Parents Bars at home

[gymnastmom05]

I'm the one that said they were doing things on the playground. Not that I witnessed but I overheard my daughter and her gym friend talking while I was driving them to gym. Point is, they do things when we aren't watching even if they know better. We all have things we don't like and wouldn't like our own kid willingly do - some kids climb to the top of their tall swing sets, some kids ride their bike far distances without an adult, some kids do pull-overs on their own small gym equipment, my gymnast daughter isn't allowed to do back handsprings outside of the gym and yet her other friends (not gymnast and terrible form) are throwing these things everywhere - we all have a difference of opinion on what we are comfortable with. After saying that, I get teased all the time because I cannot stand to watch kids run on concrete! Crazy and I try to contain my crazy but I just cannot watch kids run down sidewalks and not cringe.

As far as practicing and messing up form etc, that could be an issue. My DD was banned for a long time from doing any sort of back handsprings on trampolines (outside of gym) because of form issues her coaches were trying to correct (not learned on trampolines at home, just poor instruction from a previous coach). As far as bars, when she was an old 3 and a new 3, she was the "bar queen" of her level at her gym. Obviously her home equipment didn't harm her too much.

That said, everyone should have rules, everyone should be informed of what can happen and then go with what you're comfortable with. Arms are broken all the time, sometimes from home gymnastics equipment and sometimes from falling off a bike.

 

[JessSyd]

My daughter's coach says that if you absolutely must get a piece of home equipment buy a low beam and some good mats and to get the girls to ask their coaches what they can and can't practice at home. We have had a low beam for about a year now and it has been in constant use. Its use as a piece of apparatus waxes and wanes with my daughter's enthusiasm for new beam skills, but it is good for so much else. School playground for Sylvanian families being a regular favourite, and secret spy base for Beanie Boos being its current role.

My daughter scores best on beam in competition. Could be coincidence? The things she practices at home are generally the things she has learned with good form but needs to practice for confidence, like handstands and cartwheels which just needed more repetition than she could do in the gym before she could trust them completely.

There are other disciplines where perfection counts and kids still have to practice at home. Music is one example. There is no physical danger but a child can still spend an entire week between lessons practicing something with poor form - incorrect rhythm, omitting sharps - before the mistake is caught in their next lesson. And yet there is never any question of kids not practicing at home. With gym you would think the dangers of practicing with poor form would be less, as girls rarely go an entire week between lessons.

 

[Azgymmiemom]

Kip bars are just dangerous. We had one for about two minutes. My kid couldn't even kip on it without it rocking. And there is no other skill beyond a kip safe enough to practice at home. We also had a 12 ft. floor beam that helped with cartwheels, but again, nothing beyond that is safe (so it was ignored early on) and after tripping over it in our loft for a few months, we got rid of it, too.

IMO the only piece of home equipment that is actually beneficial to a gymnast is the pommel mushroom. Our coach used to send the mushroom tops home with the boys to practice with them on their off gym days. Must have helped, my ds has multiple state and regional pommel champ titles and he has always scored high on pommel.

And I also have a dd who can do lovely mushroom circles, too

 

[Deleted member 18037]

There are other disciplines where perfection counts and kids still have to practice at home. Music is one example. There is no physical danger but a child can still spend an entire week between lessons practicing something with poor form - incorrect rhythm, omitting sharps - before the mistake is caught in their next lesson. And yet there is never any question of kids not practicing at home. With gym you would think the dangers of practicing with poor form would be less, as girls rarely go an entire week between lessons.

Again apples to oranges

She practices her viola at home. She won't potential break bones or other injuries by doing so.

Even though she is currently working on Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. If she is tempted to play a piece she is not ready for like Vivaldi's Four Seasons, she won't risk injury with long term recovery possibilities, by trying to perform above her skill level because what the heck the equipment is there.

And if she learns Twinkl Twinkle wrong they only thing that will happen at her concert in a couple of weeks, is us audience members ears will hurt, but she won't get deductions that will affect her placement.

As they rarely go more then one day between practices I just don't get why they would need to do skills at home. But that is just my opinion. Now that my daughter is doing harder skills then level 2&3 she does condition on her days off

And my music teacher used to say, practice doesn't make perfect, only perfect practice will make perfect.

 

[JessSyd]

Again apples to oranges

She practices her viola at home. She won't potential break bones or other injuries by doing so.

Even though she is currently working on Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. If she is tempted to play a piece she is not ready for like Vivaldi's Four Seasons, she won't risk injury with long term recovery possibilities, by trying to perform above her skill level because what the heck the equipment is there.

Shrug. I was actually addressing the 'form' argument and thought I made that clear. But anyway. I would argue that a low beam with rules and penalties for broken rules (taking the beam away) is safer than a kid trying to improvise and ending up falling off the back of the sofa because you forgot to specifically ban it. At the levels where people are buying them, the low levels where the kids are not in the gym every day, the stuff the girls do on them are pretty basic. I'd be the first to agree that putting a full bar rig in the shed is a bad idea but I just can't get all hand wringy about low beams.

And anyway, you can break a limb doing pretty much anything. We have a kid at the gym currently in a moon boot because of an injury playing football at school. Should she not have been doing that without a qualified football coach present? Must be tough for kids of neurotic parents to get enough exercise. At some point you have to do a sensible risk assessment rather than a hysterical knee jerk.

And if she learns Twinkl Twinkle wrong they only thing that will happen at her concert in a couple of weeks, is us audience members ears will hurt, but she won't get deductions that will affect her placement.

Of course they will get deductions. Perhaps not your kid, but my kids do. Don't you have competitive music or music exams where you live? Eisteddfods, band contests and exams are where it's at. Not doing them would be like training gym but not doing meets. Fine for some, but for others a concrete reason to practice until things are perfect is nice.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

At some point you have to do a sensible risk assessment rather than a hysterical knee jerk.
.

I guess the difference is what one would consider sensible. Running around the school yard at recess playing catch vs home bar. For me the first is sensible, the second not.

And again the logic of it being a lower level and they re in the gym less, yep, because it's not necessary to be training 4-5 days a week for L2/3, just my experience and our coaches as well.

We had a girl end up with a factored ankle once at our old gym, she stepped off a curb. Yep sometimes stuff just happens.

 

[refugee]

Gym equipment belongs in the gym. If you are going to get a bar, make it a pullup one. JMO

This. When my girls were in rec classes (ages 4 & 6), we installed a pullup bar for conditioning (my younger girl ALWAYS had to keep up with her sister). We put in the type with secure brackets into the door jamb, not the kind that hangs with tension from the header. The bar we bought included two sets of brackets, so we installed one at about 3.5' above the floor and the other at about 70" above the floor (so we could leave it in place and I wouldn't hit it!). They used it for conditioning (sets of pull-ups and leg lifts) and also pullovers, but nothing more dynamic than that.