Practicing at home!

[Monkeygirlsmom]

my kids soo want to do things at home but we dont have mats and other etc!!
Soo I let them do there cartwheels and stretching at home!!

what do your kids do while at home!! etc!!

[Blackie6]

I try not to let my DD(6) do anything at home, LOL, but it's hard. She mostly does handstands and splits all over the place. Sometimes tries the press handstands. I do have a balance beam (5ft) that she plays on sometimes. We also have a trampoline, but do not encourage her to do anything but jump (for play) on that either. I feel like since she is in the gym for 11 hours a week that it is ample time to practice in a safe & supervised place. I would hate for her to get hurt at home trying something from the gym.

[JBS]

My daughter is 2 so she can't do much. We let her do forward rolls, donkey kicks, animal walks, and all sorts of other movement education.

As a coach, I do not ever ask for skills to be done at home. Team kids maybe asked to do a little stretching or dance memorization, but not skills. They are in the gym enough, they need to play at home.

My views with homework for school or sports are the same. 90% or more of the learning should go on in the actual hours they are at the gym or school.

[gym law mom]

As far as at home gym practice, I agree with JBS. Most of the training should be done at the gym and left there. Sure, if your daughter wants to do extra thats fine(just like wanting to do extra multiplication). I drew the line at no acro stuff. Handstands, cartwheels, stretching, working on splits, front limbers(I must have seen 1000+ of those) are all things they can do in the house without much risk of injury. I think where JBS is coming from is no structured home practice time is needed. I only let my daughter do what she was doing without a spot in the gym, so if she was doing BWOs just fine, then she could do them at home.

Some gyms make the parents agree not to coach their child at home. We had to sign a form saying we would not in any way coach our child. Ok, I wouldn't know how to coach her so that wasn't an issue. Yes, I would watch handstands or BWOs or whatever and she would tell me to let her know about form---legs straight, toes pointed as much as they can be? There is also the never ending "can you time my handstand?" Now, with alot of hours in the gym for team, she doesn't do much at home except the timing of the handstand---don't know why that has stuck, but its pretty harmless.

[JBS]

Quote:
Originally Posted by gym law mom I think where JBS is coming from is no structured home practice time is needed.

Exactly...if their playing includes cartwheels around the yard all day, that's fine with me.

[Ingymmom]

We don't do any kind of structured practice at home either... like most gymnasts mine will cartwheel to the moon & back, but I don't have any prac equip @ home and have refused my dd's pleadings to buy any... my kids all love to practice stuff at home & if they do it on their own so be it, they are allowed to do pretty much whatever they want except my dd can not do bhs's (or fhs's) on the floor (or couch, bed etc. LOL - believe me, they try) . I think it depends on how much time is spent in the gym and whether or not the child WANTS to practice at home. My dd spends an hour a week in ballet and LOVES to practice at home - I have no problem with that... some kids just enjoy it & want to continue it from class. Some skills comes easier at home just messing around, but my personal opinion (I agree w/JBS & GLM) is when you leave structured practice in the gym, they are always excited to get back to the gym to work on whatever it is they just learned or made better... in the meantime your home (at least our home) becomes quite an obstacle course to just play practice...

[gracefulone]

When I coach school-age, the girls always ask me what they can do at home (they are anxious to move up) I tell them to practice their splits, bridges, and after that see what their parents' limits are.

[gymdog]

I think it's fine for them to play around, make up routines, etc, however like someone said earlier, it's probably best to limit it to no acro skills. There just aren't suitable landings, and too much stuff around - I know a lot of people who would play around doing round off and then broke their toe when it hit the dresser Also if they kick a sibling or pet trying to do something with too much movement, it could result in serious injury to the other party. Even out in the yard if there is a chance someone else could get underfoot, probably best to keep it simple. And while I think some bridge work is fine, it might be best to keep it under excess if the gymnasts isn't naturally flexible. I don't think that kind of stress on a growing back is really encouraged and especially on harder surfaces that aren't absorbing anything when the feet or hands come down for a limber. I would suggest caution on that. A few once in awhile won't hurt of course, they just shouldn't try to push it.

[Monkeygirlsmom]

I was thinking the ideas of stretching and things like that!! they do cartwheels and all the other I just get nervous when I walk outside and they try to do the thing that need a spot!! they love to play gymnastics all the time!! I even bought this little kit that has some VERY basic on the dvd and that has appeased them with not making me worried!!

[gym law mom]

Stretching is fine. My daughter used to like to work on her splits---getting down a little lower, straight legs, pointing the toes etc. Now I notice that sometimes when she's watching TV or doing homework, she sits in a middle split---guess after a few years it just becomes natural.

MGM--Jem posted some great exercises to do at home to teach young gymnasts how to isolate and tighten muscle groups. Forget which thread its under. If the girls are driving you crazy, maybe try some of those. It will be beneficial to them and might be something new and fun they can keep doing without risk of wrecking the house or themselves!