturday per month from Dec through May.

 

[momof5]

DD just does gym. Thats all she and I have time for. In the lower levels and preteam I limited her to two activites at a time and it worked well. She tried a bunch of different activites while still enjoying gymnastics. Now that she practices 20 hrs a week and my other childen have grown up alittle that all I can handle. She is one of 5 kids. And my wallet and time only go so far. If I had more money and less kids she might be able to do more.

 

[Krystan]

My dd is in the gym 9 hours per week, and that's really her only major activity. We have art class, swimming, and field trip days, but we homeschool and those are all during the "school day". Because of homeschooling, we are able to do a lot and still have lots of down time. It's important to me that she gets free play time, free reading time, time to hang out with family and friends, etc. My ds only does gym 3 hours per week and also does soccer and competitive Pokemon league. Sometimes I wish dd had participated in more activities when she was younger, but it was always her choice and the only thing she regrets is not starting gymnastics sooner!

 

[Flippers Mom]

Flipper is in the gym 20 hours per week (plus 10 hours of travel per week). During the school year, she has very little time for anything but school, church, family and friends. She makes up for it during the summer. She is taking dance, spending every moment possible swimming with friends, jumping on the tramp and goofing/dancing, etc.

Her big brother plays soccer, baseball, tennis and golf. Thankfully, he just got her learners permit and can drive himself to school and school activities next school year. All we have to do is show up and cheer him on! Both are amazing kids (but I may not be completely objective).

 

[bribri514]

When I was younger I went to a camp for Deaf kids every summer. I also did soccer for a couple years kindergarten- 2nd grade or something, I was so awful I was the girl doing cartwheels in the field. Gymnastics was my only "real" scheduled activity. I up to close to 20 hours of practice by 5th grade but that's because I was L 9. Our gym was an hour away but luckily up until I was 12 a few other girls in our county did gym there too and we carpooled. My mom did lots of family hikes, ski days, and rock climbing when she could. Me and my sister also did religious ed through our church. By high school I stopped club gym for a bit because I hit L 10 and my mom wouldn't let me go to a different gym for elite. I did HS gym then did varsity cheerleading before going back to club gym.

My niece who I'm now helping raise (my brother just got full custody of her and he works full time) does before and after school programing at her public DC school. She was taking rec gymnastics classes and some other sports like basketball, soccer, swimming, volleyball, etc. through the rec centers in town. When my brother has a chance he likes to take her around town to see cultural and historical stuff (museums, ethnic restaurants, markets, etc.) When she was living with her mom she was really involved in her Mexican heritage, living in a very Mexican part of town and sang in her Spanish language church and did some religious ed stuff. Now that she's on USAG team at a new gym is the first real organized sport she's done. She's on the L5 team and it's through the Y so the hours aren't super intense which is good!

I guess it's just a family thing now passed through a generation to try out a few sports and other low key and inexpensive things through the local rec center, do a religious activity, and then just do a lot of family activities, as much as possible with a single working parent.

 

[lilgymmie7]

Wow! Some posters really lead busy lives! My older DD and DS were involved in many sports/activities while concentrating on their focul sports; gym and wrestling. Older DD is now off to college, DS is so serious about wrestling that when I get ready to sign him up to other activities he always makes the comment "...can't have wrestling then." Little DD tried Girl Scouts/Daisies but never made it to a meeting due to gym. She really only wanted to sell their cookies anyways. When I gave her the option to go to the meetings she said she wanted to go to gym instead.
I honestly enjoy watching her just 'play' on her off days. This kid has been going to 16 hrs./week practices since she was 5. I don't think scheduling her to do more would be a win/win situation for either her or I. She is a fish in the summer, so I thought to get her into swimming but there is no class on days she is off. I even walked into the dance studio next door to her gym, and I ran into the same thing. I couldn't take her out of gym to do a dance class. DD and the coach would not go for that. She is happy and that is all that matters. Today, she came in and asked, " Mom, do I have gymnastics on July 2nd?" She worries that she will miss gym, but wants to attend friend parties too. As she ages, we will see what happens. I just take my guidance from my kids. DS is very adament about his choices.

 

[mom2kazkids]

DD just does gymnastics, she has been offered to attempt other things, but does not want to. This coming school year she will be in 5th grade, and will start the flute. Should be interesting fitting in an instrument, 15 hours of practice a week and 5th grade homework. Glad she is only in gymnastics.

 

[3stars]

DD (7) pretty much only does gymnastics. She chooses to do the optional day of practice each week rather than another activity or sport.

DS (4) does gymnastics 2 days a week and he has played soccer (rec league 1 day a week). I signed him up for school soccer in the fall but I'm not sure how many days a week practice that is yet (fingers crossed that it is not on gymnastics nights).

All 3 of my kids also take swimming lessons and hopefully soon will be starting piano lessons. I know my DS (4) would love to do more sports, but right now we are kind of limited because my husband's job has hours such that he really can't help me regularly to taxi kids to and from practices and I already feel like I spend way too much time in my car. Like previous posters have said, I like them to have down time too in order to just play or have time to do family activities. I try to sign my DD in particular up for one day camps if she shows an interest in something so that she still gets to do other stuff. She has enjoyed doing a couple cheerleading camps and craft classes. I know quite a few of my daughter's teammates still manage to play other sports and do a lot of different activities as well as gymnastics, but I honestly don't know how they pull it off.

 

[mamaoftwo]

My DD is a preteamer heading into second grade, and during the school year it's pretty much gymastics and girl scouts only. Occasionally, we'll add in swim, but I view that as a necessary life skill. She must learn to swim, so that is non-negotiable. She also participate in our school activities like the science fair, etc.

In the summer, I let her add on a few random "camps" and classes - this year she's doing pom-pons and cheer for one week each, but the longest of those classes is 1.5 hrs. She will also do T-Ball one night per week through our YMCA - and, actually one of the girls from preteam is doing it with her.

Should DD make L4 in December, she'll bump up to 3 days per week in the gym, so we'll re-evaluate then. If it conflicts with girl scouts, etc, then one has to go.

DS is only a preschool gymmie, but he's going twice per week during the summer. He only does 1 night a week of gym during the school year, but this summer he's also adding on a tennis camp and t-ball.

Each kid will also do our gym's fun rec camp this summer (though DD will also do the mornings of their team camp the following week).

So, we like to stay active, but we like our time at home, too. Sometimes, DD just wants to play in the yard or at the park.

 

[Bajanswife]

My gymnast DD is only in Level 4, so she's only been going 3 times a week, one of those days being Saturday. It hasn't been bad. In April she started a jazz dance class and just performed in a dance show and just loved it! Jazz is on Saturday afternoons, which only interferes with birthday parties and the occasional gym meet.

I work and I have 2 other kids, a boy who is into football and fishing and a girl who is into ballet. I just cannot schedule any of my kids too much because there are 3 of them and I have to figure out how to get them around! I rely on other moms a lot to get them to their activities - I usually am the one to pick up. Most activities start between 3 and 3.30 (after school) but I work until 4 or after.

I am waiting to see if my gymnast DD will get put into a L5 training group in September, because if she does it will be 4 times a week training. My other DD has moved up to the Grade 3 ballet exam class, so she has to do ballet twice a week now. Plus, she has a major school leaving exam in early May, and the school she wants to get into requires marks in the 90s - I see plenty of after-school tutoring for her! My son is moving up to a new school and will likely play sports at school after school, so I only have to worry about collecting him when he's done, not trying to get him to another location for his sport. That's about all I can handle - I cannot fit anything more in there!

 

[melissajoy1234]

My DD is nine and she does gymnastics (practices this Fall will be Tues/Thurs 4:30-8:30) and she has an AWANA program at church on Wednesday nights. Anything more than this would be too much, IMO. I am due with a baby boy in September and am quitting work for the first time, so it will definitely be easier to do things, but I don't want DD to be too busy. Even with the current schedule, she won't be able to do anything except on Mondays and Fridays, and some of those Fridays (and weekends) will be gymnastics-related as well with travelling to meets and competing and everything.

She was attending an art class that we have since stopped. She would also like to take piano lessons, but it's just not feasible right now (money and time).

I don't know how some of you moms do more than one or two activity, especially with more than 1 kid. I'm hoping my baby boy will not be interested in doing anything for many years, and maybe I will get lucky and he will want to do gymnastics, too!

 

[Pickle's Mom]

Pickle is 9. She's on an extremely competitve math team. They only compete about 5 times a year, but they meet twice a week and she does a lot of exercises for it. She's also in an astronomy group but she rarely makes it to the weekly lectures anymore. She just likes the actual telescope time which is only once a month.

Oh, and we let her do summer swim league because cucumber is on it. She doesn't make many practices, but meets don't interfere with gymnastics. I feel iffy about it because if you are on a team, you should commit. But it's a very relaxed league.