Parents Has the whole world gone mad?

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Mish

Proud Parent
Ok, I am exaggerating, but is anyone on that crazy mamas group? There seem to be an extraordinary amount of 7 year old lv 7s that practice 20-30 hours a week. Plus privates. I get girls that are seriously headed to the pinnacle of this sport, but seems to be an overabundance of this. Totally not judging if this is your child, but I don't see how it can be healthy in the long run. I know we have discussed this multiple times on here, but it seems to be getting more and more common. Almost like a contest for some...
 
I wonder what these gyms and coaches are thinking putting such young kids in the gym that many hours. Do they view these young girls as nothing more than disposable sources of income? How can anyone with a solid coaching/exercise science background find this acceptable?
 
I guess I just assume some people are fibbing a bit, even though I know those kinds of hours happen sometimes. Just like in my homeschool groups I assume that not everyone who says their kid got a 1600 SAT and a 5 on twenty AP tests is telling the whole truth. It just seems statistically unlikely. Then I remember that we are usually the weirdos that someone else assumes is lying or embellishing, and I figure no harm to me regardless of if they fudge a little or not.
 
I wish it wasn't a thing here, but it is. My DD (7yo, 15 hrs per week) is just about to compete, in her age group, against others who will all be training 25-30 hours per week. I expect her to come towards the bottom because of this. But this is how our region of the UK works sadly... Many do burn out or get injured, but the few who make it are the ones in the GB team I guess...
 
That group drives me bananas sometimes. I was told off by a mom who lol'd about how her daughter wanted to be in the "hard" group with the coaches who shouted at kids and made them cry. Her daughter thought that meant she was good enough if she was chosen to be in that group and I suggested that I wouldn't let my kid make that decision if it meant jeopardizing her mental health. The mindset that it's not good if your child isn't crying, or doing a ridiculous number of hours is still going strong out in the gymnastics world even after the recent news blowing some of it wide open.
Being at this a while I certainly know that there's lots of time of gym to completely dominate your kid's life so they have no time to do anything else and at 7 they should have time to still do other activities but everyone has an "extremely talented" kid who would "live at the gym if I let her".
 
I think what one needs to remember is that a lot of the parents that are out there with a 7 year old training that many hours is new-er to the sport and may think that means oh my child is amazing and trains so many hours that makes them better than the rest. Give them time.. LOL ... once that child is older and in higher levels they will see that there is a large amount of little phenoms out there! My daughter has always been in the youngest age brackets and man that competition is fierce!
 
I’d be very interested to see how everything shakes out for the teeny tiny young ones training so many hours- 20/30 hours a week for 10 more years of their life- is that even sustainable in the long run? It seems to me that there will be a high occurrence of burn out in these gymnasts.
 
I'm in that group and have such a hard time when I read about these insane amount of hours some are training. And asking if they should start homeschooling in kindergarten (nothing against homeschooling but no, I don't think you need to start homeschooling in kindergarten JUST so your 5 year old can train more hours). I always just try and say (nicely) that it is quality over quantity. But I will admit, I was one of those parents in the beginning who thought that the more time she spent in the gym would equate to more/faster success. I learned very quickly how wrong I was, thankfully.
 
I'm in that group and have such a hard time when I read about these insane amount of hours some are training. And asking if they should start homeschooling in kindergarten (nothing against homeschooling but no, I don't think you need to start homeschooling in kindergarten JUST so your 5 year old can train more hours). I always just try and say (nicely) that it is quality over quantity. But I will admit, I was one of those parents in the beginning who thought that the more time she spent in the gym would equate to more/faster success. I learned very quickly how wrong I was, thankfully.
Yes @FlippinLilysMom , you always give the voice of reason about how Lily has made it this far at a very reasonable amount of hours. Good luck to her!
 

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