Broadening horizons vs overscheduling vs when does a child really have to choose??

[ac7179]

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My daughter is only a level 3, and we never had any intention of specializing, but I feel like her time at home is as important as the time at gym. I want her to have some school nights where she can come home, do her homework, eat dinner as a family, PLAY a little, and go to bed early. That being said, I haven't scheduled her for anything but gym. She was in K last year and was TIRED at the end of her gym nights....so I thought another activity would just add to that.

 

[TexasRose]

This is a very interesting thread! I think that as long as your daughter is having fun and staying safe let her do other activities, as much as you can anyways, lol. We're new to gymnastics so I can only guess how time consuming it gets at the high levels. My DD is in L3 right now, actually had her first practice tonight . She also does competitive dance, which is 3 hrs a week. I am ok with her doing both because I feel like they compliment each other. The stretching and work-outs from both activities have led to her having beautiful splits and leaps. We'll continue to do both activities as long as we can and she wants to.
I was very lucky as a kid and my parents put me in every activity I asked for. I started ballet at 2- danced for 12 years, piano at 5- played for 6 years, gymnastics, club soccer, competitive dance, competitive cheerleading, cello for 8 years, track, football, swim team, band, etc. I was busy! But I loved it. The only downside was that I was never great at 1 thing. I was good at most, not so much others (terrible in track and swimming, lol). So I wish I had focused on a couple of activities instead of doing everything. But my dance and gymnastics training helped me in every sport that I did so I think you can't go wrong at least starting in those. Just my 2 sense.

 

[katvernay]

I competed USAG through my senior year (got to level 9, didn't do floor my senior year because of a back problem; 20hours/week in season)
I played travel soccer for 8ish years, played alto sax for 6, ran track in high school, did model UN (and was the president my senior year), got good grades and am now a rising junior at a top-ranked college.

moral: you don't have to choose. I won't lie and say I have no regrets; if I had spent a little more time at the gym (i often missed weekend workouts) I could have been better. But I would have just been a better level 9, not a 10 or an elite. Ultimately, I think my diversity kept me IN the sport - I never got burned out or tired of any one thing. Because I had so much going on, it was easy to switch my focus to something else for a week or two until I got my mental issues worked out.
Another thing I've noticed is that the girls who are all-gymnastics-all-the time tend to get sick of it eventually. Most of the women I judge with weren't NCAA gymnasts, but they love the sport and wanted to stay involved when they couldn't compete any more, while my general observation/feeling with the really good gymnasts is that they just get sick of it and want to be done with the sport when they graduate.
I willingly sacrificed my social life for the above (and even still, judging/coaching/working out with the club team beats going out with my sorority sisters 99% of the time) but the important thing is that I DID IT WILLINGLY. My parents never told me what to do; if was overly stressed or asked for advice, they would suggest maybe I cut back, and I did so when necessary. But it was always my choice - and ultimately, (I think) that's the most import thing

 

[Turgidson]

I have a different take on this. Even though I coach trampoline at the upper levels, and most of our team kids are young, my real interest is in keeping the sport popular into the adult years. When I was young, gymnastics was something that you picked up in middle school and high-school, and carried through college. College gymnastics has almost dried up, and USAG seems hyper-focused on developing kids from a very early age, and is even discouraging to those who pick up the sport later in life. We lose so many kids who choose to do other things somewhere around middle school, and yet we're not actively recruiting from that same group of kids who are abandoning other sports about the same time. Those little ones are just going with the flow until something calls them. High school is where you find yourself, and adopt something you will stay with for life.

But then we'd all rather hand spot kids that are 50 lbs rather than 130.

Paul

 

[glmason]

What about school?

I read all the posts in this thread and found the discussion very interesting. One thing I noted is that very few mentioned school work as a deciding factor. Very few gymnasts can make a living from the sport. School is a very important priority and may be the deciding factor of when to limit other activities. Most girls on my daughter's team do only gymnastics with one doing multiple other activities. As the girls get to middle school the homework load is greatly increased and coupled with a dismissal of 4pm and workout starting at 4:30, 4-5 days a week, there is very little time for homework, let alone other activities. In fact, my daughter took a full year of social studies online this summer and is skipping one elective this year so she would have time to get her homework done before workout. Others have done the same.

 

[clueless]

update

I love that people still add more thoughts to this thread even though it's kind of oldish now - and appreciate them all. Here's an update if anyone is curious.

DD quit 1 activity outright - the one she cared least about and which anyway I've read on CB breeds some bad habits from a gymnastics POV. No regrets on that one.

DD is still doing the other, but hasn't added the training days/hours recommended by that teacher, and no longer enters competitions in it (which irritates that teacher no end). I mentioned these changes to gym coach but am not sure it satisfied her (or if she really cares anyway ). I'm still agonising over this one. If DD isn't promoted to the higher gymnastics team next year as 'expected', this activity is the only consolation I can think of, but it won't be much of a consolation by then because all the other girls will have progressed levels past her. So it could be double devastation - which in fact could have been avoided if we'd just accepted the recomended extras, which perfectly fine with the gym schedule. I feel a bit like I'll regret whatever I do or don't do on this one - unless of course the gymnastics works out lol.

So anyway my worrying about the activities of my 7 y/o continues (how embarrassing lol).

 

[clueless]

PS: If DD does make the 'big girl' team, plan then is for her to quit the other.