Gymnastics or Dance?

[Anonymous]

My almost 4yr old is obsessed with both. She absolutely loves her ballet class, and her gymnastic classes. The problem is, we just can’t manage both. I have an older son who I limit to 1 sport a season, and I need to do the same with her. Which one should I choose, she won’t choose, she gets upset when I mention dropping one of them.

[Anonymous]

Not to be that person, but...why can't she do both? Neither gymnastics nor dance is seasonal (unlike your son's sports) and she's way too young to specialize. Are there other studios you could consider to help the logistics?

[Anonymous]

Which one is closer to your house? dance is easier for a kid to be decent at as they get older—gymnastics really narrows it. And a lot more injuries in gymnastics.

[Anonymous]

Depends on what kind of dance. We cut dance pretty quickly once I saw some of the older kids' recitals and how early the routines are hypersexualized. That wasn't an issue with ballet, but few of the kids at our dance school stuck to just ballet as they got older.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not to be that person, but...why can't she do both? Neither gymnastics nor dance is seasonal (unlike your son's sports) and she's way too young to specialize. Are there other studios you could consider to help the logistics?

OP can't afford it. How were you unable to gather that?

[Anonymous]

OP, pick dance. I've gone far in both. Dance is better for posture. It's more gentle on the body.

[Anonymous]

I live in Fairfax area. At our gymnastics place you can do 8 weeks sessions - maybe other gyms have that. My 4 y/o is doing a gymnastics summer session to check it out.

She did dance this past year and it was Sept to June with a recital at the end which was a big commitment when I’m used to my older boys being able to do sports for one season. That said, there is also rec center dance by us as well as another one by us that doesn’t have to be full year.

So maybe try exploring non full year options for both in your area.

[Anonymous]

FWIW my dd did both when she was younger. She’s now heavily into soccer and swimming. Don’t necessarily project far into the future.

[Anonymous]

Little Gym has a class for kids that is half dance/half gymnastics. She's a great age for it if you have one near you.

[Anonymous]

Hmmm. I would discourage both to be honest. They are prime sports for injuries and eating disorders and don't translate well into adulthood for the majority.

I'd stick with ballet if I had to make a choice. It encourages good posture and control over your body without the high impact of gymnastics. I'd seek out a studio that was strictly ballet with low key recitals

[Anonymous]

Gymnastics.

Don't assume your 4 year old will turn into a 9 year old gymnast (or dancer, for that matter). Gymnastics is an amazing athletic foundation for so many other sports (or dance).

[Anonymous]

Knowing what I know now after having kids do both, I'd start with gymnastics to see if the gym would want to put her on the pre-team track. For many gyms, it's amazing how early the kids are identified as team potential vs rec level (around your DD's age), and really hard for kids who come in later on the rec side to catch up. If your DD ends up choosing gym over dance, at least you gave her all of the chances you could.

Dance is much more forgiving, especially for ballet schools where the first level of serious study starts around 7-8. And if she ends up choosing other styles of dance over ballet, gymnastics skills will help.

[Anonymous]

At that age, I'd switch back and forth between them and she may develop more of a preference as she gets older.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At that age, I'd switch back and forth between them and she may develop more of a preference as she gets older.

+1. Lots of little kids switch back and forth, so picking either is fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Knowing what I know now after having kids do both, I'd start with gymnastics to see if the gym would want to put her on the pre-team track. For many gyms, it's amazing how early the kids are identified as team potential vs rec level (around your DD's age), and really hard for kids who come in later on the rec side to catch up. If your DD ends up choosing gym over dance, at least you gave her all of the chances you could.

Dance is much more forgiving, especially for ballet schools where the first level of serious study starts around 7-8. And if she ends up choosing other styles of dance over ballet, gymnastics skills will help.

She's FOUR. And as someone who has been involved with gymnastics since before I can remember, any gym that is identifying 4 year olds for pre-team and/or refuses to look at older kids for team simply because they're older, is not a gym you want to go to.