Parents Scary to watch ??

[flygirls2]

Am I the only one who sits in terror during performances or practices where my child(or someone else's) could get hurt? Maybe it's the nurse in me.

I'm guessing it's only the early stages of learning a skill that could be hazardous. Seems like once they learn it, it's just like second nature. Any tips?

 

[gymgal]

Don't watch practice. Seriously, it is the best way to keep you sane. If you have to be at the gym, find something distracting to avoid watching.

 

[iwannacoach]

I'm a coach and I can't stand to watch, but not in the gym. Where I get freaked is when I'm at a park or playground with my youngest. Usually there's a few parents so engaged in their conversations they don't notice their own child doing the scary stuff. I really can't relax at playgrounds for just that reason.

 

[luvmygymdtr]

I never got nervous watching until the back tucks on beam started. Those get me a little bit. The powerful giants also scare me. But she seems so capable.

But good point, iwannacoach, I DO get more nervous watching her and her monkey friends "winging it" at the playground. They are crazy.

 

[gymmomof1]

Am I the only one who sits in terror during performances or practices where my child(or someone else's) could get hurt? Maybe it's the nurse in me.

I'm guessing it's only the early stages of learning a skill that could be hazardous. Seems like once they learn it, it's just like second nature. Any tips?

Lol as dd has progressed to the upper levels I no longer am comfortable watching any event. It use to be just beam then floor was not as easy to watch then vault and now finally bars. I guess I will spend this meet season praying a lot!

 

[MaryA]

Last night, on my way to pick up at the gym, I was passed by an ambulance and I found myself trying to watch which direction it was going and thinking, "pleasedontturnatthegym, pleasedontturnatthegym, pleasedontturnatthegym..." (it didn't) And I hate it when my cell phone rings while DD is at practice because my first thought is always, "is it the gym calling because something bad happened?" That said, I definitely get more freaked out when my kids climb up high things, or jump from rock to rock in a river, or stand close to the edge of something. They will come back from an outing with my husband and tell me about what they have done and say, "it would have given you a heart attack, Mom." "Giving mom a heart attack" is what they call anything dangerous that they do. And I worry less in the gym because in the gym the mats and the coaches at least give the illusion of safety. And so far, the worst gym injury DD has gotten (broken finger and foot, all in one fall) she managed to do on the lowest of the low beams.

 

[LIGYMMOM]

We're not quite there yet, but I worry about giants on the bars! What if they let go?? I think I've seen too many "gymnastics bloopers" videos on You Tube.

 

[Bajanswife]

Nothing has scared me yet (I got over that years ago when my monkey should have killed herself a few times but instead demonstrated an amazing self-preservation instinct ), but she's not starting optionals so talk to me again in a few months ..........

 

[Natasha]

Definitely stay away from the gymnastics bloopers! I really have been okay watching my dd do stuff until just very recently. Yesterday I saw her peel off on a front giant (yikes!). I don't normally watch, but I had just finished teaching a preschool class and happened to be on my way out of the gym.... She also just started training a front tuck mount on to the beam...pretty sure I don't want to see that.

 

[vagymmomma]

I recall posting a similar thread a couple years ago when DD started doing her flyaway. I heeded the advice of those on this site - watched less and knew the craziness would ramp up. The beauty of training in the gym is there are coaches to teach and spot, soft mats to land on, and lots and lots of practice that should build to those "cover your eye" skills (from a parents perspective). Hang tight - the ride keeps getting faster.

 

[Iwannabemargo]

hmm P&F is competing back tuck on beam, I must say I always wince when I see that - their heads always look so close to the beam end.

 

[Fliptwisttumble]

I'm guessing it's only the early stages of learning a skill that could be hazardous. Seems like once they learn it, it's just like second nature. Any tips?

For me, it is the beam. But it isn't necessarily when they are just learning. DD split the beam last year on a back tuck that she had down...... and likely should have had stitches. This last week she totally split the beam on her aerial cartwheel, and it freaked even her out (and she's pretty cool about these things. One of my good friends can't watch her DD on the beam. She hid her face in her hands at competitions, and had others watch/video for her. Same reason. And, the girls watched one of their teammates fall and break her arm a couple of years ago. I still remember the screaming. Unfortunately that left lasting impacts on everyone, even if they realize it is a risk.

Like others, I get MORE scared outside of the gym - when she is high up in a tree, walking along the edge of a steep hill, etc. She doesn't have her "gym" instinct turned on then, IMO, and so isn't so safe.

 

[KCHAMP]

So nice to hear I am not the only one! My palms get sweaty now just thinking about it as the harder skills start. Just yesterday I stayed for a few minutes and saw a new skill I did not know he was working on - totally freaked me out! Even at meets I have a hard time watching - not just my son but everyone!

My favorite is when the coach tapes him and sends it to me to watch - I can do that knowing he is still in one piece!

 

[B&M's mom]

No, you are not the only one. It's really bad when the crowd gasps at your daughter's beam dismount, not because it was pretty but because we were all convinced she was going to fracture her skull on it. (Thankfully she missed the end of the beam but only by millimeters).

 

[Muddlethru]

I just try not to think about it.......and I do a lot of praying. I too think that I (and my children) can get through any physical injury. What I have trouble handling is the broken hearts and sadness that MAY come with it. But I also try to remind myself that I sometimes don't give my kids enough credit to handle disappointments. After all, my kids have had to reassure me they'd be ok instead of the other way around! :-D. I am in awe of their resilience and fortitude.

 

[MeetDirector]

The higher they go, the less watching of practice you should do. Big release moves on bars - yikes! Flips (and now twists) in the middle of a routine on beam - whoa! Flipping vaults and hands that slip or not enough height - CPR please. Thank goodness for highly capable coaches and outstanding training facilities.

 

[profmom]

Well . . . with two kids in gym, I've seen a lot of meets and a lot of practices, and in addition to the skills my own beloved offspring are learning, I've watched others' beloved offspring doing their early double backs on floor, back tucks and aerials and layouts on beam, Jaegers and Tkatchevs on bars, stutzes and giants and peaches on parallel bars, twisting Yurchenkos and Tsuks on vault, and other suchlike horrible things.

The three scariest things I have ever seen are the following. They all happened at meets.

-- L8 Yurchenko by a girl at a meet, headfirst crash on the horse, scalp cut open
-- L5 second back handspring by a boy at a meet -- he sort of decided in the middle of it that he wasn't set up to do it right and almost landed squarely on his head (this was one of our guys and our coach went literally white as a sheet)
-- L5 somehow missed her hands on a FHS vault and slid over it on her head

DD's teammate broke her arm badly as a L5 missing a squat on near the end of her first L5 season, and DD broke her arm falling off the beam doing about her 3,000th full turn.

My sense is that coaches are ready for the scary stuff when the kids are learning new skills, but who knows when a momentary lapse in attention or just an off day is going to lead to disaster on skills that the child has had for ages? Note too that a lot of bad things can happen way before they get up to the point of doing stuff that looks scary. By the time they are doing the horrible things, they have fallen safely approximately one billion times.

Also, as I've said before, I have seen two MUCH scarier incidents at soccer games, including one where the downed kid was receiving chest compressions. Thank G-d he was alright.

(Wow, this is an awful post! For you newer gym parents, don't be too alarmed. For every injury, there are thousands and thousands and thousands of times that the skill either goes right or the kid bails safely, as s/he has been carefully taught to do.)

 

[JMACAZ]

I wasn't nervous until my then 6 yr old DD let go on her shoot through and broke both bones in her arm. I now realize that they can get hurt doing really any skill. But they can also get hurt crossing the strett, playing at the park etc.

 

[my4buffaloes]

The pit scares me. That sounds silly, but it does! I have seen dd peel off the pit bar on giants and land on the side (took the brunt of the fall on her forearms). I have seen her vault crooked and hit the side of the pit - then again one time she vaulted crooked and missed the vault entirely. I think the pits are definitely TOO SMALL!

 

[meeeshymoo]

Beam every time...fine with anything else.
It is common for me to leave a meet with a migraine