Child in elite sport... Aibu to let her miss training for bday party

[Homeontherangeuk]

My child is an elite athlete & we're on holiday this week... She's just been invited to an outdoor bday party... Usually I'd say you have training but given the past year I'm inclined to say fuck it & let her go... But we're also away this weekend so she's missing two trainings but making all her weeklys...

There was a girl at my school who was a top swimmer. I was too young to be aware of how good she was, but she trained every morning before school and every evening afterwards. Presumably weekends, too! The family moved away in the end to be nearer a better pool nd training facilities

Ooops! Posted whilst trying to edit!
I’ve googled her over the years and have never found her name representing the country. I wonder what she thinks about it now all these years later? She’ll never get those years back.

@VK456

There was a girl at my school who was a top swimmer. I was too young to be aware of how good she was, but she trained every morning before school and every evening afterwards. Presumably weekends, too! The family moved away in the end to be nearer a better pool nd training facilities

Were her initials SB?

MyrtlethePurpleTurtle

They weren’t, no

I’m sorry - I don’t know how to make your name bold!

@Itsnotalwaysasyouthink Just interested that you mentioned parental attitude as an influence to whether they would succeed or not. Does this mean parents need to be more or less pushy for them to succeed?

The OP's gawn I think.

I'm sure it's not the case here, but it doesn't half remind me of countless convos where a certain type of parent manages to shoehorn the words 'elite training/club/child' into every sentence, while simultaneously sighing at the burden of being the parent of a 'future Olympian.'

Generally much less
Facilitate but not pushy

@VK456

Ooops! Posted whilst trying to edit! I’ve googled her over the years and have never found her name representing the country. I wonder what she thinks about it now all these years later? She’ll never get those years back.

That's what I think. A friend of DS trained every day before school and after. Even on Christmas Day. He was pale (from bleach and exhaustion) his school work suffered, his social life was non existent. I always thought swimming has to be the dullest sport - ploughing up and down a chlorinated pool for years of your life when you could be out partying and playing team sports in the sunshine and doing a Saturday job to earn some cash. And it is SO hard to actually make the grade.

So did she go to the party OP?

Sorry everyone for the late reply, we gave her the option & said it was her call, she chose the training... One of her teammates was back from injury the same day & she was excited to see her, also she's started work on a new skill & wanted to continue. So that was that, thanks to everyone who replied!

@Homeontherangeuk

My child is an elite athlete & we're on holiday this week... She's just been invited to an outdoor bday party... Usually I'd say you have training but given the past year I'm inclined to say fuck it & let her go... But we're also away this weekend so she's missing two trainings but making all her weeklys...

The parents of elite athletes need to make tough choices for their kids for them to progress. You need to decide whether you are cut out for this as a family and if not be honest with your child so she doesn’t view the inevitable failure as her fault.