Parents Terrified new mom!!!!!!!!!

[Skye Fernandez]

Im a relatively new mom. My DD started in January. I have a love-hate relationship with this sport. Like I LOVE that my DD found something that she loves so much. She tried ballet, softball and soccer before deciding on gymnastics and she hated all of them. I was honestly starting to wonder if she would ever find something that she genuinely enjoyed. So on that note I love gymnastics. But im a worry wart. Not even 3 months into doing gymnastics she broke her elbow and had to have surgery. Shes got a giant scar now. Shes always bruised all over and I just worry about her all the time. She has her first meet beginning of December, so she's practicing hard. I worry that she'll over do it on her elbow. I really dont want to be that mom who doesn't let her kid do something that she loves just because I'm worried. Are there any seasoned parents that were nervous like this and eventually got over it?

 

[MeetDirector]

How old and what level?

If your dd is going to have any longevity in this crazy sport, you (the parent) have got to reach a point where you trust her coaches that they will keep her safe. Now, this assumes that the coaches are capable of keeping her safe; meaning that they are trained, professional coaches. If you stress out about her getting injured and she picks up on or observes this stress, it will impact her. In the upper optional levels the athlete cannot have these kind of things rattling around in their heads.

Good Luck.

 

[Skye Fernandez]

Shes 6 and they do the Xcel program (I think that's what it's called) at her gym. She does bronze. The coaches there are really good. I can't deny that. And my DD LOVES them. The head coach definitely seems like she wants to make sure I'm comfortable with everything. I think im already a nervous person to begin with and the fact that she broke her elbow REALLY doesnt help. Plus we switched gyms in June because she wanted to compete and her first gym didnt compete, so I'm still getting used to these coaches. Her gym is 30 minutes from the house without traffic so it's honestly just a waste of gas for me to leave and come back. Last week I brought a game with me to try to distract myself. I think im going to start saving my grocery day for one of her gym days too. Shes still at that level where most of the moms stay and watch. She wants to go far and I don't want her to think im not supportive. Ive just been keeping all my worries to myself.

 

[MeetDirector]

We are here for you. This is a great place to vent some fears and frustrations. The experience on this board is quite amazing, from relatively new to many, many years in the sport. A lot of us have been where you are. My dd started when she was very young, competed for 12 years retiring as a Level 10. My advice to anyone that asks is to reach the critical point of trust in the coaches and then find a way to not watch practice and stay out of the gym drama. I also advise parents to do some studying on their own and learn about this sport; it does take time but it does help to at least understand how an athlete progresses thru the levels at your gym and what it takes to do certain things. For example, if your daughter has long-term aspirations, to include college gymnastics, she will have to transition to the JO side at some point in the future. The early years should be all about fundamentals and having F-U-N.

Good Luck.

 

[profmom]

Encourage her to listen to her body and always to tell you and her coaches if anything hurts. Gymnasts are pretty tough so sometimes they push through pain that should be telling them to lay off. But as they move on in the sport, they will learn what they can and can't push through, and they should ideally learn to advocate for themselves. All good things to know.

The further they get, the less pleasant it becomes to watch practice. At this point (both of mine are optionals), most of the time it's either as exciting as watching paint dry (they do endless drills for things and do the same drills over and over and over again with varying degrees of lack of success) or it's horrifying (release moves, beam acros, scary vaults, double back dismounts). The hope is that it will all come together and be fun to watch by the time they compete all this stuff in a few months!

Welcome, and really enjoy these early years. If she stays in, you will remember them very fondly.

 

[bookworm]

. Are there any seasoned parents that were nervous like this and eventually got over it?

My girls were in this sport for over 18 years and sorry to say, I was always nervous the day of a meet, and never could breathe during a beam routine....that's just me but I never "got over" being nervous for them. I trusted their coaches, I trusted that they were going to do well, it was just me and I can tell you , it made for some long meet days...

 

[aerials]

Welcome! I was a gymnast and I am far more nervous for my daughter than I ever was competing. I close my eyes and video beam...lol I will say that my nerves are now more about that I hope she does well, for all of the hard work they do it's hard when they have a bad meet...I don't really get nervous about getting hurt but I have high threshold about that since I did gymnastics

 

[UnoMas]

I still worry every day while my daughter is at practice, and it has been almost 10 years now. I still look right at her when she comes home to see if she's limping or if she's hurt some random body part. You just have to balance the worry with the benefits that they get from the sport.
Welcome to the CB!

 

[Madden3]

So, no one else thinks multiple bruising all over from gym practice for a 6 year old sounds odd? Maybe it is different for girls? We have never experienced multiple unexplained bruising with my sons. They get bruises, of course, but usually due to a crash or hitting a skill wrong, not normal training.

 

[profmom]

My son's working on new skills on the horse with the pommels. I'm glad it's finally getting a little cooler and he will start wearing pants in school again. Last week I was worried someone was going to call child protective services. Some kids do bruise really easily or have skin that shows bruises well.

 

[Iwannabemargo]

So, no one else thinks multiple bruising all over from gym practice for a 6 year old sounds odd? Maybe it is different for girls? We have never experienced multiple unexplained bruising with my sons. They get bruises, of course, but usually due to a crash or hitting a skill wrong, not normal training.

Depends on the child, the bruising and the OP's definition of "multiple"

Speaking as a ginger, and trust me I can bruise just looking and a hard object, and someone who could walk into my shadow I know bruises.

Of my 3 Pink has mid-tone skin (her dad has Mediterranean colouring) I would say does not bruise easily. If she came home with bruises I would be concerned. Little lad is a pasty like me and has been a walking bruise since, well since he could walk.

 

[skschlag]

D is always bruising. His coach actually wrote us a note for the school and doctor when he first started doing cirlces on the handles. I think it is normal....and dependent on what the OP means by multiple. I too, am always bruised, and never remember where they came from!

 

[Randomactsofcheer]

My DD is a rough-and-tumble kid when it comes to gymnastics. And she bruises easily. Her legs are covered in bruises from the beam and hitting them on the bar. My DD is also really good on running into/falling on every unpadded area in the gym. And because she whacks herself so often, her bruises are often"unexplained" because she doesn't know which "whack" caused the bruise.

But if your DD has suddenly started to bruise easily and does not remember an impact that would have caused the bruise, you should take her to a doctor. Especially if the bruises don't seem to be healing as quickly as they should.

 

[duyetanh]

My DD is a rough-and-tumble kid when it comes to gymnastics. And she bruises easily. Her legs are covered in bruises from the beam and hitting them on the bar. My DD is also really good on running into/falling on every unpadded area in the gym. And because she whacks herself so often, her bruises are often"unexplained" because she doesn't know which "whack" caused the bruise.

But if your DD has suddenly started to bruise easily and does not remember an impact that would have caused the bruise, you should take her to a doctor. Especially if the bruises don't seem to be healing as quickly as they should.

Ok, raise your hands if your dd has beam bang?
I swear my kid's is permanent. And she is barely 9...

 

[Madden3]

Ok I know gymnasts get bruises and that kids get bruises just from being kids and that some people bruise more easily than others. Of course. I also know gymnasts get injured at gym, sometimes very badly, sometimes multiple times. Although in my experience, typically severe injuries involve older kids at higher levels.

So, here is what I am hearing:

Child is 6 and has been in the gym less than year.
Child broke her elbow.
Is bruised all over.
OP is terrified and worried about her dd all the time. I believe strongly in respecting the wisdom in a mom's protective instincts.

I do not know about all of you, but I was certainly not terrified of gym when my kids were just starting out on team. If anything I have always thought that with all the mats and padding and the way gymnastics skills are taught so carefully and incrementally, gym was safer than the other sports my kids have done. Safer than them launching themselves off the living room couch as well. Even now that they have been competing a few years and oldest is moving into optional skills, I really do not worry about what might happen to them physically at gym. And I am generally a big worrier.

Anyway, that is my thought process. Here is my suggestion for OP.

My modus operandi with any activity my kids are a part of is to trust, but verify. It does not happen often, but when my kids have had any injury or bruising at practice that did not make sense to me after talking to my kids about it, I have also asked the coach about it. Usually there is a clear explanation and that is the end of it. But twice my questions resulted in a change at practice that was needed, once by making the coach aware that a form correction was required on a skill that was tearing my son's arms up, and once where the issue involved another child and was a behavior issue.

 

[gracyomalley]

Some bruising seems very normal - and yes, some kids bruise much easier than others - I also bruise looking at hard objects, but all three of mine inherited dad's skin in this area.

At that level, though the bruises should be in specific places and explainable - shins/maybe upper legs from bar, beam burns, etc....

There is a kind of elbow break that is a "common" childhood injury at that age, so maybe not like the kind we all think of as a gym elbow injury...

That being said, bruises should make "sense" training wise - and kidwise...my DD rarely bruises in life, so when she did at gym is usually was a big deal - hitting both shins on the pit edge on fipping vault drills (due to equipment not being moved to accomodate her being a foot and a half shorter than the other L7+ girls - she knew she should adjust it but for some reason didn't...those bruises took literally 2 months to resolve), boys get bruises from new skills/attempts on pommel and pbars often, etc.

But I agree, I never really worried about injury at gym (less than the fluke injuries that can happen when they jump off the chicken coop at home...) until the kids were approaching optional level, although there was a brief time when the gyms in town were thrown together in one building and far too many kids in a chaotic environment - I worried about my youngest not watching enough and getting hurt, and my oldest had to pull up frequently when little 6 year olds ran across the vault run while he was propelling his 130 pound body into his Tsuk...it was quickly brought under control...

I do have a friend with much higher anxiety in this area who could never watch her daughter on beam - through L7...I couldn't watch my DD on vault when she was little - but not because I was worried she'd get hurt - her coaches were always right there because she was so tiny they were all just hoping she'd make it over the horse!

I still get nervous watching the kids - probably always will - DS elder does lots of stuff he could really hurt himself with - but he's got good coaches and a descent self-protection instinct (for a gymnast) - I've seen him crash so many times I mostly worry about whether he'll be happy/have fun now...