Is this normal for a gymnastics class...

[whyismysoullost]

That you can't watch your children practice ?

I rang up a few gymnastics companies and most of them do not allow you to watch your children during their sessions. Is this normal ? I want to see my money's worth to be honest- and if they are teaching DS well. How can I judge this if I can't watch his practice sessions.

Should I look elsewhere ? Or is this normal for gymnastics companies ?

Normal for the ones my daughter has attended.

Parents watching from the sidelines often has a distracting effect when your child's focus should be on their coach

It was certainly the case at our local gym club which had this rule from age 3 .

It's why DS (who is very sporty and if recent experience at parcour is anything to go by, could have been a very good gymnast) stopped age 3. He wasn't happy without me, I wasn't happy with a club having this kind of rule.

I get the impression gymnastics is still the kind of sport which has a "coaches are god and must not be questioned" attitude, which I am not comfortable with. All sorts of bullying can thrive behind closed doors. When I compare it to my son's rugby and football clubs, where parents are welcome to watch, I feel my instincts over it being an unhealthy attitude were spot on.

Really?! I read somewhere that it's a red flag.

You can stay and watch at my daughter's class. Some do, some don't (I used to when it was only an hour, but now her classes are longer my backside can't cope with the benches for that long!).

Unless they are preschool it is the norm for most activities as it is distracting for the children.

barbara* Are you insinuating that it's not a good thing for the coaches to do ? The club I'm interested in is over £200.00. I want to see if the money is worth the cost.

Sorry. Should have added that my son is 10.

My DD used to go to a class where initially the teacher was quite relaxed about parents staying. But some of them really took the piss - letting their toddlers run about, talking loudly etc and eventually she asked parents to leave.

See, I've never bought the "it's distracting" line. If the coaches are good enough and the activities sufficiently engaging, there won't be a problem. Not a problem in my son's other sports clubs or musical activities - what are gymnastics coaches doing wrong in terms of maintaining the interest of the kids that they can't cope with parents being around?

Do they have a Watching Week each term when parents are invited to watch a session? Does he compete?

My dd has been to 2 different gymnastics clubs and it is normal over the age of 4. She is 6 and manages fine, they have display days where you can see their progress. Does this club offer that? At age 10 I wouldn’t expect parents to be watching training sessions

Cross post OP. It's just my hunch as a parent that actually this is down to a lingering hang over from 1970s attitudes among coaches. Chucking parents out when kids reached the age of 3 just seemed a crazy thing to do, and so different from my experience of any other sport.

It's tricky. You don't stay at school and it can be distracting for the children, plus there might not be room.

Surely is your ds is term he can tell you whether the classes are worth it and you will see by the progress he makes whether it's worth it?

It's the same for most clubs, especially at this age. I don't watch any of dd10's clubs apart from horse riding (I teach her myself mostly so when she goes for professional lessons it's useful for me)

Ten not term, sorry!

And you should be able to at least watch the first session or some of it?

It’s also a safeguarding issue having random adults standing round watching who haven’t had any dbs checks.

My children go to swimming and gymnastics run by the local council, they go into the classes by themselves from 3 years old. However both venues have a TV showing the lesson in the parent waiting areas.

Incidentally, it ceases to be an issue as the kids get older, as watching training is dull as ditchwater and most parents can't wait for their kids to be old enough that they can drop and run. (Rugby is slightly different as you tend to want to be around in case they need taking to A&E).

I have been a sports coach, and to be honest it is quite difficult with parents around. Obviously not all parents are difficult, but some will interfere, distract their child, try and give instructions or tell the coach they're doing it wrong, and generally be a bit of a pain, so it's just easiest to say no parents watching.

We can watch from a balcony above the gym, but are not allowed in the room where the children are. They want parents around for the under 8s to take children to the toilet.

Don't mean to drip feed but my son has ADD. He loves gymnastics but so far we've had to move clubs twice. The main coaches have been excellent. But the other coaches who are not at the same senior level as the head coach tend to give up on my som easily.

He often is in his own world and needs someone to redirect his attention.

I don't want to watch his whole session but just to dip in an out and see if he's doing ok.

DD is 8 and now in a competitive squad, she started age 2 and we've never been allowed to watch. It doesn't bother us, we do obviously get to see her when she competes.

My daughter's (4yo) gymnastics club don't allow us to go inside the gym during classes, but there is a waiting area outside for parents with several TV screens so that we can watch the classes on those if we wish to.

Normal and definitely for the best. Children generally behave differently when parents are there, and often not for the better. Dipping in and out is also disruptive and distracting for the children. In gym distraction at the wrong moment can cause injuries.

That's before you get the parent that storms over and declares that having watched their dc is the best in the class and so why aren't they being put forward for county training (saw that one after watch day once) like another girl.

You've also got that some parents will take photos-yes, even if you tell them not to. Those photos will end up on social media etc.

If you think for your ds, he might appreciate having you there. But would he really appreciate having 20 other parents there with siblings, possibly running around or being noisy etc. 20 parents to witness if your ds misbehaves and comment on to their children and each other.

And anyway, unless you're trained in gym, how would you know how well he's being taught. If you know enough to know that, then you can teach him yourself.