Parents Help... New gym mom here.

[mommy08and10]

My 3 year old has been doing preschool gymnastics since she was 1. She was recently moved up to the older rec class (4 and 5 year olds) which she did for only two weeks. The coach said it was time to move her to "team." After discussing it with my family, I agreed to let her try it. She is so stinking excited! We start today (2 days/week for 2 hours). I need a crash course from all y'all experienced gym moms on what I need to look out for. I know at this age they should not be doing much in the way of bridge work and the like. Any other advice??

 

[Iwannabemargo]

Plant the money tree now ! lol

 

[mommy08and10]

Lol I have discovered this though my research!

 

[happychaos]

Wow. Your DD must be exceptionally focused to be able to handle a 2 hour class at only 3 years-old. And yes, no bridges! If she is going to be the youngest in her group, there can always be issues with that.....

 

[GymMomK]

Hello and welcome!

 

[cbifoja]

I can't even remember my child being 3YO but as the parent of the kid who is perpetually the youngest in her training group....watch out. The socialization issue may start to come into play.

My child trains mostly with young teens/old tweens and the topic of conversation isn't always what I desire for my 8/9YO. They are also better at underhanded comments/remarks and getting away with it while my child isn't at all "slick" and gets busted for mouthing off.

My kid is also very aware of how "different" her body is compared to the majority of her teammates which brings up questions a lot of time. They also baby her sometimes which infuriates her because in her mind, they are equals. In their mind, she is the pesky little kid.

That would be my big warning of having a little one in with older ones.

 

[mommy08and10]

Thanks cbifoja! I appreciate your thoughts. Also, HappyChaos, I don't know if she can focus for a whole two hours. We are about to find out today. I did express this concern to her coach but dhe daid I will probably be surprised. She is great for the one hour class.

 

[Deleted member 15064]

I bet she will do great! how exciting...

we have a 3 just turned 4yr old @ the gym who has been taking 2 day a week classes pre-team for a while now. she's been with 5-6 year olds. they break part way through the 2 hours for snack. sometimes she is sent out to her mom if extra stressed. other than that, it looks like she is holding her own!

 

[mommy08and10]

I bet she will do great! how exciting...

we have a 3 just turned 4yr old @ the gym who has been taking 2 day a week classes pre-team for a while now. she's been with 5-6 year olds. they break part way through the 2 hours for snack. sometimes she is sent out to her mom if extra stressed. other than that, it looks like she is holding her own!

Thanks for the encouragement!

 

[SurpriseGymMom]

Congrats, that's very exciting! I hope today goes well!

 

[mommy08and10]

DD did well tonight. We have 4 girls on level 1 with two coaches so there is a lot of individual time. The gym has a rule that no one can compete until their 4th birthday. Two of the girls are 5, one is 6, and my daughter is 3 1/4 but she handled class well. They only did three bridges total during class. It didn't seem much different than the rec class, the girls were still having fun with the occasional goofing around. The coaches let my DD go after 90 minutes saying they felt like she was getting tired. They said it would take her awhile to build up the endurance to practice the full 2 hours. I am so relieved this first practice is over and pleased with the coaching/gym so far. Phew...

 

[mouey77]

I have a 3 yr old and this seems insanely young. After one week with the 4 and 5 yr olds, they want to move her to team? Perhaps she's a wunderkind, but I really cannot imagine. You know your child best. Hope all goes well!

 

[mommy08and10]

I have a 3 yr old and this seems insanely young. After one week with the 4 and 5 yr olds, they want to move her to team? Perhaps she's a wunderkind, but I really cannot imagine. You know your child best. Hope all goes well!

No, she's not a wonderkid... I just think they recognized a lot of raw talent in her. Besides the skills for level one are not that challenging. I've seen other three year olds do them. She can get them no problem by the time competition starts. After todays practice I know she will do just fine.

 

[mouey77]

No, she's not a wonderkid... I just think they recognized a lot of raw talent in her. Besides the skills for level one are not that challenging. I've seen other three year olds do them. She can get them no problem by the time competition starts. After todays practice I know she will do just fine.

Great! I personally still wouldn't do it. I have a 6 1/2 yr old with raw talent, and my 3 year old also appears to have talent. I agree that the "skills" in level 1 can be reasonably taught to a 3 yr old, but not necessary to compete. Imagine when your 3 year, 3 mo old is in kindergarten or first grade. How many hours will she be training then? And how long will she stick with this if she's started this intensity at this young? I just saw an amazing gymnast with all kinds if YouTube videos who was competing optional level around 6 or 7, and then for whatever reason, she quit. Either injured or burned out I guess.

Another thing to consider is that she won't have time to try anything else. My team child at 6 has no time for other activities. I could see my 3 yr old wanting to do the 2 hours for fun some weeks with her sister, but to make a team commitment for a young 3 yr old sounds pushy. There are some afternoons mine is wiped out just from preschool. But whatever. There is always the exception to the general rule, and perhaps that is your child. There is another thread about starting kids young that you might find helpful.

 

[mommy08and10]

Thanks mouey77 for all your thoughts. I really do appreciate them. I consider my child in a trial period at this point in time. We will see how it all pans out. So, moving forward any advice on what I need to look for to make sure my daughter's best intetest is always kept in mind. Have you ever had any situations where you have had to put your foot down or maybe step on some toes at your DD's gym (not involving the age thing we obviously disagree on )

 

[mouey77]

Thanks mouey77 for all your thoughts. I really do appreciate them. I consider my child in a trial period at this point in time. We will see how it all pans out. So, moving forward any advice on what I need to look for to make sure my daughter's best intetest is always kept in mind. Have you ever had any situations where you have had to put your foot down or maybe step on some toes at your DD's gym (not involving the age thing we obviously disagree on )

Yes, and I am currently kicking myself for not speaking up! It may sound a little contradictory saying this, but at our current gym, DD clearly should have been moved up at 5 to team, and there were all kinds of communication problems. Long story short, she didn't move to team until 6, though another gym was very willing to take her at 5. I felt loyal to our current gym for some reason, and I ended up paying for privates unnecessarily bc there was nothing between the preschool class and team. And here we are in the same boat as last year with DD making very minimal progress on any new skills all bc I didn't speak up. And speaking of 3 yr olds, I think our gym should offer an advanced preschool or preteam and they don't. Very frustrating. I see nothing wrong with moving a talented 3 yr old up. It's just in my limited experience, the actual team just ramps the expectations up a lot. My 3 yr old loves her dance class, but sometimes is too tired to go, as 3 yr olds get sometimes. If you are on a team, how flexible are they with that sort of thing? And then there's the performance aspect with competitions, but some kids eat that up at a very young age.

 

[mommy08and10]

That seems frustrating! You just want the best for your child and being loyal is a great quality to have! I read a thread on here that talked about privates. Many don't agree with them and that gymnast should be getting everything they need with class instruction. I don't know how I feel yet. I don't know what I would do if my DD's gym suggested privates. Maybe on a very rare occasion if she just needed that one on one to master a tough skill. I know we would not be able to afford privates on a regular basis though. I am curious as to how common privates are at our gym. I have some investigation to do. . It seems as though our gym has a grasp on kids should be allowed to act like kids. I think they understand that some days they are just tired. I don't feel like they have ever forced her beyond what she can handle and always allowed for breaks even if it was a mommy hug break. The performance aspect is uncharted territories with us. My DD is a performer at home but never tried in a large venue. She will play a game with her soccer team with everyone watching but that is a bunch of other kids doing the same thing at the same time. We will see how gym performances go.

 

[emorymom]

It's not just gym policy that they not compete before age 4. Most sanctioning groups incl. USAG will have that rule. http://usagym.org/pages/education/pdfs/13-20wjoCompProg.pdf

 

[mommy08and10]

It's not just gym policy that they not compete before age 4. Most sanctioning groups incl. USAG will have that rule. http://usagym.org/pages/education/pdfs/13-20wjoCompProg.pdf

Thank you so much for the link!