Many people will say that gymnastics is not for the weak. This is also true of parenting gymnasts. Now as everyone knows, more kids means more joy….and more challenges you might face. Here is where I welcome you to the wonderful world of parenting multiple gymnasts! If you are a family considering gymnastics as the chosen sport for multiple children, let this serve as a guide of what challenges you might face and also how much fun this can bring to your life! If you are already a family with multiple gymnasts, let this be where you come for affirmation that you are not alone on this exciting journey!
The Challenges.
Let’s start with the challenges you might face when parenting multiple gymnasts. For most, we will be able to pair an equally joyous reason for having multiple children dedicated to this sport.
- Challenge #1 – The In-House Competition
In a later post we can have a discussion about the uniqueness of this sport (because honestly I could go on and on), but one of the factors of this sport that’s unparalleled is that you are partaking in an individual sport and a team sport at the same time. While I know there are many Olympic style sports that run this way (swimming is the first to come to mind), there are not many popular youth sports where you get the experience of competing against your teammates and with them at the same time. You can argue that you can compete for stats within a game, and that’s true, but ultimately you either win or lose as a team. But in gymnastics, you could not make the podium as a team and still come home with up to 5 individual gold medals, many of which you just out-beat the rest of your team to earn. Now, consider that for a minute; teammate against teammate…and then pit one sibling against the other. Now, the benefit here is that unless your multiple children are twins, siblings are most likely going to be on different leveled teams. If they are on the same team, they’ll likely fall into different age groups and wouldn’t really be competing against each other anyways. But, parents, can you imagine the drama on the car ride home?! We should come back to discuss how to best support your two gymnasts, who are vastly different. All I have to say is that I’ve conditioned myself with many preplanned pep talks for the one who might not have won this round and have just as many prepared words for the one who might have earned some bragging rights. Ultimately, we are siblings first and gymnasts second in our household. More on this challenge to come in a later post…because this is a big one we face daily!
- Challenge #2 – Accepting differences (as a parent)
Every parent and parenting style is different, but ultimately, no matter what your style, you also have to take into consideration each individual child. How you address your child based on their personality will come into play as you support them through their gymnastics career. Then consider doing this for two different children but with a common factor. One of my biggest challenges in parenting multiple gymnasts is how to keep the standards and expectations consistent, knowing that they can’t possibly be the same for both children. One child might need support with firm reaction, holding high standards, and keeping firm to expectations. Other children might need support with finding the joy in the sport when things get tough or don’t go their way. Still some need you to be okay that they aren’t as serious as their sibling and just want to take things with a grain of salt and have fun in the sport. Finding the balance and ability to meet each child where they need you is quite the challenge, especially when you have your own expectations of the sport to filter out.
- Challenge #3 – Scheduling Nightmares
Did you know that even compulsory level gymnasts are in the gym up to 4 days a week. Practices last 3-4 hours at a time. Gymnastics isn’t limited to a season of practices and then you get a break. Our family practically lives in the gym. Six days a week, four hours at a time, all. year. long. Do I love it? Absolutely. Do I have to sacrifice some things to make the schedule work? For sure. Do I have a wall calendar to keep all the practices, competitions, clinics, and special events straight. YES. A wall calendar, planner, digital calendar, and spread sheet! There is literally no other way. Oh…and with multiple gymnasts, color coding helps!
- Challenge #4 – $$$$
This one doesn’t take much explanation. Gymnastics is an expensive sport once you factor in tuition, meet fees, travel, practice leos, uniform leos, warm ups, backpacks, grips and braces, and the list goes on. Then times all of that by two and…well you get it. $$$$ + $$$$ . If you’re lucky there will be some years where meets over lap and you’ll take trips for your multiples to the same competitions and your younger can benefit from hand-me-down leos. But, just be prepared that this won’t happen every year. (Of course…not every gym is going to have the same offerings as far as competitions and fees go, and so this will drastically vary for everyone.)
Okay….there more challenges you could name in the comments to help our fellow parents looking into the sport for multiple children (or looking for a sympathetic ear when facing challenges), but these are my top 4. Let’s move on now to look into some true joys of having gymnastics as your family sport.
The Joys.
Most parents have a favored sport. But when multiple children are participating in the sport you deem as your passion, and finding a passion of their own in that sport, well things just sit different. There are so many joys of having children in the same sport. Here are my top four.
- Joy #1 – A Family Sport
More members in the sport allows for more involvement in the sport. Our family loves that we can discuss gymnastics at the dinner table and everyone gets to be involved. Trips are centered around competitions and everyone gets their time to shine. Not to say things like this can’t occur when you have a multiple sport household, but it’s just an added bonus of the focus being on one sport for the whole household.
- Joy #2 – Sibling Teammates
I know in the challenges I mentioned how tough it can be to have siblings in the same sport. But now I’m going to gush about the joys of it. Regardless of which level they are on, two team members at the same gym are considered teammates. So you get the joy of watching your children learn to be teammates within your house and outside of it. As they build pride in their team, they begin to build pride in each other. They push each other to do better for the whole of their gym team and they cheer each other on, encourage them along the way. They also become part of the gym family together. The older girls become the younger siblings big sisters. Girls she can look up to, find pride in knowing, and get encouragement from. The older sibling takes on the role model role for not only her sister but her sister’s level mates as well. She knows they are watching. She treats them kindly and compassionately, because they are her teammates and gym siblings, too. Gymnastics is a time intensive sport. These girls spend a lot of time together. It’s so encouraging to see that they share a home away from home and love it together.
- #3 Joy – My own benefit
The label makes it sound a little selfish, but it doesn’t have to be. Parents are already stretched thin and taken to our limits. In the case of multiple children involved in the same sport, and more specifically like we experience, competing for the same gym, I feel less pulled. I get to be invested in one sport, one gym team, one location. We might run on multiple schedules for two levels (we have two practice schedules, two meet schedules, and sometimes switched and cancelled practices don’t line up), but I’m all in in one place. When I go to watch one kiddo at practice and have to take the other along, it’s okay. That’s their home, too, remember? They know the girls they are watching and though they might be involved in another activity or wishing that it was their practice time and not their sister’s, they are still invested in how their older or younger teammates are doing and can be engaged when they want to be. Not to say that other siblings can’t find this same connection or level of support for their siblings who play other sports. They absolutely can! This just comes more naturally and is easier to foster. The added benefit for me as a mom…the gym family we have become a part of. I get double the gym moms to develop friendships with and get to watch two sets of girls grow into a family. I love that being “all in” for one sport allows me to be “all in” for the teammates and friends that have become family for us!
- Joy #4 – The Obstacle Timelines
All kids hit obstacles they have to overcome in sports. Always in gymnastics you are learning new skills and overcoming obstacles as you advance through the levels. The huge mental component of gymnastics really lends to overcoming obstacles and climbing mountains to reach your goals. My husband shared that a really great joy of having multiple children in the same sport is watching them overcome obstacles at different times, but ultimately they are finding the same obstacles that they have to overcome. This has been a really interesting part of having multiple kids in a sport that I also participated in. I can remember hitting each milestone and experiencing the challenge attached. Now I’m watching one child face that same challenge and they respond to it in a different way than I did. Then I get to watch another child face it, and still, they respond differently, too. It gives a great perspective on perseverance, and this is really so amazing to experience as a parent.
The Wrap Up.
There are so many joys and challenges to watching your kids do sports, in general, no matter how many kids you have and what sports they play. The best things is just getting to see your kids happy! The above listed is from personal experience, of course, so there may be many other factors that come into play with how this experience may look different for different families. If you are a family with multiple gymnasts, I hope you’ll share your experience with our community!
Until next time!
With a salute and a smile,
-Chalk Prints
