Parents Why did you enroll your child in gymnastics?

[mariposa]

I remember joking when DD was 2 that she should be a gymnast someday as she was always climbing everything, had great balance, etc. But, I really didn't want her to be in gymnastics ever. She took a dance class at almost 4 and was extremely bored. They did tumbling in the class as well and she loved that. she asked if she could do gymnastics after she saw something (i think a commercial for little gym?) and so i figured we could try it out. i had no idea that it was so common for little girls to compete and when i saw all those girls there (it was summer and the team girls were there everyday) i couldn't believe it.

i didn't think my DD would ever get to team gymnastics. it took her 10 months to learn how to do a cartwheel and she never looked graceful either. she is very strong and moderately flexible.

at the first 2 gyms she was at i never even worried about team being in the future. but then at her old gym, things started clicking and she was starting to want to learn more things and got bored, so we found her current gym and she has come soo far in so little time there. they saw what no one else saw and got past the silly, easily distractabile, spirited little girl she is and channeled that into what she is now. she still isn't the most talented, but she is strong, tries hard and LOVES every minute she spends at the gym and asks for more. LOL.

i have to say i would prefer she did something else, but i also want her to be happy. so i totally support her and am beginning to relax a little and enjoy the whole idea more. i have researched and researched and freaked myself out and back, but i am really trying to get used to the whole idea. finding the chalk bucket has helped tons.

i do love the girl that she has become while at gymnastics. she is a spirited girl and has a hard time focusing on things that aren't physical. we homeschool and getting her to focus for school work can be very challenging (we do most of our learning away from the table). she is such a different child at the gym. she still gets distracted (usually she will end up almost in a trance watching the team girls practice) and can't sit still, but she is doing sooo much better and she really tries hard. at home she gives up easy when it comes to school and writing her letters can reduce her to tears at times (if the letters don't look right or she has to write on lined paper, LOL) but at gym, she NEVER gives up. she tries really hard. i love to see that side of her.

 

[Billy]

When my DD was 3, I wanted to find something for her to do other than just hang out at home with me all day. I found a little tumbling class at the community center and she just loved it. So, after we moved, we decided to find her a gymnastics class at a "real" gym. She really took to it immediately. Her teacher even commented to me about how determined she was, even at just 4 years old. She wanted to do everything exactly right and would ask for direction and listen very closely and try to do as instructed. Her teacher said she'd never seen a kid work so hard at such a young age. And, this gym had team, too, and DD wanted to be like the "big girls". She's wanted to be on team from the beginning. And the rest, as they say, is history. This is all she's ever wanted to do and she's still going strong.

 

[kristilyn73]

My DD was 4 1/2 and doing headstands and cartwheels all over the house. She also had so much energy that I didnt know how to channel it.

She started Gymnastics and the rest is history!

 

[gymnellie]

Well, I actually let dd decide what she wanted to do. Alot of the different activities around here let you have a free trial class, so we did that. We did the karate, dance, gymnastics, and a few others and she decided on gymnastics. She is so glad that she chose it! She absolutely loves it. I've tried to talk her into trying cheaper sports, but it's a no go! She won't hear of it.

 

[Livinatthegym]

A friend of mine had an older dd with a physical disability. Gymnastics was something she could do that didn't involve a ball. When my friend's little dd was old enough, she took her to the gym with big sis. They invited my dd1 to go along, and the rest is history.

 

[MyGymStar]

She was in competative cheerleading at our local gym for one season. She was working on her backhandsprings, and we enrolled her in Privates with the head gymnastics coach. He told us in her second private that she needed to join the gymnastics team. She was 2 months away from her 7th birthday. That was a little over a year and a half ago. Now she is training level 7! It goes soooooo fast We had no idea what we were getting into

 

[JBS]

My last post in this thread about myself doesn't make sense.

We enrolled our daughter because my Wife and I are both coaches. We see true value in gymnastics. It's one of the perks of the jobs too...free classes.

 

[hunde2]

DD had a friend in daycare who did gym and was always on the monkeybars at daycare,so the owner of the daycare said that she should do gymnastics.She went to gymclass with her friend and advanced faster than her friend who ended up quitting.
She started gym when she was 6 and is now ten and competing Level 8.

 

[starmaker]

When dd2 was born dd1 was only 14 months old. We participated in a mommy and me gymboree class for a few months. DD1 was climbing, running, etc. Some moms there told me about MY GYM. They said it was more physical and more gymnastics oriented. DD1 went there till she started preschool at 2.5years old. Her strength, agility, and energy were very apparent then.

Finally shortly after her 3rd birthday she started a preschool class and progressed quickly. Now she will be five next month and training L4.

 

[Tuduri]

My daughter was invited by a friend to watch her at a recreational gymnastics class. We did not realize that the gym was barely two minutes away from our home and incredibly convenient for us. My daughter, who was almost eight at the time, begged me to allow her to join. My identical twin brother has two daughters(who are much older than dd)who were both in gymnastics. Both were on the Cal Berkeley team at the time. One had reached level ten and the other elite before entering college. I had vowed to not push my daughter into gymnastics. I didn't want to feel like a copy-cat. In fact, I'd done everying I could to get dd involved in martial arts. But when your little girl asks for something, what's a push-over dad to do? Give in, of course. Eight months later, dd was asked to join the level five team. Now dd is in level eight and about to go to States in less than two weeks. After her level five season finished, dd's coach asked her what she wanted to do in the future. Without any prompting she answered, "I want to be an elite gymnast".

Dd could have been a great martial artist. She could do a perfect split at four years of age. And by five she was doing high wheel kicks and painful round kicks(on me)! But it was not to be. Alas, she fell in love with gymnastics. She spurned the heavy bag for the beam. She ignored the crazy bag for the bars. She completely forgot the speed bag for the vault. And, finally, she turned her back on shadow boxing for the floor. It was meant to be.

I think she will be better at gymnastics than her two older cousins.

Tuduri

PS It helped that my son's baseball training center was situated very close to the gym.

 

[Gymnasticsgirl521]

DD was 2 when we took her to the gym for the first time. I took Dance and Gymnastics when I was a child and started at the same age. I remember it helped to build confidence. I have to say we started DD in both Dance and Gymnastics at the same time. I know it is hard to see what a 2 year old is good at but Gymnastics won out and she was just 3 when she was invited to join an invitation only class. Dance she was good at but she didn't have a passion for it. Now she gets dance for 6 weeks in the summer at the gym so it is the best of both worlds.

We did start in a parent tot class and I LOVED the time helping my DD and we now go once a week or every other for a couple of hours of open gym that we work together like in the old days.