Parents Late Policy

[lovegymnastics22]

Does anyone's gym make kids do a physical thing for being late (push-ups, climb ropes)? We are frequently a few minutes late because it just takes time to get from school to gym and get the girls changed. I just found out our gym does this. Being late is 100% never the girls fault and I am beyond angry that this punishment is being imposed on them. The coach is both aware of our commute, and that my daughter personally has been having anxiety about gym before gym, and now she also has to worry about mommy making her late. Am I out of line being mad here?

 

[Deleted member 18037]

We, as in us parents, get nasty grams, aka email lectures. Our gym coaches/owners get the parents are in charge, so we get "schooled

Really, until they can drive themselves, its not their fault.

That said, they do not get out of warm up. So they might be doing warm up/conditioning after others have moved on.

 

[gwenmom]

Because of where we live and what time DD gets out of school she is about 5-10 minutes late for practice. I spoke with her coach and they are ok with it.

Have you spoken with the coach regarding your concerns and schedule and punishment specifically. They may 'know' but not piece it together when they are in the thick of practice.

 

[MAcastsalot]

Is it presented to the kids as a punishment? DDs team does conditioning and stretching for the first 45-60 minutes of practice. Some girls are regularly late due to distance from school, and traffic can be horrific around here as well, although it's typically 15 minutes for most of them. Those girls typically just jump right in and join the team. When girls are very late and miss most of conditioning and stretching they are given warm ups and stretches to do (to prevent injury) then they do conditioning after practice is over. It is not a punishment, rather they have to complete their tasks like everyone else.

 

[Faith]

Late policy at one club we visited was more than 10 minutes late and you weren't allowed in the gym. At all. You missed your entire 3 hour practice.

 

[Iwannabemargo]

Harsh @Faith !

We are sometimes late, our normal commute in winter is 25 minutes, can take 45 minutes in Summer in holiday traffic, we try to be on time but coach knows it the length of the commute.

 

[my4buffaloes]

I find it hard to believe that the gym won't work with you if you are late regularly because of your school end time. It might be time to revisit that with them. If there is plenty of time to get there and there are other issues that only pop up occasionally then I would just deal with the consequences. Our gym requires extra conditioning if you are late for an 8 am practice. During the week they get that kids have to get there from school and they understand.

 

[mom2newgymnast]

My dd is always at least 10 minutes late to practice. Practice starts at 4:00pm and school ends at 3;45. Even being one of the first in carpool line, it takes at least 5 minutes to get out of the parking lot and the gym is 15-20 minutes away. The school won't let her leave early and I wouldn't want her to anyway, so it is what it is.

Usually she just joins the practice doing whatever they are doing. It's always either conditioning or warm up at that point. If the girls have already done rope climbs or stall bars or something like that, she'll usually have to do them by herself to catch up. It's not considered punishment, but they do want to make sure she is warmed up and has had at least some of the conditioning she needs.

 

[Anna's_Mom]

I guess it depends on how you look at it. If she misses the initial warm up and the team is on to stretching, she is asked to do some quick things to catch up -- generally jumping jacks and push ups. I wouldn't call it punishment as it is really trying to get the maximum warm up in minimum time so they don't miss any more stretching than necessary.

 

[JoyAvenueMom]

I would be upset if the gym knows your situation and punishes the girls anyway. My dd is 15-25 minutes late EVERY day because of school release and commute. Thankfully, the gym is very understanding and makes sure she gets an adequate warm up regardless.

 

[lovegymnastics22]

Posted too soon. I spoke to the coaches and we worked it out. It doesn't apply to my DD.

 

[my4buffaloes]

I figured they would be reasonable! Glad you got it worked out.

 

[SurpriseGymMom]

At our gym, if you are late, you are still doing the entire standard warmup. By yourself. If you're only a little late, you can catch up to the rest of the group and finish up the warm up with them (it goes quicker if you do it alone). Nobody gets "punished" with extra conditioning or anything like that, you just have to complete the warmup our gym has set in place as our standard.

 

[mariposa]

Glad it was a misunderstanding, but I think it's ridiculous to punish kids for being late, especially since most aren't driving themselves there!

 

[lovegymnastics22]

They are hoping this will encourage the children to encourage their parents to be on time.

 

[leotardmakermum]

Our gym is completely understanding of people being late if they know the circumstances of the commuting. They understand that traffic in the area can be awful. But if you were to turn up late consistently just because you had poor time management I don't think they'd be at all impressed. And neither would I!

 

[xxStumpyxx]

From what I have see in the gym my daughters go to, if you are late you have to do the warm ups and then join in what ever the rest are doing.

What I don't get it why gyms (maybe not all) allow some girls to regularly miss practice and only attend 1/2 sessions or 2/3 sessions or some miss random sessions regularly and seem to still be able to keep their place in the groups, there are plenty of girls wh would love the chance to be in groups like these and here you are having girls miss sessions. If it was down to me I would be having a sit down chat with the parents and see if there is another group that would be a better fit and then can attend all the sessions they are supposed to (except for illness, holidays and the odd family / school function).

 

[Deleted member 18037]

From what I have see in the gym my daughters go to, if you are late you have to do the warm ups and then join in what ever the rest are doing.

What I don't get it why gyms (maybe not all) allow some girls to regularly miss practice and only attend 1/2 sessions or 2/3 sessions or some miss random sessions regularly and seem to still be able to keep their place in the groups, there are plenty of girls wh would love the chance to be in groups like these and here you are having girls miss sessions. If it was down to me I would be having a sit down chat with the parents and see if there is another group that would be a better fit and then can attend all the sessions they are supposed to (except for illness, holidays and the odd family / school function).

If the child is able to perform well, should it matter?

And do you know that they are not doing make ups?

 

[xxStumpyxx]

If the child is able to perform well, should it matter?

And do you know that they are not doing make ups?

Our gym doesn't do make ups for missed sessions (don't know if it is common in the UK for gyms to offer make up sessions). In my opinion if a child misses practice every week then progress is not going to be the same as their team mates who do attend, that is something that they are going to accept, if you come more than once a week then missing a practice is not going to hurt as much as it would if you only did gym twice a week. I think if you missed a session every week it shows a lack of commitment (what ever the reason for missing practice) and it would be better to find a group more suited to your needs, at the gym my daughters go to they coaches do lesson plans so when the are faced with girls regulary missing practice then it can effect the lesson plan causing the gymnast to fall behind (something they would have to accept)

 

[skschlag]

We have boys that do that. They miss 1-2 times a week. Their parents hae discussed this with the coaches, and have reasons that have been cleared with the coaches. It really isn't my concern, as long as my son is making the progress he should be. And when kids are out..he gets more 1:1 time. THeir time off only affects them.