Help me decide about gymnastics

[sunnylady303]

I have no experience with gymnastics. My DD8 (almost 9) is a gymnast - constantly flipping, hanging, cartwheeling on the ground, in trees, doing back bend flip over things on our rain barrels. She does it all with an innate grace. I have no idea where she gets any of this. But it seems to be who she is. She has been begging for more than a year to take gymnastics.

 

We have struggled with it. Money is very tight and the studio is about 35 minutes away. We are simple, rural farm folk and it seemed way too hyped and crazy and worldly to get our daughter into.

 

But I see more and more skill and talent in her and have felt like I am holding her back so I called the studio yesterday, the one that everyone I know recommends. They had a tryout thingy to determine which level new kids would be in that happened last night. I thought it would be good to go and get a feel for the place and see where she would be.

 

Well she was placed in the highest level. They said they have only had one other child who started that high. She did tumbling and bars and balance beam and trampoline and I was in awe at how she did. So were the instructors. They absolutely could not believe she had never had gymnastics. And, of course, she loved it.

 

So I guess I am looking for advice. I mean, on one hand, I want to encourage her to do what she is passionate about. On the other hand, it is only gymnastics. I don't quite know what to expect. Or what to think. I guess I'm just looking for others' perspectives and these who have been there, done that.

[Terabith]

Honestly, with that amount of passion and skill, I would be tempted to try very hard to allow her to participate.

[fairfarmhand]

my dd is alot like yours. She takes a 1 hour class to improve her skills each week. The gym would love to have her there more often, but we can't afford it, nor will it work with all the farm stuff that we have to do. Right now, it is enough. We're hoping in the future that she will be able to teach there to help pay for other classes.

[Jennifer in MI]

I have a dd on a gymnastics team, so I'm coming from that perspective. At our gym, they take the young girls with talent and try to get them on a team. The commitment level is HIGH! My dd is only 6 and is already training 9 hours a week. They wanted her 12 hours. If you don't want to go that route, you could ask about private lessons. See what you think. See how you like the coaches. See how she does with it once/week. Make decisions from there.

 

What is the time commitment of this highest level? Does your dd want to do it that much? (The girls at the highest levels at our gym are training over 20 hours/week!!)

 

Just know it can get very busy very fast. But, it sure is fun!!!

[lmrich]

If you can afford the time and money, I would let her. My kids love their extra stuff. They have learned a lot of valuable lessons from sports, dance, theater, music etc... However, if you can not afford it, then no. The bigger lesson is to live within your means.

[plansrme]

it seemed way too hyped and crazy and worldly to get our daughter into.

 

If this is your attitude about gymnastics, don't do it. And she is many, many years away from being able to make even a small dent in the cost of her tuition by teaching. If the tuition you would pay now is a stretch, keep in mind that if she progresses quickly, so will your tuition.

 

And as the mom of a competitive gymnast, I take offense at your characterization of her and our life as hyped, crazy and worldly. But that wasn't your question.

 

Terri

[sunnylady303]

And as the mom of a competitive gymnast, I take offense at your characterization of her and our life as hyped, crazy and worldly. But that wasn't your question.

 

Terri

 

I am mortified to have offended you. I didn't mean it like I think it sounded. For instance, there are girls who are there having fun and that is awesome. There are girls who have a passion and that is incredible and growth producing.

 

What I meant was that there seems to be a lot of parents who push their girls into it for their own desires. And by crazy, I meant that it is a lot of time and commitment which would make my life crazy. And by worldly, I meant that I am afraid (and I don't really know) that from a Christian perspective, it might be too consuming and un-Christian somehow.

 

And bottom line, I was asking so that folks like you could give me your opinions. So I wish you would. I was sharing my impressions and perhaps I am totally mistaken. It sounds like I may be; please, enlighten me. Again, I am so sorry.

[JumpyTheFrog]

I understand what you mean about hyped and crazy. You are concerned about it being a high pressure sport.

 

And by worldly, I meant that I am afraid (and I don't really know) that from a Christian perspective, it might be too consuming and un-Christian somehow.

 

As a fellow Christian, I don't see my son being consumed by his one hour of gymnastics per week, or the 15 minutes of practice per day he does at home. I schedule his practice time right before his school work to help him get the wiggles out. Learning to do everything and work hard "as unto the Lord" is a very Christian thing. Taking care of our bodies by stretching or exercise is also a good thing.

[Jennifer in MI]

I

As a fellow Christian, I don't see my son being consumed by his one hour of gymnastics per week, or the 15 minutes of practice per day he does at home. I schedule his practice time right before his school work to help him get the wiggles out. Learning to do everything and work hard "as unto the Lord" is a very Christian thing. Taking care of our bodies by stretching or exercise is also a good thing.

 

:iagree:

 

As is following a God-given talent a good thing. Honestly, gymnastics has consumed my daughter. But, it hasn't interrupted her love for God. I think she's right where she needs to be right now.

 

I really hope you can work it out for your dd. Sounds like she's really, really good!

[klmama]

OP, if you have limits on how much time she can even be there, you probably don't have to worry much about its effect on her or your family.

[abacus2]

My younger sister was a very talented gymnast. My parents didn't think they would be able to afford it, but they received an income based scholarship which made it possible. She did gymnastics, including competitive team, from age 9 through 8th grade. She has been able to supplement her income a little teaching classes since then. Now at almost 30 she is in better shape than any of her siblings, I think largely because of the muscle she built in gymnastics. I also think it is ok to try it out but limit participation to a schedule that makes sense for the family.

[astrid]

I am mortified to have offended you. I didn't mean it like I think it sounded. For instance, there are girls who are there having fun and that is awesome. There are girls who have a passion and that is incredible and growth producing.

 

What I meant was that there seems to be a lot of parents who push their girls into it for their own desires. And by crazy, I meant that it is a lot of time and commitment which would make my life crazy. And by worldly, I meant that I am afraid (and I don't really know) that from a Christian perspective, it might be too consuming and un-Christian somehow.

And bottom line, I was asking so that folks like you could give me your opinions. So I wish you would. I was sharing my impressions and perhaps I am totally mistaken. It sounds like I may be; please, enlighten me. Again, I am so sorry.

 

Wow; I thought one of the traits that America so loves about Gabby Douglas is her strong Christian faith? She's about as high-level as one could get in gymnastics, I would think, and I doubt she could be accused of living an "un-Christian" life.

 

But then I'm no expert on either gymnastics of Christianity.

 

I just want to comment on one more point you made in your OP-- you said, "It's just gymnastics." It seems that to your dd, it's much more than that, and if at all possible, I think it should be nurtured.

 

astrid

[sunnylady303]

Wow; I thought one of the traits that America so loves about Gabby Douglas is her strong Christian faith? She's about as high-level as one could get in gymnastics, I would think, and I doubt she could be accused of living an "un-Christian" life.

 

But then I'm no expert on either gymnastics of Christianity.

 

Again I was only wondering. And we have not followed the Olympics at all. Although now I think about it I should try and youtube some of it for DD.

 

I really meant no offense at all. Our faith is important to us and I want to live as though it is. I had no idea whether gymnastics would be in any way bad for that. I am as ignorant of gymnastics as it is possible to be, which is why I was asking for advice. I am hearing (clearly, I might add), from those who have done it or have kids who have, that it doesn't need to be.

 

That, along with encouragement to let my DD follow this passion, was what I was in search of. Again, I apologize for the careless way I worded my original question.

[JumpyTheFrog]

Our faith is important to us and I want to live as though it is. I had no idea whether gymnastics would be in any way bad for that.

 

It's a non-violent, non-sexualized sport. The girls aren't dressed like hookers and don't dance like strippers. While I've seen moms here concerned about suggestive moves and costumes in jazz dance classes, I haven't noticed any complaints about gymnastics.

 

It's great that you want to carefully choose activities that aren't against your faith, but having left a legalistic church myself, I wonder if maybe you have heard a lot of teachings that try to portray almost every activity as "worldly." I myself have only heard that word used by teachers and authors (and their followers) that tend to be heavy on rules, such as the patriarchal, uber-conservative types. I'm not saying you are one of these people - I have no way to know that - just that I wonder if you're surrounded by these types of people.

[Georgiana Daniels]

We're Christians and my daughter loves gymnastics :) I think we're following the Lord by nurturing the talents and desires He gave her.

 

If you're worried about time and budget, be prepared to say no, many times over. It is a sport that can quickly consume because they want so much training time at a young age. Our daughter is 8 and over the summer was training 19 hours a week, but now that school is starting we're back down to 15.

 

So many positive things have come from her training, like the confidence that comes from knowing if you put forth enough time and effort you can accomplish ANYTHING. And she's learning to perform in front of large audiences and compose herself, calm her nerves, and focus. Being able to handle yourself in front of people is an awesome life skill. She also has an amazing level of concentration.

[fairfarmhand]

We're Christians and my daughter loves gymnastics :) I think we're following the Lord by nurturing the talents and desires He gave her.

 

If you're worried about time and budget, be prepared to say no, many times over. It is a sport that can quickly consume because they want so much training time at a young age. Our daughter is 8 and over the summer was training 19 hours a week, but now that school is starting we're back down to 15.

 

So many positive things have come from her training, like the confidence that comes from knowing if you put forth enough time and effort you can accomplish ANYTHING. And she's learning to perform in front of large audiences and compose herself, calm her nerves, and focus. Being able to handle yourself in front of people is an awesome life skill. She also has an amazing level of concentration.

 

:iagree:

[Momma_Bear]

Honestly, with that amount of passion and skill, I would be tempted to try very hard to allow her to participate.

We're Christians and my daughter loves gymnastics :) I think we're following the Lord by nurturing the talents and desires He gave her.

 

If you're worried about time and budget, be prepared to say no, many times over. It is a sport that can quickly consume because they want so much training time at a young age. Our daughter is 8 and over the summer was training 19 hours a week, but now that school is starting we're back down to 15.

 

So many positive things have come from her training, like the confidence that comes from knowing if you put forth enough time and effort you can accomplish ANYTHING. And she's learning to perform in front of large audiences and compose herself, calm her nerves, and focus. Being able to handle yourself in front of people is an awesome life skill. She also has an amazing level of concentration.

:iagree:

[jennynd]

I will like to see her in Olympic in 8 yrs :D

[momtotkbb]

Gymnastics can consume a lot of time - but most things that people are passionate about can take a lot of time.

 

Are you talking about your dd doing classes? Or are you talking about your dd being on pre-team or team? As she increases with pre-team and team so does the time commitment and expense. You will not only have the expense of the training, but will need team leos, warm-ups, generally most team girls have foot-apparel that is cute to wear in with their warm-ups for march-in. Other team expenses generally include team bags, fund-raising events, booster club dues which help to pay for the coaches exp for meets, parties, little sis/big sis programs, etc.

 

On team you will also need to be aware that meets happen on the weekends - this includes Sundays - most times you will not know the schedule until a couple weeks prior to competition and you will have already paid your entrance fee --- so if competing on Sundays is out for your family that will hamper your dd's ability to compete. As she progresses in level, depending upon the gym she trains in, there will be competitions that are further away from home and will require travel - everything doesn't happen within a couple hours of home, most of the time.

 

The girls on our teams share dreams, hopes, frustrations, they work to build each other up, they pray for one another, console one another, they are a family. We've banded together as a group to support families through cancer treatments, family deaths, accidents, etc. Our team is made up of girls from different denominations but all banded together by a common goal and realization that their talent is a gift from God. We open our gym sponsored meets w/ prayer at each session and I've even seen coaches stop practice when the girls were younger and scared during a storm to offer prayer.

 

Oh, and training is year round. There are no summers off. Generally you might get one week out of the year off - but you even train Christmas Eve, New Years, etc. when you are at higher levels.

 

Gymnastics can build friendships, life skills, discipline that can follow the child for life. As the mom of a 16 yo level 9 gymnast I'm glad that we allowed her to follow her passion and I would easily do it again. There were sacrifices - more in terms of time and having to have other siblings tag along but our family has all agreed we'd do it again. We do the same for our other kids - music, baseball, etc.

Edited August 10, 2012 by momtotkbb
forgot something

[sunnylady303]

This is all so helpful. I do see this as her passion and I don't mind the time commitment. Money will be an issue but we'll cross that bridge.

 

I signed her up today. She is over the moon.

 

Missing Sundays would be an issue if there are too many but otherwise we can find ways to deal with that. Thank you all for your wise counsel.

[jenn-]

This is all so helpful. I do see this as her passion and I don't mind the time commitment. Money will be an issue but we'll cross that bridge.

 

I signed her up today. She is over the moon.

 

Missing Sundays would be an issue if there are too many but otherwise we can find ways to deal with that. Thank you all for your wise counsel.

 

I will let you know that one year every single level 5 meet that our gym went to ended up competing Sunday morning. Granted our gym only does 6ish meets at that level spread out over 3 months, but if missing church is an issue, something like this could happen. We also practice in the evenings during the week and some people end up with Wednesday church conflicts.

 

I hope your DD will enjoy her time in gymnastics. It is expensive and time consuming so be forewarned.

[dansamy]

You're a Christian in the church building and out of it. Missing organized service on a Sunday or Wednesday doesn't mean you can't have "home" church service before the competition.

[Ottakee]

You might be able to negotiate some cleaning, book work, making phone calls, etc. for part of the tuition fee.

 

I can see how it could become very time consuming, etc. Just stick to your limits. If it is just one class a week then that is what it is. You don't HAVE to join a team, train 20 hours a week, etc.

 

My daughter is taking lessons at a hunter jumper barn right now. We are just plain old rural hobby farm folks. When we got there yesterday with my daughter in her boots from Craig's lists, $3 stretch pants from Walmart and a T-shirt there was a family there unloading a $20,000 unbroke 3 year old horse for their daughter.........while my daughter rides a $600 horse.

 

Some girls there train 6 days a week but for now we just do our hour a week and she enjoys her horse here at home. The riding instructor/barn owner is FINE with that. When we started, I told her right off that we could only do 1 lesson a week.

 

Some shows are $400 just to enter for the weekend...........while we do the little local shows where it is $4 to show :-)

 

All that to say, try it, she might like it but don't feel bad if you need to limit her time/commitment. She can still learn and have fun.

[DragonFaerie]

Gymnastics can definitely be a crazy, all-consuming sport. But they can gain so much out of it, regardless of the level they end up achieving. My DD was a very talented gymnast. She did competitive gymnastics from the time she was 6 years old (she won two state titles at age 6) until just before she turned 10 and was training level 8. She was training 24 hours a week at a top-notch gym in Texas. It was her life.

 

And then it wasn't. The skills got bigger and scarier. She had already broken her foot once and had a nagging knee injury. My child was taking ibuprofen with her breakfast every morning. One day she came to me and said she wanted to quit. She was stressed out and unhappy and tired of being in pain all the time. Her heart just wasn't in it any more.

 

It was really hard for me to let her quit given the huge amount of talent she seemed to have. But, her happiness was paramount. Gymnastics is hard enough when you love it, but it would be unbearable if you didn't.

 

But, gymnastics did so many wonderful things for my daughter. A year later, she still has incredible strength and flexibility. She knows how to work hard and has drive and determination and confidence. And she has found a new passion in dance. In fact, less than a year into dance, her teacher is moving her on to do pointe, which is apparently a big deal. Her teacher tells me her gymnastics background gave her the strength, form, and body control and awareness to become an outstanding dancer.

 

So, long story longer (:D), even though the big gym dreams didn't pan out, she is still reaping the rewards from the training and discipline of gymnastics.

[Frances]

This is all so helpful. I do see this as her passion and I don't mind the time commitment. Money will be an issue but we'll cross that bridge.

 

I signed her up today. She is over the moon.

 

Missing Sundays would be an issue if there are too many but otherwise we can find ways to deal with that. Thank you all for your wise counsel.

 

I just want to say that I am so impressed by your willingness to be open to the opinions and experiences of others. :) I hope your daughter has a wonderful experience!

[TXBeth]

In fact, less than a year into dance, her teacher is moving her on to do pointe, which is apparently a big deal. Her teacher tells me her gymnastics background gave her the strength, form, and body control and awareness to become an outstanding dancer.

 

So, long story longer (:D), even though the big gym dreams didn't pan out, she is still reaping the rewards from the training and discipline of gymnastics.

 

I'm not a dancer, but I have relatives who dance, and I would caution you to be sure your DD has been cleared by a doctor to go on pointe. Usually that is not allowed until at least age 12.

[DragonFaerie]

I'm not a dancer, but I have relatives who dance, and I would caution you to be sure your DD has been cleared by a doctor to go on pointe. Usually that is not allowed until at least age 12.

 

Thanks, I know. I've talked to the dance director at length about it. From what she tells me (and I'm just learning about all this), the biggest factors to consider are strength in the legs, feet and ankles, and excellent technique and form.

[TXBeth]

Thanks, I know. I've talked to the dance director at length about it. From what she tells me (and I'm just learning about all this), the biggest factors to consider are strength in the legs, feet and ankles, and excellent technique and form.

 

And bone development. DH's cousins had to get X-rays at twelve to make sure their bones were ready for pointe before they were allowed to start. They had been ready in strength/skill for a couple of years already by then. I'm sure the director knows what she's talking about though, and I really don't, just what I've heard through the grapevine.

[Mommy22alyns]

It's a non-violent, non-sexualized sport. The girls aren't dressed like hookers and don't dance like strippers. While I've seen moms here concerned about suggestive moves and costumes in jazz dance classes, I haven't noticed any complaints about gymnastics.

 

 

:iagree: We chose gymnastics over dance for such reasons, plus Rebecca seemed more like a gymnast than a dancer. She's been going since she was 3 and just joined the competitive team. She eats, sleeps, and breathes gymnastics! I think it's good for her to have gymnastics in her life.

[ByGrace3]

We as a family really struggled with the gymnastics commitment. DD started at 2 and hasn't stopped. When she was 4 I tried every other sport I could think of to see if there was something else she might like more. She enjoyed it all but after 3 months of trying when it came down to choose, it was always gymnastics. We were also concerned about the time and money. And honestly, just be prepared. It ramps up fast. DD was on pre-team (1 hour) at 5, level 2/3 (3 hours) at 6 and now practicing 8.5 hours a week for level 4 at age 7. She loves it. It is a huge time and money commitment, but thankfully, we homeschool! ;) I don't think we could do it if she were in school 7 hours a day.

 

dd has learned so much from gym. Confidence, work ethic, balance, team work, obedience, diligence, endurance to name a few. I can honestly say up until now it has been worth the commitment, and we have committed to seek God as each year and each level come to make one commitment at a time.

 

Also, yes gymnastics moms can be high stress and a little drama filled at times but they are committed to their kids and have sacrificed a lot as a family for them, so I try to have grace. ;)

 

As for gym being "worldly" I agree it is tame in comparison. I can't imagine dd being in cheer or dance around here. DH had an issue with a leotard in the beginning! :lol: We still have standards and she is more than aware that she is one of the only if not the only girl at the gym that isn't allowed to wear open back leos. We have talked about it and she is fine with it, but she certainly notices! :tongue_smilie:

 

As for church and gymnastics interfering. It will very much depend on your view. We have said that for our family, church comes first for regular participation. Meaning, we are willing to miss church here and there, but anything that would regularly take her away from church is a no go. For example, her team practices MWF. Wednesday is during church. dd goes for the first 1.5 and then misses the second half. She is fine with it and isn't the only girl to leave. To us it is setting precedent and establishing that God and church come first.

 

Continue seeking God each step and enjoy the fun gymnastics journey! :)