Parents vs. Coaches

One of our girls has been promoted to junior Olympic gymnastics this February.  The coach distributed a letter letting us parents know what the girls needed to bring in their gym bags now that they are team girls.  One of the items was deodorant. 

Our youngest daughter is seven.  

She is a young seven in her size and in her development.  By no means does she warrant deodorant.  The coach said the girls need to wear deodorant because many young ladies are encountering puberty at an earlier age and consequently need to wear deodorant. 

I asked our pediatrician about early onset puberty for girls and she said most often it occurs because of obesity.  Girls begin producing estrogen because of their weight.   In the same letter from the coach, actually in the same sentence about the need for deodorant, she remarked about them all being elite athletes.  It's pretty rare for an elite athlete to have an issue with their weight. 

All that aside and most importantly, I believe it's a parents decision when to introduce their children to deodorant.  I don't believe any coach should tell a parent that their seven year needs to begin wearing deodorant.   It's a decision to be made at home, on a case by case basis.  Kids are growing up too quickly these days.   Parents ultimately make decisions for their offspring; not coaches.  Sadly, this amongst other attempts at asserting authority where it should lie with parents, led to our decision to switch to a more relaxed, family centered gym.