Gym Culture

Nearly everyone has heard of Abby Lee Miller, the head dance instructor of Abby Lee Dance Company, where the show Dance Moms is filmed.  The moms on this show are known for going crazy.  Whether protecting their daughters, defending themselves, or attacking each other, the mothers of the show are willing to do anything to help their daughter(s) succeed in the next audition, become a professional dancer, or win the weekend's competition.  And America eats up their fiery tempers.  Not only does the show consistently contribute to a Trending Topic on Twitter, its talked about in the media on channels other than Lifetime. 

The gym where I work has 2 locations: our main gym in Newport, and our satellite gym in Peoples Plaza.  Our Newport gym is over 3 times the floor size of our tiny Peoples Plaza gym, and has a lobby with viewing windows, offices, a birthday party room, a team room, and a dance room. Our Peoples Plaza gym is one big room with chain corals keeping parents off the floor: there's no division between parents and the class, putting so much more pressure on teachers by the parents.  Knowing that parents will readily criticize you if things aren't done as they seem fit, will try to instruct their child during the class, or will distract their child is one of the most stressful parts of being a gymnastics teacher, especially to younger children who are still developing their skills and who are still completely attached to their parents.

Take the mothers on Dance Moms, multiply the five of them by 15, multiply their "Tiger Mom" instincts by 3, and that's our Gymnastics Moms.  There are at least 75 competitive gymnasts training in our gym as I write this, but no moms. It had to be written into their contracts that the competitive team moms can't stay during their child's practices, due to their distractive nature and apparent lack of self-restraint.  We've had parents run into the gym when their child falls off a beam, perfectly fine; but the mother seems to think that every fall will hurt her child.  In the gymnastics culture, these moms are oh-so-common and oh-so-burdensome. How do these moms expect their children to succeed when every fall is "dangerous"? This behavior discourages children from being willing to try something new that may seem scary at first - their self-confidence is diminished in a sport where physical skill counts for only 25% of the battle and mental skill counts for 75%?

My work makes my life like Dance Moms: crazy mothers and crazy ideas in a crazy culture.