Parents Non-gymnastics Summer Camp

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SWK6

Proud Parent
DD is 8, planning to compete L5 in the fall at a top gym in a competitive state. She has expressed interest in joining her non-gym sister for 2 weeks at a traditional sleep-away camp. The problem is it starts the week AFTER the gym is closed for a week in June for summer holiday, so she would be off 3 weeks. We also take a family vacation at the end of July which would mean missing another week. That trip is not-negotiable. She would be at the gym all of August. I don't want to stop her from having balance but afraid this is a lot of missing - both for her training and that it would send poor message to the coaches about her commitment. DH thinks if we limit outside gym things, she will end up giving up gymnastics sooner than later. I do not foresee any of her teammates taking more than 1 week at some point off over the summer. She could also go for just 1 week right after gym vacation as an option. Thoughts from those who have experienced this or are further down the gym road?
 
Has she been to camp before? I would not send a first-time camper that young for more than a week (and I say this as someone who sent my kid to camp for a week at age 6).
No, but sister started out with 2 weeks so that is where she has the idea.
 
I would let her do the 2 weeks... but we have the entire month of July off (unless the girls choose to come in during rec camp which happens 2 of those weeks for 2 hours a day)... AND we have a total of 10 weeks off a year.
 
Have you spoken to her coaches? My DD (older than yours and competing L7 this season) was concerned about missing so much this coming summer. We have a longer family vacation planned, usually take the week of the 4th off (we travel back to my hometown) and then the kids go to their grandparents for a week. The gym closes for one week in August and the week with the grandparents is that week. Unfortunately they can't get their schedules to work out the same this summer. My DD was insisting she could not miss another week of gym. I finally asked her coach, told him what we were looking at (our family vacation is also non-negotiable). He came back and said she is far enough along in her skills for L8 that he has absolutely no issue with her missing and thinks the time off will help prevent burn out. I told my DD and you could tell she felt so relieved - one that her coach feels confident in her skills so she doesn't need to be a stress ball and two, because no matter how much she said she would skip the week with her grandparents, she's happy to go!

With that said, I would probably consider the one week at camp vs two. That seems like a great balance to me.
 
My kid has no desire to do sleep away camps. But I wouldn’t hesitate to take her out of gym for other things. And we do.

She has missed gym for multiple weeks in yearfor things like trips. And if it’s a week or more, she conditions once she got L4.

And she has missed time for injuries.

We get time off from work. Of course kids can take time of from an activity.
 
I'd start with one week of sleep-away and just tell her that even though big sis did 2 weeks, it seemed like it may have been tough for her and you all and that one week is better to start.

That said, there are two girls in our gym who go to sleep away camp for 3 weeks every summer and do just fine. The older one just stopped going the summer in between L7 and L8. The younger just turned 9 and is going again this summer while training L5 as well (she did 3 weeks last summer while training L4 and still did fine). They are apparently good about conditioning while gone. Apparently it has raised some eyebrows here and there with coaches, but childhood experiences come around only once and I just can't make the case for not taking full advantage.

My DD just turned 8 this month and is also training L5 and she'll be doing a sleep away week at camp Seafarer this summer, plus we go away for a week in June and she spends a week with her grandparents each summer. I just can't imaging changing/stopping these things until the day that SHE tells me that gym is more important to her. I'm with your DH. If you make the choice of gym over other stuff for her, she may burn out sooner. When it becomes her choice to skip these things, different story.
 
My DD (9) is competing Level 7. Has taken at least 3 weeks off every summer- non gym sleepaway camp and family vacations. We think it's great. She's active but does no formal conditioning or practice at other gyms. I get the impression her coach would prefer less but she works hard when she gets back and it's never been an issue. I figure those are the experiences they are going to remember 10 years from now.
 
DD is 8, planning to compete L5 in the fall at a top gym in a competitive state. She has expressed interest in joining her non-gym sister for 2 weeks at a traditional sleep-away camp. The problem is it starts the week AFTER the gym is closed for a week in June for summer holiday, so she would be off 3 weeks. We also take a family vacation at the end of July which would mean missing another week. That trip is not-negotiable. She would be at the gym all of August. I don't want to stop her from having balance but afraid this is a lot of missing - both for her training and that it would send poor message to the coaches about her commitment. DH thinks if we limit outside gym things, she will end up giving up gymnastics sooner than later. I do not foresee any of her teammates taking more than 1 week at some point off over the summer. She could also go for just 1 week right after gym vacation as an option. Thoughts from those who have experienced this or are further down the gym road?

Sleep away camp is the best! My daughter went to a traditional outdoorsy sleep away camp for two weeks when she was 6 and had a ball. You know your daughter. If she is ready, she is ready. Don't let gymnastics stand in the way of other fun experiences. I always remind myself, I don't want my kids to reflect on their childhood and feel like all they ever did was gymnastatics.
 
Sleep away camp is the best! My daughter went to a traditional outdoorsy sleep away camp for two weeks when she was 6 and had a ball. You know your daughter. If she is ready, she is ready. Don't let gymnastics stand in the way of other fun experiences. I always remind myself, I don't want my kids to reflect on their childhood and feel like all they ever did was gymnastatics.

I also just think it's an experience she needs to have to know if it's for her or not. At my dd's school, most of the girls go at 8 or 9. She decided it was super important to her so we signed her up for three weeks and off she went. She didn't love it and decided she was happier doing a combination of gymnastics camps - she loves IGC, Woodward not so much - and then training and doing day camp stuff, like dance or writing workshop.
 

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