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I guess some parents can only support their kids so much with their dreams.
And some moms and dads have to shut down their kids’ activities for one reason or another…but does that make them a**holes?
Check out this mom’s story and see what you think about her situation.
AITA for not wanting to continue supporting my daughter’s (12F) gymnastics training?
“When my daughter was young, we introduced her to gymnastics.
She was totally hooked and kept asking for more and more lessons. We encouraged her, thinking she will eventually lose interest. Now she is 12, training 20 hours a week, spending weekends after weekends competing at high level competitions.
Problem is, she is 5’7 already and still growing. She is starting to have ambition for D1 scholarship, or even Olympics. That makes me very worried. Being 5’7 basically kills her chance of going to the Olympics. D1 gymnastics scholarship is already rare, the odds of her getting one with her height is even more rare.
It makes me feel bad that our daughter is very, very dedicated. She’s almost always the first one at the gym and the last one to leave. She watches replays of her routine on our drive to training, turns down social events because she “needs to train”, does extra conditioning at home.
Yet I cannot justify blowing thousands of dollars a year and hundreds of hours in time every year to gamble on something with so little chance of success. All the hours spent at her training, driving her to competition is already causing our family life to suffer.
She under-rotates her skills because of her height, and gets injured more frequently than others. Her academics are suffering because of her gymnastics commitment. Her life is going in the wrong direction because of gymnastics. The bandaid is better ripped off earlier than later. My husband agrees.
I broke the news to my daughter. Frankly, it breaks my heart to tell her to give up something she has worked so hard for. I told her I know she is a hard worker. She would get much better reward if she channels her hard work elsewhere, like in school, or another sport. Hell, she plays tennis with the family only casually, yet she was able to win a few u12 tournaments locally. If that’s not talent, I don’t know what is!
Needless to say, she did not take that well. She cried and cried and cried, locking herself in her room, refusing to eat, saying maybe if she doesn’t eat, she will become shorter. I told her over and over that I love her, and I just want the best for her, but she wouldn’t have any of it.
I tried to reason with her – telling her chasing a “dream” is a privilege, not a right. No use! My husband has now softened even though we used to have an agreement. Our family is now phoning us to try to persuade us to let her continue training, even offering support for training cost and pickup / drop-offs.
If she has the right body type to be an elite gymnast, or if she is tall like she is, but is not struggling because of her height, I would support her unconditionally. However that is not the case!
Sometimes I feel like giving in, but to think it through, I was the person who drove her to training and competition, I am the breadwinner who paid for her training. It should be my right to call it off, especially as a parent.
Help me out. Am I wrong?”
Here’s what Reddit users had to say.
This person said she’s an a**hole and she should be trying to come up with a compromise with her daughter.
Photo Credit: Reddit
And this individual said she’s NTA and said maybe she should try a different sport.
Photo Credit: Reddit
One Reddit user said she’s NTA because her daughter’s grades are suffering.
Photo Credit: Reddit
What do you think?
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