Doing other stuff? How much does your 7/8 year old do?

[Faith]

I'm interested in your experiences

DD is now training 4 days a week. I am now worried (in my usual stress head way ) that it's too much.

She's only just 7 (but competes as an 8 year old this year because of her dec birthday). I know gymnastics is intense very early on, but I don't want her to burn out, and I would also like options for other activities kept open.

Her swim club want her to up from once, to twice a week. If she can't, it's no big deal, but they think she is talented and would like her to compete this year.

I think 4 days gym/2 swim is too much. It only gives her one rest day.

She wants to do both. If she can't, she chooses 4 days gym, one day swim. She doesn't want to give up a day gym to go swim. I wanted her to do dance, but she's already chosen to give that up.

So, wise ones, what say you? Anyone had the same problem? I'd like to know how much gym training is normal at this age, and whether they were able to keep up with other hobbies too. It somehow feels a bit wrong to put everything into gymnastics so early on...

 

[agymmom]

I'm sure all kids are different, but my dd was doing 2 days gym/3 days swim and 1 day of other activities. It proved to be too much for her and she now has activities 3 nights a week. However, one of my dd's friends has activities most nights of the week and loves it.

I think you should give it a try, but be willing to scale back or quit if your dd seems unhappy. I don't think my dd realized how little time she would have to just be a kid when she agreed to her schedule.

 

[wallinbl]

If she loves it, it's probably not too much*. My extended family sometimes say that DD goes to the gym too much, but she begs to go there and tries to scheme for ways to get there on days when she doesn't have practice (sometimes, they'll let her come in and work on stuff when the gym isn't very full). There are far worse things for her to be scheming to try to do more of than gymnastics. I'm just thrilled that she has a passion for something that's positive, and I'm going to let her engage it as much as she chooses.

* You should be sure that the gymnastics coaches and the swim coaches are aware of the other activity and aren't assuming there are rest days when there is a workout for the other sport.

 

[Canadian_gym_mom]

My dd just turned 8 and is in grade 3. She does Artistic gym and Trampoline and Tumbling for a total of 20 hours per week in the gym. Both last year and this I have encouraged her to try other activities (she was in soccer but decided she didn't like all the running, lol) but she doesn't want to. For now I'm fine with it, I will not force another activity onto her already busy schedule.

If she wants to add one thing on one of her off days I would be fine with it, but she uses her two off weekdays for playing with friends and THAT IMO is more important.

 

[jen1957]

What level is your daughter? My DD is Level 4 and trains 3 hrs/3x week, the L5's at her gym train 4 hrs/3x week and it goes up from there. My daughter does gymnastics and scouts, but her scout meetings are only twice a month so it isn't much. My husband and I have always encouraged her to try different things, but she's 9 now and all she's interested in is gymnastics. Sometimes I wish she was involved in at least one other activity, but she's perfectly happy just doing gymnastics. If your daughter keeps up her one day of swim, maybe she'll still have the opportunity later on to add another day if her feelings about gymnastics change. Sorry I don't have more advice! Kids are all different, for us we pretty much follow my daughter's lead as far as her activities go.

 

[KarenUK]

My DD is a bit older, she's 11 and just went up to senior school - so more travel time and more homework. She does gym 3 days a week for a total of 8 hours, has dance classes on one evening and occasionally private dance lessons (for competition work) on another day, and has just started (at her request) a session once a week with a judo coach, as she wants to improve her stamina and upper body strength. She dabbles in a judo class occasionally but is very much a beginner - she just likes to throw boys!). The judo coach is the coach of the junior county squad, and would very much like her to take judo seriously - he has coached players to national level and thinks she is talented.

I think that kids who have some gymnastics training (and my Dd is 'only' a floor and vault level gymnast) are generally strong, flexible, with good co-ordination, a strong work ethic and the ability to follow detailed corrections - so will be picked out as 'talented' at almost any physical activity they care to try - the listed qualities just make them stand out.

In terms of when too much is too much - I would always say be guided by your child. If she is enthusiastic, gets out of bed with a 'yay - it's ______ today', is eating and sleeping well, and still has energy over and above the scheduled activities then they're fine - my one is constantly stretching and handstanding and so on when I'd expect her to flop in front of the TV. If they are no longer enjoying it, getting 'tummy ache', or look pale and listless, then they're doing too much. Every child is different, so their tolerance levels will vary as well.

 

[maryRS]

How many hours is she doing with her 4 days. I tend to think 4 days of gym is a lot but I don't think my opinion is popular among many gym moms. So with that said, I'd be hesitant to add the extra day for swim at this point. With that being said, I also would hate to make her decide at such a young age, so I'd probably keep the pace you are doing if she seems ok with it, or drop back a day of gym to add a day of swimming.

I'm interested in your experiences

DD is now training 4 days a week. I am now worried (in my usual stress head way ) that it's too much.

She's only just 7 (but competes as an 8 year old this year because of her dec birthday). I know gymnastics is intense very early on, but I don't want her to burn out, and I would also like options for other activities kept open.

Her swim club want her to up from once, to twice a week. If she can't, it's no big deal, but they think she is talented and would like her to compete this year.

I think 4 days gym/2 swim is too much. It only gives her one rest day.

She wants to do both. If she can't, she chooses 4 days gym, one day swim. She doesn't want to give up a day gym to go swim. I wanted her to do dance, but she's already chosen to give that up.

So, wise ones, what say you? Anyone had the same problem? I'd like to know how much gym training is normal at this age, and whether they were able to keep up with other hobbies too. It somehow feels a bit wrong to put everything into gymnastics so early on...

 

[Faith]

Thank you. At least I know I'm not completely bonkers even considering it . MaryS, I agree, I do think 4 days is a lot. At this age I think if they need to do crazy hours to keep up with their age level (in this country it goes by age, not levels) then where do they go next? I'm not sure if 4 days (14 hours) counts as crazy in the gym world though

I will let her try the extra day. I personally think 3 days in the gym and 2 swim is the ideal, but she won't have that.

The swim coaches have said they can arrange the extra session so she can go if she wants, and skip if she doesn't. I need to find out times- if it's late then it's definitely off.

I will definitely talk to the coaches. Swim know all about gym, and are willing to work around, as obviously an early start isn't so important. Thing is I'm not sure about gym (that gym communication thing again!), I have no idea whether the hours are going to up even more (then I'll have to say no ), or whether the extra day they added recently is until she gets her competition skills.

I'm trying to remember back in the day when I did gym, swim and dance. I'm fairly sure I was doing about 21-25 hours a week between it all, with one evening off- a wednesday! I remember begging my mum to go scouts on those wednesdays too . I think I burned out not so much because of the hours, but I was under too much pressure to get new skills and do more and more difficult stuff, and also to focus on gym and give everything else up.

Thanks again for your replies, it's really good to get some other perspectives

 

[GTO]

I was interested to read the replies to this question too, so thank you for posting it.

We are in a similar position - I have a 6 Yr old dd training 3 hrs. 3 nights a week, takes a ballet class and a skating class on two other school evenings and likes to ski all day on Saturday. We made her give up swimming on Sat. Mornings so she could ski, but she is looking forward to starting again once skiing finishes for the season. (as someone said, she too gets picked out for the developmental squads regardless of the sport which makes it harder as she is very competitive and wants to compete at everything!)

I feel quite torn between the idea that it is good to let kids try lots of things and the thought that it is all too much, especially as gym hours increase in a few months to 12 hours. She wants to start back at swimming and also declared that she would like to try scouts, choir and learn a musical instrument next year, in addition to what she already does. I love her enthusiasm and 'have a go' attitude, but I am exhausted just thinking about the idea of half of this stuff. Her solution is to cut back on school!

Keep us posted how the extra day goes.

 

[GymGran]

I look at some of these entries and am astounded. Has anyone heard the term PARENT BURNOUT! As you are planning your children's activities, please remember that it is OK to have some 'down time'. Dinner together, reading quietly, and simply playing chase around the house are all considered activities. So don't forget to leave time for FAMILY FUN IN ALL YOUR SCHEDULING.
I'm just saying.

 

[KarenUK]

I look at some of these entries and am astounded. Has anyone heard the term PARENT BURNOUT! As you are planning your children's activities, please remember that it is OK to have some 'down time'. Dinner together, reading quietly, and simply playing chase around the house are all considered activities. So don't forget to leave time for FAMILY FUN IN ALL YOUR SCHEDULING.
I'm just saying.

I'm right with you!

My husband works away and I work from home, so am able to take DD (plus her brothers!) to the various things that they do - my eldest is a keen air cadet, my middle son is a county level judo player (4 times a week training) and keen guitarist, and DD is the youngest. We do not have any of the kids do any regular organised activity on Saturday afternoons or Sundays - sometimes they will be at competitions or events, but in general we do family out and about stuff on Saturday afternoons, and have a lazy day on sundays - roast dinner, bake, walk on the beach with the dog, play scrabble, watch a dvd or whatever

 

[jago]

This is a great question and I think it always depends on the child. MyDD6/L4 is in the gym quite a bit.
4 days/15 hours per week. They have a 1/2 hour dinner break each night, so maybe subtract 2 hours and your down to 13 hours of actual training. Only 3 of those days are required by coach and DD chooses to come the 4th day. I always say that it honestly is nothing more than a 4 hour playdate for her with all of her gym friends. She doesn't look at it as though she is missing a thing or that she is "working" out. It is all play to her - laughing and smiling the entire time she is out there. She was a bit conflicted when I asked if she wanted to miss gym so she could attend the school Talent Show later this week, but then smiled and said she wanted to see her friends in the Talent Show. So she will be missing gym in a few days.

And she is involved in scouting as well. We decided not to do soccer or softball this year though.

Also, you have to ask yourself - Will she/he just be vegging out or otherwise engaged in a meaningful activity such as homework/school project, sports, etc.

 

[jago]

I do agree with you GymGran in that family play time and certainly dinner time is very important to the children and the family. I was really thinking of the school friends in her classroom that veg in front of the tv if not in a structured activity. I'm always surprised at the number of kids that aren't very active.

We are just as busy on the weekend making good use of that time as well, biking, skating, playing at the park, studying spelling words, etc.

I will say the one thing missing is nightly family dinner time. But that does happen on the weekends!! And our family "talk time" takes place in the car, rather than over food at the dinner table; still very meaningful, interesting and fun conversations! Book reading time is on the ride to gym, waiting for gym to begin, and on the weekend.

This all works very well for us!

 

[momofthreegirls]

I have two young girls (8 and 5) that are doing team gymnastics, and we are at the gym right after school 4 days each week (9.5 hours total for my older DD, and 4.5 hours for the younger one).

Gymnastics is the only activity they are in, unless you count church and Sunday school. We just can't fit much else in. A lot of our weekends are taken up with meets and travel, and most of the school sports and clubs are right after school at the same time as gymnastics practice. I don't feel my girls are missing out on anything, though. They LOVE going to the gym, and their best friends are their teammates. They are fit and healthy, and having fun.

I figure that even if they choose to pursue another sport or activity in the future, the life lessons learned at the gym will be really helpful.

 

[shelovestoflip]

I have a 12 year old Level 7. She's at the gym 4 days/14 hours/week. There is an optional day/3 hours but we skip this night.

My daughter has really never done another sport....ballet as a 3 year old..too 'slow'....swimming a few years just regular 8 week classes so she would learn to swim...they wanted her on the team!

She has taken piano over the years and done some school plays etc.

However I think downtime is so important so I would not really want her involved in more. There is something to be said for sitting around doing 'nothing' which really, in my estimation, isn't nothing...it's just 'being'....having time to think...to daydream...to create.....to (horror!) watch TV!

True, if they are always scheduled, they dont' know anything else. But I think having downtime is OK and it allows my daughter, anyway, time to regroup and bring the necessary energy to her passion...gymnastics...

So, I guess when she was younger, I planned for the downtime by not over scheduling...and now that she is older, she recognizes the importance of the time off in between practice.

So far, it's worked out fine...she is a pretty good gymnast...places well at meets and states...and still has passion for her sport!

 

[emorymom]

Here's the thing about swimming: my kids do gym and swim and I've not had anyone get tired since my older first started that situation the summer she was 5. That summer she did gym 1.5hoursx4 and swim team on the same days. She was tired the first month. That's the only time I've seen my kid tired from activities. They're now 7 and 8. Energy to burn.

I don't see any problem doing swim team and gymnastics team on the same day IN MY KIDS. I know a kid who was super advanced at swimming, and her coaches and parents were very aggressive, she was setting state records as an 8&U, and her workouts at my daughter's age were in the range of 3000 yards per workout and is still rolling right along. My kids are awesome little age group swimmers and probably swim well under 1K yards a workout. I wouldn't be concerned about 1K or less yards on a gym day. The main goals of swim team in this age range is stroke TECHNIQUE and aerobic base to prepare for training after puberty. She does not need to be preparing for short term competitive goals by banging out a lot of yards. If that's their program, you might consider looking for a club with a more laid back philosophy about the 10&Us.

DD age 8 does gym 4 hours a week, swim 3x/week, dance 4-6 hours/week, and diving team 3 hours. She loves swimming and gym. I could speculate that dance and diving are gym substitutes since she loves gym the best but is a late bloomer waiting to get tight enough to advance to a group that trains longer hours. But she does like everything she does so she will need to make some choices in two or three years. I think swimming and gym will win.

DS age 7 does 2 hours a week of swim, 9 of gym, and 2x45min of TKD.

The can be competitive as young kids in swim meets with much less water training because of the brute gym strength. Same for DS with the TKD he insists on. Gym has great crossover.

 

[kimskids]

My daughter just turned 10 and gymnastics is her only sport. She has practice Monday through Friday as a level 5. Our level 5's practice with the optional girls and they are there around 16 hours per week. My daughter played soccer when she first started gymnastics but once she went on team I told her she could not do both. It was too much for us or at least me. I also have 3 other kids so I told her it was not fair for her to take up all my time. With her schedule at gymnastics I am able to carpool so I have some time with my other kids and family.

 

[Faith]

Thanks again everyone. Really good to hear other peoples experiences.

My main issue is that I think, while she loves gymnastics, she may have real talent elsewhere (we've been told by one ex-olympic coach she should make national team, as much as you can predict at 7). And given that most children drop out of gymnastics somewhere around 11/puberty, I would like her options open to pick up another sport.

Because she is eligible to compete officially this year, the training has upped in both gym and swim, as they would both like her to compete in the fall. But she needs certain skills in both to be able to do so.

I am still very worried it's too much. But I'll give it a go. To be fair up until I gave up work in the summer she was in after school care until 6 pm every night anyway, so we've never had family meals on a weekday. And I see more of her as I used to work weekends and evenings.

Plus there's no extra training in school holidays. In fact she gets a week off at easter, and two in the summer when the gym shuts. May even be longer this year as the facilities are being used for olympic training. We are very lucky that we are only 15-20 mins away from school, gym and swim.

I think by the end of the year we should have a good idea of her capabilities. Then we can sit and discuss dropping hours on one or the other.

 

[emorymom]

Swimming 2x a week should be fine. But success at swimming cannot be predicted at all at age 7. The most you can say is that a child looks like she's going to be tall with a long torso and big feet. Fire in the belly for it at age 15 cannot be predicted. And anyway you can be 6' wearing a size twelve and get your long butt beat by little Ye Shiwen.

 

[Galadriel]

gymnastics gives a grounding for most other sports
if she kept up the swimming in terms of technique development and a degree of the hard yards would that keep a toe in the water so to speak?

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