does your dd (or ds)

[Monkeygirlsmom]

have an older kid they seem to look up to?
my youngest has all of a sudden become buddies with this one girl! who has seem ed to take both my girls under her wing!! its soo cute!!
They all even picked out matching leos!! (tho I told my kids if they wanted them they had to pay for them themselves )
anyhow It seems to make gymnastics even more fun than they had before !! (tho they had a ton of fun before!!) but I think its cute for the older kids to
have fun with the younger ones!!!

[Shawn]

My DD just moved up to L4. The L5 and L6 teams practice on the same nights and DD is the youngest in the gym by a full two years (she's 6 and the next youngest is 8). Several of the girls have been helping DD get her skills and the older ones in particular have been very supportive and encouraging. I was worried about the social aspect of this move to L4 because of DD's age but it seems to be going just fine. She has really got a lot of girls to look up to and to watch to see what she's going to get to do at the next levels, too.

[gymmomntc2e6]

Our L5's LOVE to "take care" of our L3's

[flippymonkeysmom]

My dd loves going to the early practice sometimes and playing assistant coach to the level 3's and 4's. The level 6's and up practice at different times so they don't see them that often - but she loves all the cute little ones.

[midwestgymmom]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Shawn My DD just moved up to L4. The L5 and L6 teams practice on the same nights and DD is the youngest in the gym by a full two years (she's 6 and the next youngest is 8). Several of the girls have been helping DD get her skills and the older ones in particular have been very supportive and encouraging. I was worried about the social aspect of this move to L4 because of DD's age but it seems to be going just fine. She has really got a lot of girls to look up to and to watch to see what she's going to get to do at the next levels, too.

That is what happens at our gym too. The level 4's are in awe when they see the level 10s doing stuff and then they come over and help them buy giving them pointers. And the older girls love doing it even if they are having a bad practice or something.

[mariposamama]

Oh definitely yes. My DD really likes a few of the older girls in the levels above her and always talks about them.

There is a 10 year old in L4 with her that totally babies her. She also helps her out and will explain stuff to her when she doesn't understand. She is really sweet with her. Though my DD is currently "mad" at her because she kept winning everything today. LOL.

[Blackie6]

LOL, my DD also loves the older girls. I think she knows everyone on every level by name! One girl she particularly loves is the same age as ,my oldest so she knows her thru school functions and is like her "shadow" at times in the gym when she can. I think it's great how sweet the older girls are with the younger ones. They are more patient w/them then the coaches are sometimes, LOL

[mygirlflipz]

My dd used to love it when they "big" girls gave her extra attention. Our gym in the US really encouraged those types of mentoring relationships between girls. They actually started a "Big Sis/Little Sis" program. A younger, less experienced gymnast was assigned (by the coaches) to a older, more experienced gymnast. They supported each other throughout the year (with fun little gifts and notes for meets) and it also gave the younger girl someone to go to if she needed to ask questions or needed someone to bounce things off of. My dd and her big sis wrote to each other in a journal. It gave them the opportunity to get to know each other better and discover things they had in common outside gymnastics.