Parents Activity Restrictions?

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GymRatMama

Proud Parent
My dd just started competition season a few weeks ago and has been asking to do a lot of things such as going to the trampoline park, roller skating and ice skating. I am hesitant to let her do these things because I fear an injury. I feel like she spends all year training and to risk an injury with outside activities is not the best idea. She missed part of last season due to an injury she sustained in the gym and was really sad to miss meets. I don't usually place restrictions on activity and haven't done so yet. I am wondering how other parents feel about letting their children do risky activities during the competition season. Am I being overprotective or looking out for her best interest? Thoughts?
 
You don't say what level; it might matter in some cases.

Trampoline park - absolutely NEVER, season or not.
Skating - definitely not during buil-up to season or during season. Off-season - maybe.

Get the coach involved in "encouraging" her not to endanger her gymnastics career.
 
How old is she and what level? What are her goals from the sport? That is, how high a priority does she place on gymnastics in her life?

I will guess, based on season starting recently and the listed activities that she is still in compulsory and fairly young. I would have no issues with most activities you mention except for the tramp park. But if she's really focused on gymnastics, at a higher level (8 up?) and has scholarship or elite potential, it's worth a heart to heart discussion with her. But she still needs to have something in her life besides gym!

FWIW, my daughter quit rec soccer at L8 (time), as well as gave up ski lessons at the same (risk, AND ski season is meet season [emoji19]). I'm of the belief it's paid off...she has far surpassed any of our expectations when she started in this sport!
 
I made my high school age daughter sit out on a class skiing field trip last year during comp season. She went with the class, but while everyone else was skiing, she was hanging out in the lodge. Over the years, I've said no to lots of skating, skiing and trampoline park activities. It's a good life lesson on making choices.

Since she is new to competition, I am assuming your daughter is a lower level compulsory. At that age/level I would have allowed roller skating and snow tubing, but not skiing or ice skating (mainly because she wasn't really skilled at those activities). I've never allowed trampoline parks because of their inherent risk.
 
She just turned 11 and is L6 training L7. She is working on giants and is doing well with the drills. That is the only skill keeping her from L7 this season. I didn't think to originally put that info. Her goal is college gymnastics. I know D1 is a long shot, but I think she would be happy with D3 just as long as she could stay with the sport.
 
That is a great goal. Good for her.

If it were my daughter, I would probably limit the more "dangerous" activities. I would explain my reasoning and hope to get her buy-in. She is old enough to understand about making these types of choices and the risks associated with these activities. From my perspective, I would hate for my DD to end her season or career doing something that could be avoided. Ultimately, they can be hurt doing anything, but mitigating the risks would be important to me. I also know that my DD is on the klutzy side and seems to be more accident prone outside the gym. lol.

Good luck!
 
our kids aren't supposed to do high risk activities during season. Hc says, I cant forbid you from doing these things, but if you are tired and get bad scores, or get injured, don't blame me!! Mine realize how much money this costs us, and they hold themselves in check. If they go out with friends, it's usually movies or museums, lol. And swimming before a meet is a huge no no. Makes the kids really tired.
 
I think there is a comfort level component as well. My ds has been skiing since he was 3, so it is a part of who we are. He will snowboard 3-4 times a winter. That might change as he goes up the levels, but he is just as likely to get hurt in PE class. Now, if he had never done skiing, then we would say no. Do I stress the whole time he is out there? Of course. But snowboarding he can do well into adult hood so I want him to have something active he enjoys for when gymnastics is over.
 
I am That Mom who took the kids ice skating the weekend before regionals and DD's second-to-last meet because they reeeallllly wanted to go. I am also That Mom who watched indulgently as seven completely wild boys blew off steam in the pool the night before a huge meet last year (which, by the way, their team won as a team and from which they brought home two AA first place medals). The program director would have killed us all if he had known, but their young coach wouldn't have minded much. It's hard to balance things, and the appropriate balance may be very different for different kids. One of the worst injuries on the entire team, boys and girls combined, last year was incurred by a boy who slipped on the ice and fell walking home from the bus.

I might feel differently when they are further along, though I expect I won't start thinking hard about limits until we're talking about right before regionals when there's a chance to qualify for nationals or in the period between regionals and nationals if someone manages to qualify for nationals someday way off in the future. For now, I try to accommodate any desire they have to do something fun and athletic that's not gym -- except for trampoline parks. But what's right for me as a parent may not be where you are with your comfort zone.

(BTW, my DD is L8 and my DS is L6 this season.)
 
I think it depends, like others have said. I know lots of people don't take proper safety precautions when participating in certain activities. We make our kids wear helmets and other protective gear. It's how we've always done it, not just since the kids started competitive sports. They wear helmets to bike, scooter, skateboard, skate, ski or sled.

That being said, we have had them on skates since they could walk basically, and they both started biking before they started Kindergarten. I do not limit this activity, unless they are injured. Skiing is not something we do, so that is off limits.

Trampoline parks are never.
 
Firstly: every parent has to do what is right for their family and their own circumstances. For us, I don't want my kids missing out on the experience of other activities (and also missing things like other kid's birthday parties and other important childhood experiences) on the off chance that they might someday make it to higher gymnastics. I know that in the US some people end up spending more on gymnastics in a month than I will spend in the next year on my kids' gym, and so perhaps if I were in that situation, or if my child had already worked up the levels and was approaching a college-gym type goal I would feel differently.
There is another reason for letting them try out other activities: what if you only think you have a world-class gymnast and actually she would have been a world-class figure-skater if only you'd have let her go to that party ...;)
Anyway, do what is right for you and what causes you the least stress, 'cos we cope with lots as parents as it is and what preserves your sanity helps to preserve your family, but never forget that they only get one childhood so fun is important too!
 
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I allow things within reason. Yes, every now and then if there's a pool I have allowed swimming the night before a meet. I let my DDs go ice skating. No skiing for us, so that's a non-issue, and I don't allow trampoline parks or even friends trampolines, period. One DD is a L5 gymnast (10) and the other (13) is a competitive dancer. She used to be in a classical ballet company with a few serious performances/year and I restricted her "risky" activities before those performances.
Accidents will happen but why invite them..? My girls are told to be smart about things when season is upon us and they are old enough to realize that themselves.
 
I wanted to add that I am in no way a sheltering mom. My son has been racing motocross since he was four. We arm him up with protective gear as best we can and send him on his way. My daughter even rides dirt bikes, but she's been doing it since she was little and she knows her limits. I definitely said no to skiing while she was competing because It's not something we ever did and we have a good friend whose son got a traumatic brain injury in a ski crash while he was wearing a helmet. So, it's a lot about what you're exposed to, what you're used to, and what you're comfortable with. I knew that ice skating was probably a no-no during season because I've seen my daughter fall a lot, but rollerskating would be okay. I'm also that mom that always allowed them to swim before a meet if they wanted to.
 
DD will swim the night before a meet. But during season and leading up to season, no ice skating, no roller skating. Those are activities for the off season.
 
I've noted that my DD is super careful doing "risky" activities-- she is a very cautious skier, ice skater. She seems much more likely to hurt herself getting out of the car while reading a book. Our family skis so she skis. That said, I'll be putting our younger DD in a ski team training program this year, but not my gymnast DD. I don't want her doing her five hour gym practice on Friday night and waking up early for all day skiing Saturday. She'll ski, but take it easier.
 
I'm pretty laid back. My dd has skied, roller-skated and ice skated during meet season. She also skips practices to go to family events or birthday parties for non-gymnast friends. She played softball in the off season and missed practice for that. She's only level 7 though.
 
Dh always wanted to limit those types of activities for the kids--my point was that if we didn't allow them to do "normal" things, they would grow to hate the restrictions and, by extension, gymnastics (or swimming).
 

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