All-Star Parent Viewing Areas

[pctmom]

We have a parent viewing area with large windows and it is always open and always will be. Dear "@Future", I think I may love you...

 

[cheerkidzmom]

We have a parent viewing area with large windows and it is always open and always will be. Dear "@Future", I think I may love you...

I wish all teams has this!

 

[Angelica]

i love woodland elites parent viewing area

 

[Katybugmom]

We are in a gymnastics gym so there are always parents watching. This year, cheer parents are asked to stay in the party room- it has a glass window so the athletes can't talk to the parents. I am so glad, some parents and little brothers and sisters were very distracting. I end up shopping or eating out with another mom but a group of moms go walking and they have lost lots of weight and bonded.

 

[arilt95]

Our gym has a parent viewing area! anyone can come in at anytime BUT the cool thing about it is that they can you but you can't see them so its like one of those trick mirrors, when you look into it all you see is yourself but if you inside the parent viewing room they can see you and its less distracting

 

[Brenner]

We have a Parent Viewing room at All Star One.
We have 2 full floors and you can only see one of the floors from the Parent room.

Sooo If I want my parents to watch what the team has been working on... I can show them, or if I need the team to focus on me, and the practice... I take them onto the other floor, where the parents can't see.

Best of both worlds : )

 

[Num1Stunta]

My old gym had our "parent area" in the cafeteria. There were a bunch of tables, locker room in the back, vending machines, and a desk where the "team mom" for each team sat to take attendance when their teams came in for practice. There was a two-way mirror in there- so the parents could watch, but the kids couldn't see them. We had 3 floors and a tumble area.... only one floor was visible from the parent's area, so we had cameras on the other floors which streamed a live feed to the tv screens in there.

You have to be careful with those parent areas... they're a hotbed for gossip, rumors, and parents who want to trash talk coaches and other people's kids.

 

[Just-a-Mom]

My old gym had our "parent area" in the cafeteria. There were a bunch of tables, locker room in the back, vending machines, and a desk where the "team mom" for each team sat to take attendance when their teams came in for practice. There was a two-way mirror in there- so the parents could watch, but the kids couldn't see them. We had 3 floors and a tumble area.... only one floor was visible from the parent's area, so we had cameras on the other floors which streamed a live feed to the tv screens in there.

You have to be careful with those parent areas... they're a hotbed for gossip, rumors, and parents who want to trash talk coaches and other people's kids.

They are indeed...but I have to point out they're also where I've met some of my best, closest friends in the world. the only people who truly "get" what being a cheer mom is about.

 

[cheermommaRN]

At CA you sit in the gym, practice is open until comp season and then they close the gym to parents except for one practice a week. During Nationals season they close all practices.
Spirit-Arlington also has bleachers in the gym and we were able to watch the 1st practice of the month until comp season and then it was closed. The new location has an enclosed parent area that has ac and a large window to watch from. From what one of the coahes said they are going to try to leave it open but we'll see how long that lasts. I think I'm going to get a suction cup Garfield and stick it to the window with a sign that says "Don't be me...back away..."
The problem I have seen with "open practices" is that it perpetuates gossip, trashing of kids and other parents, and just bad behavior. On top of that the younger kids tend to pay more attention to whether or not mom is watching then what they should be doing.

 

[xtremeteal4life]

We have a viewing room upstairs for both sides of the gym (one is usually tumbling practice, etc.) the other side for team practices. I've heard that they've closed practices before when things got out of hand, but I have yet to witness it. Parents want to be able to watch their kids so for the most part they behave

....BUT we know it's a possibility if there's a problem bc of it.

 

[cheerfan666]

Our gym has windows all the way around, they close the curtains when they need privacy. I would hate to be the person who has to clean the window with all the face prints on them from the parents. I suggested a small martini bar for the parents to keep them out of the windows.

 

[KRECCheer]

Our gym is so small. We dont have any parent viewing areas so most of the time the door is shut. Parents dont complain since we let them come in and watch when the kids have something they really want to show or right before competition when the kids perform under the spotlights. When the weather is nice we offer the tiny and mini parents the option to bring lawn chairs and sit outside or the bay door in the back of the building. Lucky for us, none of the other businesses are there at that time. We're hoping to move to a new facility but we know how to work with the one we've got.

 

[ufomom]

After seeing the Mini Cheer program about Midwest Magic and the other mini gym ( gone blank on the name,) I feel for the kids in the gym. I believe they showed a shot of the mamas "garfielding" (stuck to the glass) watching. It was funny and a bit scary (the intensity of the watching faces.) I can see it would be a distraction and I imagine some good fun is had making fun of some of the mom's facial expressions. Perhaps a gym staff member could secretly film the window and put it in the year end video.

I certainly understand wanting to watch, but most important is making sure that no staff member is ever alone with an athlete without a second staff member to protect the child and the staff member. I hope the USASF continues to work towards background checks. (There is about 60 pages/threads of prior discussion on this topic in these two sentences, so I am going to leave it at that!)

 

[TheRealAlishaD]

We have a parent viewing area. Frustrating when Coach Mom comes in. I think the one-way mirrors are the best idea I've heard, ever! We also have a little snack shack, but most people don't want to pay $2.50 for a Gatorade. We have a big tv, but it never feeds from the cam inside the gym. And the parent area blinds are always open except the month before our first comp. The coaches have been more than generous with allowing parents to watch...and critique...and attempt to coach...and criticize...and complain...and criticize some more...

For that ^^^ reason alone, is why I am semi against parent viewing areas. I absolutely adore the parent that wants to sit QUIETLY, observe what her/his child is doing and what their child needs to work on. It's when Susie's Mom and Dad try to disrupt the peaceful order is when I want to shut the viewing area down. Some parents genuinely want to see what their child is doing so they can work on skills but others merely want to gossip, criticize, complain, critique, spread negativity and just cause confusion. That's when we should bolt the doors closed forever. I def like the way Ace handles their viewing room. Only open the last week of the month, I need to pass that idea along. It also helps when the parents don't have to walk through the gym in order to get to the viewing area. They need their own underground entrance lol......just kidding. But it def helps to have a seperate entrance so that they do not disturb practice flows.

 

[SharkDad]

Not trying to scare parents....these are facts. But curious as to the need to have closed doors. If the gym has confident, qualified coaches....then what is the point of closing the practices? And as for the credentials, unless ALL coaches, administrators, janitors, etc. are back ground checked, checking your child's instructor/coach will not be adequate. And a question for you, why doesn't AACCA or USASF or anyone make background checks mandatory? No one seems to have this answer. This would be a good thing for kids...

If you dictate that something needs to be mandatory you have to be ready to have the solution in place to make it happen. Both AACCA and the USASF have changed a lot but they are both still small with small budgets and resources. As @ACEDAD said we have to understand these changes can't always come as quick as we would like.