All-Star Cheering In A Sibling's Shadow...

[njallday]

My sister and I are night and day. We literally don't even look related and I often question how we were even raised in the same house by the same parents. We're that different. (3 yrs apart, I'm the youngest)

My sister is outgoing and could make friends with anyone she meets. I am more quiet, and as a child I was painfully shy. Coaches in the past would ask my mom why I didn't talk a lot and why I wasn't more like my sister. When I overheard things like that it really got to me. Especially when I heard "what's wrong with her? why isn't she like her sister?" (That's a direct quote.) I got frustrated. And did quit for a few years until she graduated.

It's natural to want to compare them, but as long as you remember and remind others that each child is their own person, it's much easier for everyone.

 

[ErinS]

Yikes, IMO, I personally don't feel like that is 'positive motivation'. The kids I coach know exactly what would happen if they through a' in your face comment' young or not. Siblings or not.

Luckily your older sister let it roll of her shoulder....

If someone did that to me, every time they performed that FWO, instead of being proud, I would replay in my head "I can do a FWO you can't."

But this is a 17 yr old aunt and her 7 year old niece...with an "in your face" moment in the family living room.. They aren't sibling "rivals". My sister is one of those tumblers that never learned to do bwo or fwo and has no interest in learning. My niece had to get the fwo in order to move on to a bhs. She thought it was cool to have a skill her aunt can't do, despite being obviously more experienced. Clearly no child physique was damaged with either party.

 

[12stepCheermom]

Mine are 23 months apart. My son started cheering in the beginning of my younger daughters first year. The first thing ill say is they may not always be behind. He's got jumps to back and is getting his full around. She's at about 3/4 and pauses between jumps and tuck. She was way ahead of him when he started but he's passed her really.

That being said, they each have different strengths. They're both on jr coed 4 this year and for some of they're arguments, I think it's built a great bond between them. It's both of their passions and they share that. They're treated as individuals but that's because they're boy and girl I'm sure. But they love it and so do we. We have lots of sibling pairs in the gym and even when one had a double and the other was level 1 they still enjoyed sharing the sport with each other.

And no whining about one sibling being bored at competitions is PRICELESS!!!!