Sometimes parents complain that their child isn’t making much progress…that she wins too few prizes and hardly ever gets to travel to competitions…and should they, therefore, continue spending the family’s hard-earned money on her gymnastics lessons. I think you have to look at this from the child’s point of view, because the reason children do gymnastics is that they simply enjoy it. And if your child gets enjoyment out of sport and it’s not interfering with her education, why stop it? I don’t think you should get hung up on the fact that she’s not won any prizes and doesn’t get invited to serious competitions – it wasn’t for the prizes that your child chose that type of sport. But it’s a different story if the training sessions are interfering with her school work. In that case, you need to have a chat with her and perhaps suggest that she makes a choice: either cut down on the gymnastics lessons or try harder in both areas. At any rate, you shouldn’t make any sudden changes, as this could traumatize the child. And another very important point: a serious interest in sport or any other useful activity helps to keep adolescents away from other “hobbies”. There’s no 100% guarantee, of course, but it does produce a kind of immunity.