Gymnastics

I was reading through the forums on the Chalk Bucket. The 7 page thread began with this post :

I’m just curious as to what other gyms policy is for allowing parents to watch. As of now, my gym allows parents to stay. The problem I find is that many try coaching through the window or from the second floor! I think it might be a distraction and there are some kids who turn around to get mom or dads reaction after each skill. We are making some renovations and are thinking of a 2 way mirror.. parents can still see, but kids won’t be distracted. Is this a good idea?

In our gym, we don’t encourage parents into the gym to watch. I find it to be very distracting for the gymnasts. We have a viewing gallery above the gym and the parents can watch if they really want to. I always find that the children show off but in the wrong way, by trying to be funny and messing and eventually end up getting hurt by not concentrating. I don’t mind so much for our Recreation gymnasts who only train for an hour, often it’s not worth the trip home for Mom and Dad to have to run back out the door again to collect their child.

I’ve been reading this thread and noticing that a lot of members said that they didn’t have parents in the gym as they tend to try to “coach” their own child, even from window. I haven’t  noticed this in my own gym. I’d like to think that the parents leave it up to us coaches, the trained professional to teach the children. We organise displays and shows later on in the year for the parents so that the children can have time to work on their moves and then once they are comfortable and ready, show them off to parents, friends and family. If a child has worked on a move that they’re really proud of, we of course invite the parents in to view the great work they’ve done on the particular move.

So how do you operate classes in your gym? Is it ok for Rec parents to watch? Do you have an allocated area for parents to watch from? Or do you ban parents from the gym altogther?