Parents New beginnings!!

[Jrsfitpromo]

Hello all!! It has been a while since Ive posted here I was posting before as a coach, and now I am posting as a future gymmie MOMMY! My dd is 9 months old and will be starting gymnastics in November at one of the gyms in town..but heres my dilema..I have coached at both the gyms in town and have seen the good and bad of both. *insert awkward face here* lol

Gym #1 has a great mommy and me program, a toddler program, beginner gymnastics classes which you stay in until you "test out of" and move up to pre team, at which point you stay in pre team generally for a year and then move up to level 3. You compete level 3 and wont move up to level 4 unless you have a score of 36 or higher, and this goes for every level from here on out. The only problem with this gym is that the coaches are constantly changing. They hire young girls, ages 14-20 who dont really have any prior gymnastics experience and who have weird hair and tattoos sometimes which is kind of scary. They also tend to pack the floor as much as possible to get the most bang for their buck. For example they will have 7 classes going on at one time, 1 in each floor corner, one in the center of the floor and 2 more on the outskirts. So kids tend to get distracted very easily. They rotate 2 apparatus per class, and have 1 class a week for 1 hour. So one week youll have floor and bars, and the next week youll have beam and vault. I dont really think thats a great way to get kids to progress in their skills quickly, but, thats how they do it.

Gym #2 I used to manage. The owner and I left on awkward terms but after they fired their "new" gymnastics coach they called me back a few weeks before my daughter was born to help them with their team girls but at that time I didnt have a baby sitter and it just wasnt sitting into my life, so I had to turn their offer down. They didnt seem happy about it, and were bitter. They now have a man coaching my old girls along with a few new ones and from what the owner told me on the phone, their going backwards because the girls need "a womans touch." Now that you know the background...the gym is mainly focused on cheerleading, so gymnastics is overlooked. It is a small gymnastics program and basically if you show up for gymnastics and say "I want to be on team" the owner of the gym (who also helps coach) says "okay" and lets anyone join and go to 2-3 day a week practices. Which is great in my opinion for people wanting to get the team experience, but bad because it takes time away from the girls who really ARE great and deserve to be on team. I like this option for my dd because I want her to be on team as soon as possible, level 2, competing, opposed to maybe dealing with weirdness at the other gym. There is no mommy and me program for my dd though, there is no toddler program, but if I take my daughter there, I know the owner (the man) would let me use the equipment with her because he knows my background and knows my dds potential with some good training. The whole gym is kind of sketchy though schedule wise, parent wise, owner wise, and is focused on cheerleading. They have moved locations 2x in the past 2 years due to leasing issues. The only thing I think I like about this gym, is the fact that I would have a little more free reign over my dd.

What would you do? My husband was thinking of building her a small gym in our enclosed garage to practice some there and she can grow into the equipment. I know she will probably have to go to gym #1 for mommy and me classes but I am unsure of where to take her for anything else Help!

 

[gymmomtoo]

She's 9 months old, right? i'd take her to the gym that offers a fun mommy & me class and worry about anything else when she gets older and even shows ability or desire to do gymnastics.

 

[OzZee]

Sorry I don't quite understand.
Your daughter is a 9 month old baby. (or did you mean she is 9 years old?)
When she is a bit older then a mummy and me gymnastics class would be a great activity for her.
What would an 18 month old toddler be doing in a gym that doesn't have a mummy and me class? And I don't see any 9 month old baby having any more potential than any other baby.

 

[bogwoppit]

Just going to say this here. If you put that much info out on a gym forum about clubs you worked at and clubs you might want to work at, you are asking for them to work out exactly who you are. More than one family here has been thrown out of their club for posting stuff like this here. Secondly the idea of your husband building a home gym in the garage makes me go EEEKK! Seriously you should know that gym is best done in the gym and left far from home, you are a coach. Right now she is 9 months old, the last thing you need to worry about is her future gym when she probably cannot even walk.

 

[gymmomntc2e6]

Yikes. Just yikes.

 

[Gymmonkeymomma]

First off, congrats on your baby! At 9 months old, I'd worry more about what fun she can have NOW versus what she might be doing in 3-4-5 years. JMHO.

 

[Pineapple_Lump]

Is this for real?

 

[bogwoppit]

Is this for real?

I really, really hope not.

 

[gymdog]

How in the world could anyone know your 9 month old's potential? Join the Mommy and Me program for social and motor development reasons and don't even THINK about what you just posted above for another 5 years. Really.

 

[gymmiemom]

I agree with the others who say to join Mommy and Me for fun, not anything else. I would also like to just gently point out that no matter how bad you might want a future gymmie (and you very well may have one) that might not be the case. She might not like it, or she might find something else she likes even better than gym. My husband was a fantastic soccer player all the way through school, has a HUGE passion for the sport. We have 4 kids and thus far not one soccer player, though they all have tried it, and will play a friendly game with each other at home. We have football, volleyball/singer, gym and the youngest is too young to know for sure (she's 6).

Either way you have many years to figure out what path your daughter will take, what her passion maybe, and how to best support her in it.

 

[txgymfan]

As Dunno would say ...... YIKES!!!!!!!

 

[onesimplemom]

Hi, Congratulations on being a new mama! So exciting to be parenting and loving on your daughter. I want to say this gently and encourage you to focus on your overall parenting rather than on gymnastics. At 9 months old your daughter will not have the cognative ability to understand gymnastics. She needs to be getting love and nurture from you and her dad to be getting sensory integration, mental stimulation, learning self regulation, emotional stability, attachment, developing her fine motor skills, eating solid foods. This is the time you will be getting to know her and meeting her needs. By all means take her to mommy and me classes for music, gymnastics, swimming, read to her, dance together and go for walks. But leave your gymnastics dreams for when she gets older and even then leave the gymnastics dreams to her not you. She may be an artist a dancer or play music, she may love gymnastics but 9 months old is not the time to make these choices. Sorry for typos I am on my nook.

 

[cbifoja]

I would second (seventh???) the advice to take a deep breath in and a big step back. You can't force a child to enjoy what you love. Believe me, if you could, I'd be in a ballet forum right now. And it is a bit worrisome to hear talk about future potential and a home gym for a 9 month old.

By all means do a mommy and me class! I did one with my child, even with my grand plans of raising my little prima ballerina. But hopefully the mommy and me class will be just one activity of many that your family enjoys with your new little one. And then she'll grow into activities that she enjoys and in which she will be successful.

 

[gymboymom]

I would be to skip both gyms for now and find a Gymboree or little gym type mommy and me program Have fun with your little one, meet some people And if she has gym potential later, find a gym you like later.

 

[Faith]

Just going to say this here. If you put that much info out on a gym forum about clubs you worked at and clubs you might want to work at, you are asking for them to work out exactly who you are. More than one family here has been thrown out of their club for posting stuff like this here. Secondly the idea of your husband building a home gym in the garage makes me go EEEKK! Seriously you should know that gym is best done in the gym and left far from home, you are a coach. Right now she is 9 months old, the last thing you need to worry about is her future gym when she probably cannot even walk.

This..........

 

[Jrsfitpromo]

There was no need for the rude comments, I have been nothing but nice here to everyone on the chalkbucket for the time I have been here. Some of your comments have offended me and I am sincerely,sincerely hurt by them. My post was goodhearted and I am excited to have a daughter to share my love of gymnastics with. We are a family of gymnasts, and she will grow up loving the sport as I did. We will start mommy and me classes in November, all I came here for was for some advice on which gym would be better to take her to. I just wanted some unbiased opinions, and all I received were rude comments about my parenting decisions. Thank you to those of you who were sweet and congratulated me on having her but now I know better than to come to the parent forum.

 

[Gymmom495]

I really don't think most of these comments were meant to be hurtful,I really don't. I truly understand having an undying love for something like a sport like gymnastics. I was a competitive figure skater and was training for the 88' winter Olympic Games. My entire life was dedicated to training on and off the ice, ballet classes and being in the gym (working out). I obviously never made it that far but my love for that sport never went away. When I had my daughter I was so thrilled that I couldn't wait to strap her first pair of ice skating boots on and get her going, my husband on the other hand was convinced she was going to be a collegiate bound softball player and even had a tiny pink softball mitt for her when she was born. We went through several lessons of softball, soccer, swimming, and even got her onto the ice a few times, then there was the rec. gymnastics class that she took that I finally saw her eyes light up and she blossomed. As much as it hurt (just a tiny bit) in the beginning both of us couldn't be prouder of her now because we know she is doing something SHE truly loves. As I'm sure you understand how much time and dedication is put into this sport as time goes on it has to be their love for it. I really hope you re-read some of these posts and realize that I don't think people were trying to be hurtful.

 

[txgymfan]

" I have been nothing but nice here to everyone on the chalkbucket for the time I have been here." ...." I just wanted some unbiased opinions "

When you post on a parent forum or any public forum please do not expect only "nice" and "supportive" comments or "unbiased opinions". You will get opinions but everyone has bias. You have the right be upset but strangers posting under assumed names on any forum often will not be sweet. Also, I looked at your previous posts. You have not been mean but neither have you been overly supportive.

 

[gymmomtoo]

In any public bulletin board type forum you will get responses you don't agree with, but sometimes the ones that elicits the most reaction in you are the ones you should read again--and see if you can find any truth in them. I'm am sure every single one of us is happy for you that you have a new daughter--we all remember that feeling! But all of us who posted offered the same cautionary advice--keep it fun for now and see if she's got an aptitude and desire for gymnastics later. Growing up in a gymnastics family isn't a guarantee that she will love gymnastics--I really hope she does, but she very well might dislike it and really want to do soccer or volleyball or no sport at all. Introduce her to a wide variety of things while she's young and let her lead you in the direction she wants to go.

 

[JessLW]

I would be to skip both gyms for now and find a Gymboree or little gym type mommy and me program Have fun with your little one, meet some people And if she has gym potential later, find a gym you like later.

My three year old is at a Little Gym and she loves it. At this stage I am more concerned with making sure gymnastics is fun for her, so that hopefully she will continue to love it as she grows older. I don't plan on keeping her at a recreational gym forever, but at her age, what they do is appropriate and fun, and she is learning skills -- forward and backwards rolls, cartwheels, forward rolls on beam (heavily spotted), progression towards a pullover on bars, flexibility -- but all in a fun environment with music and games etc. suitable for a toddler.

The Chalkbucket is not a "support only" forum and while yes a couple of posters were harsh, many gave you good advice, even if it wasn't what you wanted to hear. If you'd read around these forums a bit more, I don't see how you could have posted about your 9 month old's potential and picking out a competitive team for a baby and not realized what sort of reactions you'd get. This is nothing personal -- the posters on this forum are, for the most part, remarkably consistent in their attitudes towards parents pushing children at a young age and and identifying their toddlers as potential Olympians (and I know you didn't say that exactly). I am sorry you don't feel supported here and I understand being excited -- I too am a former gymnast and couldn't wait to get my kids involved in gymnastics -- but respectfully, the posters here aren't wrong either.