Please don't flame me as this is not a troll thread, I'm genuinely interested. Over the years I've noticed a huge amount of threads here pertain to all the short comings of every aspect of gymnastics. The physical, mental, emotional abuse, horrible coaches, mean people, the sanctioning bodies, judges, training conditions, costs, etc, etc. just to name a few.
Here is my experience. My son was 7 or 8 years old and I enrolled him into martial arts, seemed like a good idea. At the end of class the kids are paired up with each other and spar for the remaining time. My son was paired with a boy who was bigger and far more experienced than he was and you can guess the outcome. As a parent I was horrified to see my son beat like a pinata, so I talked to the coach after class and explained my concerns. The following week for sparing my son was paired up with a very small child who looked to be maybe 5 or 6. That went about as well as you would expect, as my son now beat the heck out of that poor kid! I felt absolutely horrible afterwards. I then had to evaluate whether this was a sport for him and me, and I quickly decided it wasn't. I didn't try and change the coach, the sport or anything else, it simply wasn't for us. We then pursued several other sports until we found one that was a 'fit' for us.
So my confusion comes from if you feel as strongly against gymnastics as many here seem to, why not just find a sport you and your children enjoy? As most of us know, childhood goes by really quickly, so why waste it 'tilting at windmills' when you could be doing something that you truly enjoy? I feel every child deserves a happy childhood and if gymnastics isn't the road to that then find what is. Thanks.
Here is my experience. My son was 7 or 8 years old and I enrolled him into martial arts, seemed like a good idea. At the end of class the kids are paired up with each other and spar for the remaining time. My son was paired with a boy who was bigger and far more experienced than he was and you can guess the outcome. As a parent I was horrified to see my son beat like a pinata, so I talked to the coach after class and explained my concerns. The following week for sparing my son was paired up with a very small child who looked to be maybe 5 or 6. That went about as well as you would expect, as my son now beat the heck out of that poor kid! I felt absolutely horrible afterwards. I then had to evaluate whether this was a sport for him and me, and I quickly decided it wasn't. I didn't try and change the coach, the sport or anything else, it simply wasn't for us. We then pursued several other sports until we found one that was a 'fit' for us.
So my confusion comes from if you feel as strongly against gymnastics as many here seem to, why not just find a sport you and your children enjoy? As most of us know, childhood goes by really quickly, so why waste it 'tilting at windmills' when you could be doing something that you truly enjoy? I feel every child deserves a happy childhood and if gymnastics isn't the road to that then find what is. Thanks.