I have my 3 year old in Gymnastics and she has been in since 2½ she loves it. There are mats down all over the gymnasium where the kids work and they are spotted. I have noticed she is more focused in her day to day activities because she is able to use up alot of that excess energy kids have. She also was terrified of the bars even just touching them at first and now she is climbing on them and swinging on them. She is now able to walk across the balance beam unassisted, she is jumping off the horse by herself and holds and swings on the rings. She has never once gotten hurt at gymnastics, they do stretches before they begin each class and in a way toddlers understand.
Things I have noticed she is teaching the other kids at preschool her stretches and how to do the candle stick and table and different floor type activities and the kids love the things she is showing them.
My daughter just started dance once per week this past month and she does talk about it like she does gymnastics, she doesn’t show me on a daily basis or practice at home her different moves from dance like she does with gymnastics. She will walk along the edge of the carpet and tell me she is practicing her balance beam.
Now with all this said you are still the parent and you still control if you want them competing or not, but its like any other sport you as a parent need to know your childs limits and not let them go past them. I think if you are one of those parents that are going to push your child past their limits instead of keeping them in them then you are going to have the injuries and everything else just like any other sport. Think of the injuries involved in football…..