Parents When the monthly cost of gym equals a mortgage payment...

[Deleted member D3987]

next time everyone goes to the polls here in the US, vote out EVERYONE, vote for NOONE, and write in any gymnastics club owner you know to fill the vacant positions. WE know how to squeeze 10 cents out of a penny... then maybe things will get better.

 

[leilani]

gymnastics is very expensive for us! i have my wonderful 8 y/o daughter and a 3 y/o boy and a 10 month old little girl. my husband works two jobs, construction and a maintenance worker at the hotel where i work, to provide for the family. i work as a hotel receptionist at one of the tourist resorts to make ends meet and provide the little extras. my kids mean the world to mean and i'd do anything to help them fill their dreams. both my husband and me grew up poor so we know how to work hard and sacrifice. i know the further we go in gym, as my daughter aims for elite, the more sacrifice our family will need but we have each other and we have love, and our childrens dreams and happiness, and i'd rather have that then a nice house or car anyday of the week! our ohana is our world.

 

[Gymnastmama]

Hello, I am new here, this is actually the first thread I read. I am a single mother of 3 girls. I have a 7 and 8 year old who just started team this year. I was a little embarrassed to tell people that my parents pay for 1 kid and I pay for the other, but now it seems that it isn't so uncommon so now I don't feel all that bad about it! The financial burden hasn't fell on me too terribly bad, just yet. I know it is coming though because they are 2 meets coming up in December, their first competitions and the cost of each are pretty expensive! They go 6 hours a week right now, which will soon turn into 10 then 15 etc.. and of course the more they go the more it will cost. Also my other daughter who is 3 will be joining gymnastics in the next few years which scares me a little. She will start off doing the once a week thing but you know how that all turns out! One good thing about my gym is that you get a 20% sibling discount, which actually adds up! I am still new to all of this so I haven't had to do any kind of fund raisers to help pay for the costs. And I am not sure if I will want to because I don't like to ask people for money, it will take a lot of courage for me to do that, but I will do what I have to do. But I would probably just pick up an extra job to avoid that. Also I make my own leotards, I took up the joy of sewing a couple of years ago and making leotards are actually a pretty easy thing to do! And it only costs me about 5 dollars or less to make one. And no one can tell that they are home made! It saves me a lot of money since all the leotards at my gym are over 40 bucks a piece! So that is how I am able to afford gymnastics right now, I am scared of what the future holds though. I am sure I will turn into a serious penny pincher. But like others have said, I think doing whatever for my kids to make them happy is worth so much more than buying material things or having an expensive car!

 

[sally]

OMG, it is really expensive over there. I pay here $350 a month for 15hrs a week and the most it goes up to is about $420 a month, and I thought that was expensive, glad I'm not over there.

Good timing! I took DD1 to gymnastics yesterday (just started three months ago), and the team schedules and tuition were posted on the wall. Pre-team is $250/month for about 7 hours a week. If she starts at Level 5 (the lowest our gym competes, it's $388/month for about 13 hours a week. I almost fell over.

From there it just goes up, up, up. Level 9/10 is almost $600/month.

I looked up an old thread, and everyone else's gym seems to be much less expensive. Is our gym unusual??

 

[bogwoppit]

Hello, I am new here, this is actually the first thread I read. I am a single mother of 3 girls. I have a 7 and 8 year old who just started team this year. I was a little embarrassed to tell people that my parents pay for 1 kid and I pay for the other, but now it seems that it isn't so uncommon so now I don't feel all that bad about it! The financial burden hasn't fell on me too terribly bad, just yet. I know it is coming though because they are 2 meets coming up in December, their first competitions and the cost of each are pretty expensive! They go 6 hours a week right now, which will soon turn into 10 then 15 etc.. and of course the more they go the more it will cost. Also my other daughter who is 3 will be joining gymnastics in the next few years which scares me a little. She will start off doing the once a week thing but you know how that all turns out! One good thing about my gym is that you get a 20% sibling discount, which actually adds up! I am still new to all of this so I haven't had to do any kind of fund raisers to help pay for the costs. And I am not sure if I will want to because I don't like to ask people for money, it will take a lot of courage for me to do that, but I will do what I have to do. But I would probably just pick up an extra job to avoid that. Also I make my own leotards, I took up the joy of sewing a couple of years ago and making leotards are actually a pretty easy thing to do! And it only costs me about 5 dollars or less to make one. And no one can tell that they are home made! It saves me a lot of money since all the leotards at my gym are over 40 bucks a piece! So that is how I am able to afford gymnastics right now, I am scared of what the future holds though. I am sure I will turn into a serious penny pincher. But like others have said, I think doing whatever for my kids to make them happy is worth so much more than buying material things or having an expensive car!

Welcome to the Chalkbucket and out of lurkdom.

You are far from alone, I know we have lots of single parents here struggling to give their kids the gym time that they love. Many of them couldn't do it without physical and financial support of family and friends. Balancing it all is a big challenge these days.