Do they ever outgrow it?

[Deanna]

The whole, having to do everything like a gymnast? Everywhere we go, she is doing her kicks, scale, jumps, handstands, headstands, bridge-ups, splits (right, left and straddle), cartwheel, round-off. Her new one she uses the couch as a "mat" to do her tick-tocs (as she calls them). I tried to tell her that she doesnt do those yet, but she says they are starting to work with her on them. And she uses a mat at the gym, that her feet land on and push off of to do this, so her feet dont go all the way to the floor. And each week they are making the mat shorter and shorter, until she will be on the floor with it. She told me they are getting her shoulders ready. (?) I guess I just have to trust her. She has been told by both her coaches and i that she isnt to work on anything at home or the gym that her coaches havent asked her or okayed her to work on.
But, Im getting off track here (big surprise huh?). Do they ever reach an age where they can walk normaly through a room and not do something gymnastics wise during it? I mean this kid doesnt even sit "normal" on the floor. When ever she is working on her letters or such, or coloring..ect, she is in the straddle splits. She says she does that because she can lay her body flat on the floor and it doesnt hurt her back to hunch over, and her legs dont get in the way that way. My personal solution to that would be to sit at the table..problem solved. LOL.
I know she truely loves the sport, she really does. But sometimes it seems to be all consuming.
She was outside in the snow last week, doing cartwheels. Not building a snowman or throwing snowballs at her brother..doing cartwheels. And sitting in a straddle split eating snow. I had a talk with her about how eating snow might not always be the best of ideas..lol

Do they ever reach a point where its not all they think about?

 

[gymmomntc2e6]

Not at my house !!!! It's been 5 years. She is still always upside down. Walking on her hands because " walking on your feet is boring " attempting press handstands, practicing a pike hold on the coffee table. Full turns. " time my handstand " ...... I could go on all day.

 

[bogwoppit]

My oldest grew out of the gymnastics all the time when she hit 11, until then nothing was safe.

 

[kasmom]

I think it depends on the child. My daughter used to flip everywhere. She had to stay in at recess in K5 for doing a cartwheel on the playground. Now, she is almost 8. The last year she had done a lot less. For her, when the cartwheels and handstands got old and boring, she quit doing them so much. She still does some on the furniture, but much less. She never does it in front of people now. She gets embarassed. Also, as they begin working on harder skills, it gets difficult to do them at home. You can't do a back tuck while watching TV. Now that she has to do oversplits in practice and hold them for a certain amount of time, she doesn't like doing splits too much.

 

[tumblerK]

I don't think it ever goes away completely... I still sit in straddle most of the time when I'm on the floor. It's perfectly comfortable! I do BWOs and handstands in my hallways when I'm stressed. My RA knows and doesn't count it as sports in the the hallway, which is good or I might get into trouble for that... Apparently I was doing them one night and some guy stuck his head into my RA's room and said, "There's a girl doing cartwheels or something down your hall." His reply was "Umm yeah, she does that."

 

[Galadriel]

it changes -
my dd 17(!) will be seen 'doing her arms' from her routines, or spins, or challenging brothers to handstand walking competitions in the yard, or 'look at this choreography they changed' and does conditioning in her room, until dad shouts that she will break the ceiling if she is bouncing around. Yesterday she said could she do her conditioning in the front room where the fire is because it was warmer than her room and as dad wasnt in (he couldnt stand it!) she did and i ended up watching tv with a body doing v sits in front of it etc, and being asked to sit on her feet so she could stretch out something or other!

- so, no, my daughter didnt outgrow it! Although she is keener on conditioning now, and less into bridge kickovers off the couch, and cartwheels!

 

[Deanna]

Thank you all for your responses. Most the things she does is pretty mild. She has always loved hanging upside down, tumbling, ect. Even when she was itty bitty she did this stuff. She had this indoor little tikes slide and swing combo thing. She used to climb up the slide and shimmy her way across the support for the swing, then drop down into the seat for the swing (had a bucket seat vrs a sling seat). Crawling on the railing to the deck. You turn your head for a second and she was on top of something she shouldnt be. So at 2 1/2 hubby saw a sign at the local gym saying they were enrolling for their spring classes. So we signed her up for a mommy and me class. And well the rest is history. Until she was moved to team this past summer, they kept her in an "advanced" class, because she got bored with what the rec classes her age/progression were doing. I blame them for feeding into this whole thing..lmbo, just kidding. We took a chance on that being an outlit for her, with all her climbing and such, and she grabbed ahold of it with both hands and ran as fast as she could. Now her climbing has progressed to the real swingset, where she sits on top of the monkey bars (she loves showing her 3 yr old brother up on the monkey bars..ugh) she will hook her feet through two seperate bars (one for each foot) and swing over the side, hanging upside down, six feet off the ground. Doesnt seem to phase her, but Im not sure my heart can take it. She really has no fear. Im sure alot of that is age. I didnt either at her age. I was always in a tree, or climbing on something. So I know how she feels to want to do it. I got in trouble when I was 5 for climbing the tree in front of the house and dropping down onto the roof. Seemed cool to me, but once i made the 5 ft drop to the roof i couldnt get back in the tree. So she comes by it honestly. They say you pay for your raising. Now I understand why my Momma always said I was going to be the death of her.

 

[MdGymMom01]

I think it goes away (and comes back) in stages. My dd (almost 12) still walks on her hands and does front walkovers all over the house, but it isn't as frequent as when she was younger. Actually, I see dd doing more ballet around the house than gymnastics--she is pirouetting, jete'ing and doing her dance steps more often nowadays. So, I guess it kind of phases in and out--the wanting to do gymnastics all the time .

 

[MaryA]

LOL! I call it "Gymnastics Tourette's!" I have video of my dd walking down a wooded trail and breaking into spontaneous bursts of the level 5 floor routine!

 

[gymkat]

I'm finally outgrowing it... as a recent college graduate. I remember doing handstands in the library when I pulled an all-nighter in college, and I did a BT on a yoga mat in my dorm. (Ouch.) Now, I'm down to doing handstands and beam dance once a week or so.

 

[Bajanswife]

DD does FHS at the top of the swingset and on tree limbs. Gives everyone but me heart attacks - I have seen this kid climb from the time she could walk, and I know how strong, coordinated and capable she is. But other people just freak out when they see her! lol She doesn't do splits and other gym stuff as often as she used to - she seems to need to be egged on by friends who are also doing that stuff. Oh, she does still like to watch TV upside down in the couch - what's that about????

 

[MdGymMom01]

Oh, she does still like to watch TV upside down in the couch - what's that about????

OMG--my dd is the same way!!!! Hahahaha--too funny!

 

[Deleted member D3987]

doing it, yes, at about 40. dreaming it and the performing of routines while you sleep? NEVER!

 

[All Chalked Up]

I'm thirteen... and I haven't grown out of it. Back walkovers and spilt leaps down the hallway at school? Yup. Toes-and-nose while waiting for a friend at the water fountain? You've got it. Doing my school work on the floor while sitting in spilts? Definitely. Random dance from beam and floor anywheres at all? Sure. I could go on FOREVER! I've walked on my hands from class to class with my stuff balanced on my feet. Usually I don't even realize that I'm doing "gymnasty" things. Even with spilt leaps, I still don't realize! No one even looks at me weirdly anymore

 

[coachmolly]

I'm a senior in college and haven't hit that point yet... At the beach last year there was a wooden wall, so of course I used it as a beam for cartwheels, handstands, and backwalkovers. If I need a break from studying at night, I quickly resort to handstands, cartwheels, presses, and whatever else can be safely performed in my room without disturbing those below me. If I'm home alone I'll do leaps, presses, and turns in the living room and kitchen, but I'm afraid one of my roommates will walk in one of these days, I'm sure they think I'm nutty enough without knowing these things!
And of course when I'm coaching and setting up stations for the day I need to test them out to make sure they are safe enough (well, and fun) for the kids

 

[CoachGoofy]

I'm in my 20s & still haven't outgrown it, not really. This may be why I coach gymnastics (and why I can still do oversplits).

 

[gymnastbeth]

I used to do tick-tocks on the couch when I was younger, I have sort of grown out of it. I'm 14, and I still do handstands in our kitchen sometimes... (really, not the best of ideas. I've grown since I was younger!) But before meets, I obsess over doing the dance of my beam routine. I'll do it all over the house. Makes me feel like maybe I won't fall off the beam at that meet. LOL. Sometimes I do other things, but I guess that used to happen more when I was in compulsories.

Then again, I do press handstands all the time. I have a deep set fear of waking up one day and no longer being able to do them. Took me FOREVER to get my press!

 

[gymnastjess]

I don't think it ever goes away completely... I still sit in straddle most of the time when I'm on the floor. It's perfectly comfortable! I do BWOs and handstands in my hallways when I'm stressed. My RA knows and doesn't count it as sports in the the hallway, which is good or I might get into trouble for that... Apparently I was doing them one night and some guy stuck his head into my RA's room and said, "There's a girl doing cartwheels or something down your hall." His reply was "Umm yeah, she does that."

bahahahahaha! I don't think it ever goes away although i think it lessens on how long you have been doing gym. I remember at the start of last year when i started gym i was cartwheeling in motel rooms, couldnt go for a swim without a pool handstand, anywhere with a flat wall becomes a handstand wall, when i was little curtain rods were bars hehe (of course my mum didn't know lol). I still do it and just as often but i think there will come a time where its 'funner' at gym , i sit in straddle all the time (i get in trouble for not being very lady like hehe) as for snow- YUM hehehe i got ice out of the gym's freezer yesterday my coach's reply: "just think about how many people have wiped their sweat all over that and stuck their tongue in the lil ice holes and we just fill them back up with water" me:"ewwwwwwwwwwww why would you just fill it up again? coach:" because its meant for a sore knee not a sweaty gymnast hehehhehehhehehe it was nice ice though bahahahaha

 

[bluesocks]

I was never a serious gymnast. But, I enjoyed doing handstands and cartwheels through the house. It ended when I was about 12 when I put my foot through my window after doing a cartwheel into my bedroom. I guess I had grown and didn't realize it. Nothing like a foot through the window...

Now I worry that my DD might put he foot into the TV. Agggggg....

Blue

 

[Dezi]

I am not sure they do outgrow it! Our pastor used our dd is a sermon saying there are things you can always count on, like Bella cartwheeling into the room instead of walking in!