So, my 6 yr old daughter is an EXCEPTIONAL swimmer.

[mercanucaribe]

I'd let her do swimming lessons, but not put her on a swim team. She's only 6 after all.

 

[Leper Messiah]

Is she good at fly? That was like the only one I could beat people at, because they were all wussies and never practiced it 'cause its a pain on your shoulders. Can she do flip turns and crap like that?

 

[DaiShan]

Originally posted by: PlatinumGold
her form is impeccable, she swims 4 strokes very well and freestyle she is already faster than her 9 yr old brother. he is just average altho he also swims pretty well.


she enjoys the lessons and the club she's taking lessons at is suggesting we put her on the swim team.

how far should we take this stuff? do we want her to go to all the meets and stuff? is it worth it for her?

OTOH, she is pretty good, can we just ignore that fact and not push her at all?

dayum, being a parent can be tough.

if we put her on the swim team, she will be in practices a LOT and her weekend will almost never be her own.

OTOH, will she and we regret it if we don't pursue it?

As long as she wants to swim, get her on the swim team, its a great way to make friends, and she'll keep in shape her whole life with swimming. I started swimming competitively at 5 and didn't stop until sophmore year of college. As far as her weekend not being her own, I don't really see swim practice for a 6 year old taking up too much time, probably an hour at most during the day.

 

[JLGatsby]

:thumbsup: for college scholarships.

 

[DaiShan]

Originally posted by: PlatinumGold

Originally posted by: Inspector Jihad

Originally posted by: Plasdom
On topic: Stars who practised their "trade" early in life:
Tiger Woods
Williams sisters
Michael Jackson

yeah no doubt you should push her in that direction...its not east being really really good at anything, you have to sacrifice something...i would definetly do it...but leave it up to her later

excellence requires sacrifice. if she were like her older brother, enjoyed it but really didn't show exceptional talent for it, i wouldn't even be considering it.

but if she does have exceptional talent in the area (and it will really take another 2 or 3 yrs of lessons before we will know) than i think i would be remiss as a parent not to help her develop it.

Very true, the other thing that you should consider is a lot of girls plateau rather early, like 14 or 15. I was swimming varsity when I was in 7th grade and there was a girl in my grade that was faster than almost all of the high schoolers, she even placed at state, but by high school she was maybe 1-2 seconds faster in the 100free (not a lot) Guys generally keep getting faster even into college.

 

[PlatinumGold]

Originally posted by: DaiShan

Originally posted by: PlatinumGold

Originally posted by: Inspector Jihad

Originally posted by: Plasdom
On topic: Stars who practised their "trade" early in life:
Tiger Woods
Williams sisters
Michael Jackson

yeah no doubt you should push her in that direction...its not east being really really good at anything, you have to sacrifice something...i would definetly do it...but leave it up to her later

excellence requires sacrifice. if she were like her older brother, enjoyed it but really didn't show exceptional talent for it, i wouldn't even be considering it.

but if she does have exceptional talent in the area (and it will really take another 2 or 3 yrs of lessons before we will know) than i think i would be remiss as a parent not to help her develop it.

Very true, the other thing that you should consider is a lot of girls plateau rather early, like 14 or 15. I was swimming varsity when I was in 7th grade and there was a girl in my grade that was faster than almost all of the high schoolers, she even placed at state, but by high school she was maybe 1-2 seconds faster in the 100free (not a lot) Guys generally keep getting faster even into college.

which means, the early years are very very important.

 

[Inspector Jihad]

Originally posted by: PlatinumGold

Originally posted by: Inspector Jihad

Originally posted by: PlatinumGold

Originally posted by: Inspector Jihad

Originally posted by: Plasdom
On topic: Stars who practised their "trade" early in life:
Tiger Woods
Williams sisters
Michael Jackson

yeah no doubt you should push her in that direction...its not east being really really good at anything, you have to sacrifice something...i would definetly do it...but leave it up to her later

excellence requires sacrifice. if she were like her older brother, enjoyed it but really didn't show exceptional talent for it, i wouldn't even be considering it.

but if she does have exceptional talent in the area (and it will really take another 2 or 3 yrs of lessons before we will know) than i think i would be remiss as a parent not to help her develop it.

yeah....and people here say, only do it if she likes it...but most teenagers let alone a 6 yr old would know what is good for them, they might not like it, but if its for the best you should go ahead and do it. Now before you call me a nazi, all i'm saying is that push her thru it now so she can make a good decision later on.

i'm with you.

i don't think kids really know what they want and many times expect parents to make decisions for them. obviously communication is required but to totally say, let a 6 yr old decide just shows those people don't know how 6 yr old thinks.

fact is, she will go the direction we encourage her to.

the question is, what decision do we make for her. that's part of the responsibility of parenthood, making decisions for kids they are not ready to make.

yes sir, looks like you got the parenting thing down

and i dont understand the argument that she's only six...thats old enough...my dad started taking me to play table tennis at that age at the local clubs in india, I mean I would practice and do little exercises and stuffcause I wasnt tall enoguh to reach teh table but then at around 7 or 7 and half i started playing...i wasnt half bad either, i was playing in junior tourneys when i was 8...but then we moved to the US and unfortunately there wasnt much scope for TT here. But like I said 6 is a great age to start

 

[SearchMaster]

6 is not too young for swimming. My sister started competitively at about 5, and went all the way through college on a full scholarship. She came within 3 places of a spot on the Olympic team. If she truly has the talent, two or three more years will likely make the difference between being good and great. There are other sports where you can start later, but swimming isn't one IMO.

 

[HardcoreRobot]

ask her if she wants to try it. if she says yes, you sign her up and encourage her. if she says no, you encourage her swimming and ask again some other day

 

[PlatinumGold]

Originally posted by: HardcoreRobot
ask her if she wants to try it. if she says yes, you sign her up and encourage her. if she says no, you encourage her swimming and ask again some other day

i'm of the school of parenting that says, i make decisions for my kids and as they grow older and show me they understand the decisions they are making i turn more and more of the decision making process to them. then when they graduate college i will be making NO decisions for them.

call me crazy but that is what parenthood means to me.

 

[Inspector Jihad]

Originally posted by: PlatinumGold

Originally posted by: HardcoreRobot
ask her if she wants to try it. if she says yes, you sign her up and encourage her. if she says no, you encourage her swimming and ask again some other day

i'm of the school of parenting that says, i make decisions for my kids and as they grow older and show me they understand the decisions they are making i turn more and more of the decision making process to them. then when they graduate college i will be making NO decisions for them.

call me crazy but that is what parenthood means to me.

thats how i was raised and thats how i plan on raising my kids

 

[JayHu]

Originally posted by: SearchMaster
6 is not too young for swimming. My sister started competitively at about 5, and went all the way through college on a full scholarship. She came within 3 places of a spot on the Olympic team. If she truly has the talent, two or three more years will likely make the difference between being good and great. There are other sports where you can start later, but swimming isn't one IMO.

I'm going to have to actually disagree with you on this one. I've seen many pretty good swimmers start later on in life (for a prime example consider Ed Moses).

However addressing the original poster, I started competitively swimming when I was 7. I have been swimming ever since. I really can't give any advice for you, except that clubs that think you need to swim all the time when you're younger are wrong (IMO). When I was young, we swam 4 times a week. There were swimmers who did 10-20 hours a week when they were that age, but they never made it past 13. I think the key is not to push her. Feel free to put her in it, that's only way she'll know if she likes it. If she doesn't, you'll know.

 

[AlienCraft]

Originally posted by: PlatinumGold
her form is impeccable, she swims 4 strokes very well and freestyle she is already faster than her 9 yr old brother. he is just average altho he also swims pretty well.


she enjoys the lessons and the club she's taking lessons at is suggesting we put her on the swim team.

how far should we take this stuff? do we want her to go to all the meets and stuff? is it worth it for her?

OTOH, she is pretty good, can we just ignore that fact and not push her at all?

dayum, being a parent can be tough.

if we put her on the swim team, she will be in practices a LOT and her weekend will almost never be her own.

OTOH, will she and we regret it if we don't pursue it?

What's all this "we" stuff?
It's eother her decsion, remember she's 6, and that will be subject to change", or it's your decsion that you're making for your own reasons, hers notwithstanding.
If SHE wants to swim, then let her swim. But I say be willing to let her stop if she wants and take up ballet if that what interests her. She can always come back to swimming if it's college assistance you're looking for.

Tonto and the Lone Ranger ride into a canyon and find themselves surronded by hostile Indians.
The Lone Ranger says"Looks like we're in trouble!"
Tonto says " What do you mean WE, paleface?"

 

[PlatinumGold]

Originally posted by: AlienCraft

Originally posted by: PlatinumGold
her form is impeccable, she swims 4 strokes very well and freestyle she is already faster than her 9 yr old brother. he is just average altho he also swims pretty well.


she enjoys the lessons and the club she's taking lessons at is suggesting we put her on the swim team.

how far should we take this stuff? do we want her to go to all the meets and stuff? is it worth it for her?

OTOH, she is pretty good, can we just ignore that fact and not push her at all?

dayum, being a parent can be tough.

if we put her on the swim team, she will be in practices a LOT and her weekend will almost never be her own.

OTOH, will she and we regret it if we don't pursue it?

What's all this "we" stuff?
It's eother her decsion, remember she's 6, and that will be subject to change", or it's your decsion that you're making for your own reasons, hers notwithstanding.
If SHE wants to swim, then let her swim. But I say be willing to let her stop if she wants and take up ballet if that what interests her. She can always come back to swimming if it's college assistance you're looking for.

Tonto and the Lone Ranger ride into a canyon and find themselves surronded by hostile Indians.
The Lone Ranger says"Looks like we're in trouble!"
Tonto says " What do you mean WE, paleface?"

uhhh duh, the we is my wife and I. :roll:

again. as i've posted many times in this thread. if she insists on quitting we aren't going to stop her from doing so, but it will require more than a simple statement of i want to quit. i'm not going to let her make what could be for her life changing decisions on a whim. and yes, 6 yr olds are prone to whims.

it would be the irresponsible parent who thought every whim of a 6 yr old was her lifes ambition.

 

[PlatinumGold]

Originally posted by: JayHu

Originally posted by: SearchMaster
6 is not too young for swimming. My sister started competitively at about 5, and went all the way through college on a full scholarship. She came within 3 places of a spot on the Olympic team. If she truly has the talent, two or three more years will likely make the difference between being good and great. There are other sports where you can start later, but swimming isn't one IMO.

I'm going to have to actually disagree with you on this one. I've seen many pretty good swimmers start later on in life (for a prime example consider Ed Moses).

However addressing the original poster, I started competitively swimming when I was 7. I have been swimming ever since. I really can't give any advice for you, except that clubs that think you need to swim all the time when you're younger are wrong (IMO). When I was young, we swam 4 times a week. There were swimmers who did 10-20 hours a week when they were that age, but they never made it past 13. I think the key is not to push her. Feel free to put her in it, that's only way she'll know if she likes it. If she doesn't, you'll know.

question:

from your name and from the overwhelming numbers of posters on ATOT, i'm going to assume you are male.

another poster earlier posted that girls peak sooner, so it would seem to me that they would need to start sooner than a guy.

 

[JayHu]

Originally posted by: PlatinumGold

Originally posted by: AlienCraft

Originally posted by: PlatinumGold
her form is impeccable, she swims 4 strokes very well and freestyle she is already faster than her 9 yr old brother. he is just average altho he also swims pretty well.


she enjoys the lessons and the club she's taking lessons at is suggesting we put her on the swim team.

how far should we take this stuff? do we want her to go to all the meets and stuff? is it worth it for her?

OTOH, she is pretty good, can we just ignore that fact and not push her at all?

dayum, being a parent can be tough.

if we put her on the swim team, she will be in practices a LOT and her weekend will almost never be her own.

OTOH, will she and we regret it if we don't pursue it?

What's all this "we" stuff?
It's eother her decsion, remember she's 6, and that will be subject to change", or it's your decsion that you're making for your own reasons, hers notwithstanding.
If SHE wants to swim, then let her swim. But I say be willing to let her stop if she wants and take up ballet if that what interests her. She can always come back to swimming if it's college assistance you're looking for.

Tonto and the Lone Ranger ride into a canyon and find themselves surronded by hostile Indians.
The Lone Ranger says"Looks like we're in trouble!"
Tonto says " What do you mean WE, paleface?"

uhhh duh, the we is my wife and I. :roll:

again. as i've posted many times in this thread. if she insists on quitting we aren't going to stop her from doing so, but it will require more than a simple statement of i want to quit. i'm not going to let her make what could be for her life changing decisions on a whim. and yes, 6 yr olds are prone to whims.

it would be the irresponsible parent who thought every whim of a 6 yr old was her lifes ambition.

I like the decision and the reasoning behind it. My parents were much the same way. Though replace 6 with 13 in this case. I 'wanted' to quit when I was 13, but I really couldn't decide what else I could actually do. So I kept swimming, and I still am today (17 yrs after starting).

 

[DrPizza]

It doesn't matter either way; talk to the coach, encourage her, but at 6 years of age, I wouldn't *make* her do it if she doesn't enjoy it.

However, it's just as important that you keep your children involved athletically, instead of sitting around all day, playing x-box, going online, or watching tv.

 

[totalcommand]

Originally posted by: PlatinumGold
her form is impeccable, she swims 4 strokes very well and freestyle she is already faster than her 9 yr old brother. he is just average altho he also swims pretty well.


she enjoys the lessons and the club she's taking lessons at is suggesting we put her on the swim team.

how far should we take this stuff? do we want her to go to all the meets and stuff? is it worth it for her?

OTOH, she is pretty good, can we just ignore that fact and not push her at all?

dayum, being a parent can be tough.

if we put her on the swim team, she will be in practices a LOT and her weekend will almost never be her own.

OTOH, will she and we regret it if we don't pursue it?

No need to push her, she is 6 years old. If she likes it, she will continue with it and will join a team on her own. If she doesn't, there are a billion other things out there that she might be good at.

 

[PlatinumGold]

Originally posted by: DrPizza
It doesn't matter either way; talk to the coach, encourage her, but at 6 years of age, I wouldn't *make* her do it if she doesn't enjoy it.

However, it's just as important that you keep your children involved athletically, instead of sitting around all day, playing x-box, going online, or watching tv.

my kids only get 1 hour of tv / day and video games are only on the weekends.

right now, she is doing swimming, piano and gymnastics. of the 3 gymnastics really isn't her, she is very tall for her age and she doesn't show exceptional talent for gymnastics. we'll let her do it as long as she enjoys it.

piano, she is very good with piano as well. for her, she knows that she will have piano lessons and will have to practice it every day like it or not till she's 16.

but swimming is interesting, we never had considered anything athletic for her, but she is showing exceptional talent, if she continues to stay ahead of the rest of her peers and her 9 yr old brother (who is also taking swimming lessons) then next year, i think we will have her join the team.

 

[Inspector Jihad]

Originally posted by: DrPizza
It doesn't matter either way; talk to the coach, encourage her, but at 6 years of age, I wouldn't *make* her do it if she doesn't enjoy it.

However, it's just as important that you keep your children involved athletically, instead of sitting around all day, playing x-box, going online, or watching tv.

sounds like people are just repeating advice now...anyway hope things go well platinum

 

[PlatinumGold]

Originally posted by: totalcommand

Originally posted by: PlatinumGold
her form is impeccable, she swims 4 strokes very well and freestyle she is already faster than her 9 yr old brother. he is just average altho he also swims pretty well.


she enjoys the lessons and the club she's taking lessons at is suggesting we put her on the swim team.

how far should we take this stuff? do we want her to go to all the meets and stuff? is it worth it for her?

OTOH, she is pretty good, can we just ignore that fact and not push her at all?

dayum, being a parent can be tough.

if we put her on the swim team, she will be in practices a LOT and her weekend will almost never be her own.

OTOH, will she and we regret it if we don't pursue it?

No need to push her, she is 6 years old. If she likes it, she will continue with it and will join a team on her own. If she doesn't, there are a billion other things out there that she might be good at.

i disagree, parents do need to push their kids. that's what parents are for.

again, most of those posting giving my daughter so much freedom must be from the younger generation who are dealing with struggles with their parents.

 

[AdamSnow]

I'd say go for it... If nothing else will keep her healthy unlike so many kids these days.

 

[Vinney]

I was in a somewhat similar situation when I was around that age, but with gymnastics. If you were on the team, practices were 4 hours every day after school. Honestly I don't remember the decision making process very well, but I do remember that I had a lot of sway. What we ended up doing was trying it for a week and after the week I decided it was too much for me. I would recommend something similar - give the team a trial run and see how she likes it. If she's still happy, keep up with it, if not, don't do it anymore.

 

[Inspector Jihad]

Originally posted by: PlatinumGold

Originally posted by: totalcommand

Originally posted by: PlatinumGold
her form is impeccable, she swims 4 strokes very well and freestyle she is already faster than her 9 yr old brother. he is just average altho he also swims pretty well.


she enjoys the lessons and the club she's taking lessons at is suggesting we put her on the swim team.

how far should we take this stuff? do we want her to go to all the meets and stuff? is it worth it for her?

OTOH, she is pretty good, can we just ignore that fact and not push her at all?

dayum, being a parent can be tough.

if we put her on the swim team, she will be in practices a LOT and her weekend will almost never be her own.

OTOH, will she and we regret it if we don't pursue it?

No need to push her, she is 6 years old. If she likes it, she will continue with it and will join a team on her own. If she doesn't, there are a billion other things out there that she might be good at.

i disagree, parents do need to push their kids. that's what parents are for.

again, most of those posting giving my daughter so much freedom must be from the younger generation who are dealing with struggles with their parents.

yeah, but i'm 19 and I live at school except vacations and I struggle with my parents, but once you get past people get past their need for immediate satisfaction, they see that their parents usually do whats right for them.

 

[Excelsior]

Originally posted by: Looney
Go for it... if she enjoys it, then let her have fun. When she gets bored or tired of it, then quit. It doesn't have to be a lifetime commitment or anything.

Yeah. If she has the competitive drive and wants to do, then go on further. If she wants to stop, then so be it.