Parents Gym dad conversation...made me giggle

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My DH stays out of it because as a former national champion wrestler and college recruited football player (he was injured his senior and had to stop playing football) he knows if he gets involved he will be the worst CGD ever. He goes to meets and knows when to cheer and what level and skills she is working but stays out on purpose.

Haha! Yeah I've had a few CGD moments myself. I try not to embarrass my DD too much. ;)
 
My DH stays out of it because as a former national champion wrestler and college recruited football player (he was injured his senior and had to stop playing football) he knows if he gets involved he will be the worst CGD ever. He goes to meets and knows when to cheer and what level and skills she is working but stays out on purpose.
This sounds familiar. My husband was a very good athlete in H.S. and takes a back seat at the gym out of respect and trust for the coaches. Thats how it was modeled by his parents during his sports career. Sadly, this has been misinterpreted at our gym as it sounds like it may have in this post. Judging a father's involvement based on gym, meet or lack of interactions with the parents/coaches seems unfair.
 
My DH takes dd to practice about 2/3 of the time and while he sometimes does some errands, he usually watches. I never take dd to practice during the school year.

He knows nothing about gymnastics despite this. He calls most things "that flip thing." He doesn't know anything about the levels. Dd is in the JO track and sometimes she'll make a comment about the Bronze girls or the Silver girls, and every time, without fail, dh will ask what Bronze or Silver is.

However he can imitate the dance parts of her floor routine. ;)
 
Gee I love your household! You should write a book, or have a blog :)
I am getting lots of good material... I would just need to wait to publish it until both gymmies are 18 so it doesn't affect them too much. I have actually been thinking of titles for a "fictional" story about a VERY SIMILAR situation since my life is unbelievable in a "you can't make this kind of stuff up" sort of way, lol.
 
I know more than DH, largely because of this place, but he is anything but uninvolved. He goes all papa bear when scores are flashed that are insufficiently reflective of his children's complete awesomeness. And he is the team papa-razzi. I couldn't make it to DS's first meet this year and made the mistake of telling him to "take some pictures and videos!" He came home with 40 videos and over 800 pictures, I kid you not. He could not possibly be prouder of both of his gymnasts.
 
Ok I did not mean any of the original post in a negative way! My husband never did gymnastics or any sport really. He travels a lot for work and works late enough so it's always me who brings her to practice. We also have two other children, one age 5, and are just generally up to our ears in stress with everyday life (two of my three kids are adhd/asd, we have financial problems, etc).

It's just generally implicit between us that gym is in that group of "wife jobs"(i.e., buying presents, taking kids to doctors, knowing what medications they take and when, planning birthday parties, folding laundry, etc etc). I gladly trade these off for the various "man jobs" he is usually in charge of (taking out the garbage/recycling, opening and dealing with the mail, fixing things, tech support for kids and family, tickling the kids at bedtime until they nearly puke, etc). He "volunteers" at the gym, pays the bills, and goes to the occasional meet. The wiggly 5 year old makes going as a whole family unpleasant, so he stays home and watches my video clips after. I am totally ok with all of this.
 
At our gym, you can tell if a father has dropped off their kid, a coach will step in and do their hair and the other kids share some of their snacks if the dad has forgotten to buy something from the cafe (because they never bring something from home) :)

If a mother waits during gym they'll stit down and have a chat with the other mothers. If a dad waits they go sit at a table by themself and watch a bit but mostly play with their phone. I've noticed that dads don't sit with each other, even if they know each other.

Some of them feel somewhat out of place sitting in what effectively feels like a mother's group a lot of the time, with small kids around the place too. Some also worry that people might think they're a bit odd watching girls in leotards, because they've been conditioned to feel uncomfortable about such things.
 
Well I am a gym husband. I take my daughter to practice and pick her up. I go to the meets. I pay the bills. I take my ds to his practice, he is young enough that it's not a drop off program though. I even pushed for us going to a meet in orlando so we could take our kids to disney world for the first time.

I know all the gym moms and I know most of the gym dads. As a father it is my responsibility to give my dd and ds everything they need to be successful. Also to be part of their life in anyway possible. I for one know eventually they won't want me around much when they reach teenage years. Why waste an opportunity to be the best dad you can be? Or parent for that matter?

If I feel I am becoming to much of a CGD, I back off. I don't watch practices because we are not allowed. So that helps immensely.

The way I see it, I have the best job in the world. I get to be involved with my kids and take them places that they love to be. If that is gym, church, or to spend time with friends it doesn't matter. What matters is that they are having a blast.
 
My husband is my daughter's step father. He comes to gym with us as this is our family time for the most part. I don't know if he understands what DD is doing out on the mats but he knows how to clap or cheer at appropriate moments. There are a couple of boys that are in some special program (not sure of what it is) but it is always fun to watch them when they get on the apparatus that is closest to the parent's seats Rings and High bar mostly. And our friend at the gym has a boy who is in the program so we like to watch and cheer for him. On the flipside my husband, bless his heart, is an exMarine. So I have had to put my little foot down and tell him no more pep talks to DD because he is very Marine like in his pep talks. ("You just need to push it, who cares about pain") :O, I also make sure he is not involved in some of the conditioning that she does at home because I am afraid he will push her too far. But he does stand there when I have my weekly talk with her coach and he is involved.
 
lol my daughter does privates and afterwards the coach and I have like a 5 minute talk............it is not all that. Just what skills she has gotten and to hand me her sheet of stuff she is supposed to work on at home (no skills just what distance to run each day and how many Vups and pull ups to do stuff like that.
 
DH is a little of both. He couldn't name the skill that DD competed on beam last season (a simple BHS), but he was able to explain to MIL the difference between compulsories and optionals. IDK.
 
I WANT ONE!!!
Honestly it is not all that big for example last one was: "Did you see her layout? They are getting so much better I can tell she has been spot on with her conditioning. Does she do it every day? Good ok so is she going to be in the expo next month? Awesome so I am going to be out of town but the coaches she should check in with are ----- and -----. When I get back in town in two weeks I am planning on testing her routines to see if they are competition ready (apparently there are two seasons the JO is over but there is something else too) is that ok with you? ok well here is her check off sheet for her conditioning while I am gone. See you when I get back." It is not a full blown conference or anything just bullet points. I think that our gym is more inclusive of the parents than some that I have read about up here. Plus it helps that her private session ends as the last one of the night so the gym stays open for an hour after DD private is over (I THINK but am not sure that this is clean up and coaches personal workout time) so there is not a rush to get to the next class or student after she is done.
 
If I have to listen to compulsory music on repeat, so does DH. :D I'm the driver to practice and the gymnastics fan, but he takes an interest and does what he can. He doesn't know skills, but he can tell when something has improved. He's not a sports guy... I'm schooling him slowly.
 
wow. My DH takes our DD to practice alot of times as I work most of the time from 3pm - 11pm and I miss out on them. He tries to make meets but he works alot on the weekends as I usually can either take a pto from work or switch with a coworker for that day off for meet. He does try his best, but for all things Holy he does NOT know the names of skills or anything like that. He congratulates her and is there when she has a bad day, but cannot remember to tell me what skill she missed or anything like that. He kind of knows the apparatuses so thats good I guess, and he does know what level shes in, its just he specifics that he doesnt remember.
 
There seems to be room for some gyms to compete for the market of customers/parents who value participating and even contributing. But parent involvement probably backfires in a culture of excessive jealousy (either jealous coaches or parents, or both).
 
Well hmmm, my dh is getting more interested now that dd won AA at state. But I think he just hasn't realized how important it is in dd life. I do keep all gym expenses on a separate bank account- except some travel. Hub would flip (unintended pun :) if he knew the $ gym incurs; and we're only moving from L5 now...
 
We had a long day of volunteering at a home meet this past weekend. After 12 hours, another mom and I went home and our husbands came to do clean up etc. They were chatting, and trying to figure out if our daughters knew each other. The other dad said his daughter's in level two. My husband said oh I think mine's in level 3 or 4 or something...I actually have no idea (she's level two). The other dad laughed and said don't feel bad, I just found out yesterday that mine's in level two. Lol!!
At a booster club meeting we were supposed to introduce ourselves and what level our DDs were. We got to one new Dad who said level 6. I must have looked at him funny because my DD was the only level 6 At that time. Then he said "well she's 6." Poor Dad we had to laugh.
 

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