Reply to How much is too much for kids sports?

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[quote=Anonymous]My child does gymnastics. She's turning 9 and has been doing 12 hours/week for the past couple of years since she started team. It is an insane amount of time, but her workout group and her teammates are smart, kind girls who I frankly respect and enjoy more than her classmates at her well-regarded school.

She also does very low-key dance during the school year, skis seriously in the winter (but does not race- that wouldn't work) and does the usual summer sports like summer swim team and tennis.

I think the biggest trade-off is that she misses a lot of weekend birthday parties during meet season and occasionally misses school for meets that have Friday sessions or require Friday travel. We live in a region with few gyms so I think that problem is less common in the DC/VA area.

My daughter's personality is the kind that if gymnastics is not longer part of her life, she'll probably pick up something else intense like running or rowing. She was the baby/toddler who was so focused and serious that strangers and preschool teachers commented on it and made it clear that they saw it as a negative. I was grateful when she found gymnastics because her seriousness is seen a positive in that environment and she is happy and carefree when she's in the gym.

We're lucky to have found a very progressive, modern gym with a different atmosphere than most. Anyone thinking about that kind of commitment needs to watch team practices, count visible injuries, and observe the attitude and body language of girls at drop-off and pickup. We very intentionally also chose a gym that has a vast variety of body types of HS-aged athletes. Our coaches understand puberty and how to get girls to the other side of it in a healthy way.[/quote]

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