All-Star Help My 6 Year Old Is Afraid To Fly

[createmagic]

Is it possible for her to get some flying time in on minis? It sounds like she could benefit from some time spent on level 1 flying. Hit those body positions off the ground, but at a lower point. Get used to being off the ground. And if her friends are on minis, she probably trusts them! Good luck.

 

[kobegirl]

mine practiced on the edge of a coffee table all the time with me holding her ankle while she did the whole stunt sequence 15 times. Maybe pulling body positions on something like that daily will help her already feel practiced. It just takes time. By the end of the summer she will probably look back and wonder why she ever felt frightened at all.

 

[xtremeteal4life]

My husband and I put my daughter in the air way before they did on her team (she's 5 a mini 1 team) mainly for this reason; we knew she was going to fly. She has always trusted us, so she had the benefit of being "in the air" without trust issues. In that way I am fortunate. I am also fortunate that her back spot has never, during the entire season, let her fall (when there were times she "fell", she never hit the ground).

Maybe stunting privates could be a big help.....but ultimately, if she's still terrified to fly...please don't force her to do it. The fear of being forced to do it would just contribute to failure imo (at such a young age when cheerleading is relatively new)

 

[Goosepatrick]

As a parent there is little you can do except be there for her. But the coaches need to teach her and help her become the athlete in the position they want her to be. You need to communicate with the coaches and let them know the situation and then they can tell you what you can do to help. The coaches can work with her on trust with her new bases and help her get more comfortable with the process. It's the coaches decision to have her fly and it's there responsibility to help her get the skill and confidence needed to fly. You can only encourage, but the rest must come from the coaches and developing trust.

 

[newcheerdad]

It seems like a big jump to go from never flying to flying on a level 2 team where you're going to have to do preps and extensions. We have some new flyers on our mini 2 team this year, but I believe all of them had been in the air on a level 1 team in the past.

Is it normal to go from never flying to flying on a level 2 team?

 

[FamousxMindset]

Just go through through everything VERY slowly. Dont take her straight up in to a half. Maybe get her comfortable just standing on someones back, then maybe have the base get on one knee, etc just make sure she is comfortable with every height/level, and when she is scared to move remind her of how well she did on the last skill.

 

[kobegirl]

It seems like a big jump to go from never flying to flying on a level 2 team where you're going to have to do preps and extensions. We have some new flyers on our mini 2 team this year, but I believe all of them had been in the air on a level 1 team in the past.

Is it normal to go from never flying to flying on a level 2 team?

Yes, my daughter had never flown, but, honestly, didn't even know what it was all about when the flyers were chosen (this was forever ago right before they made the levels 1-6 )
She wasn't scared at all to fly, but wanted to practice after she was chosen, and practicing on the edge of the coffee table was about perfect for her, and still is.
She has been level 5 for 2 years and STILL practices on the same coffee table. Amazing what a little coffee table will do all year long :) My cp practices almost everyday on ours. Let your cp practice DAILY on yours with you holding her ankle. You will be surprised at how much confidence she gains. She will be fine! And if she isn't, she can be the most beastly frontspot!!!!!!!

 

[TheVipersMom]

It seems like a big jump to go from never flying to flying on a level 2 team where you're going to have to do preps and extensions. We have some new flyers on our mini 2 team this year, but I believe all of them had been in the air on a level 1 team in the past.

Is it normal to go from never flying to flying on a level 2 team?

Well the only level 1 teams we have are mini and tiny; my daughter was a tiny last year starting off because she had no Cart wheel no nothing! We had a bunch of 3 yr olds so all of them flew. My daughter was by far the tallest tiny! There was only a couple other of normal size 5 yr olds on the team and pretty much they were all backspots!

She was a cross- over to mini's the later part of the year and although she was one of the youngest. She was almost as tall as the 8yr olds so still she couldn't fly because it was mostly 6 yr olds who were normal height flying.

The funny thing is my daughter did say like the very 1st day she started that she thought it would be fun to fly because I remember when she said that I said "Well since your so tall Jaylen you will have to excel at a faster rate then these kids as far as skill, because they only way you can do that is if you make a higher team."

So she made youth so she is no longer in the majority of the age group that's on that team. Therefore she is smaller then everyone. She also made Mini1 this year and although she is not 8 like alot of them she is still as tall as them. So there is no hope in her flying level 1. Which is ok by me because there are young girls who are going to kill it! :)

So I'm guessing it is common because they have to start somewhere. Not everyone starts cheering at a young age. Although I wish I would of started my daughter at 3 because that would of been the only experience she would have had possibly flying on a level 1 and it might not be so scary to her now.

So I guess we will see what happens she is excited for youth 2 practice tomorrow and she said she wants to actually do it. Im not looking for her to just go all the way up and not cry. I'm looking for progress it doesn't have to come at once! Just something little improved with no crying will be good for me. I just told her if you don't want to do something or can't just communicate it; try not to cry!

 

[MomOf2ThatsMe]

My 8 year old daughter has completely irrational fears about flying- she will only fly with female bases. She watches our IOC5 team do baskets, partner stunts, etc, and at this point has no interest in that. She will not even do a prep with the guys- she is scared they are trying to trick her and will start tossing her or whatever. Which is a ludicrous. But she will do extensions and full downs with the girls- go figure. I do like the idea above about showing her YouTube videos- that helps my daughter a lot with goal setting, and realizing she won't break her neck, lol.

 

[notimeforthat]

If she wants the new uniform, and to throw her tumbling you could always have her do a cheer solo....If she is afraid to fly I would leave it until she is ready. I have seen to many young fliers freak out in the air and get hurt.

 

[CheerMomNTx]

@Kris10boo you never know what the coaches are going to challenge kids with and if they think she can handle it, then just give her the added support. My little one started at 5, she just wanted to be on a tiny team, didn't really 'think' about flying at all. Well lo and behold, she is placed as a flyer AND THEN a month later, asked to double team on mini 1 as a flyer (my child is very flexible). We talked about it and I asked her, do you think this is something you can do, and she had to think about it. She took a few days to think about it and said, mommy I want to do it! She had just turned 5 a couple of months before and I was shocked at this kids maturity AT 5!! (Yes, it's a bunch of thigh stands but certain elements aren't ;-D)

I think you have been given some good advice from both parents and athletes. If your daughter has the heart, I am sure she will work her way through the fear. It might just take baby steps to get there.

 

[TheVipersMom]

I just wanted to let everyone know; tonight was youth2 practice!
My daughter wouldn't get into a "squish" (sp) last time, but tonight she did that and was completely ok. She even went into a prep and pulled a high V no tears no complaining! She was nervous you could see it but her bases love her and were hugging her saying they only wanted to base her.

The girls who were basing her are the 3 biggest bases! Another girl who was flying is taller then my daughter so they wanted her to go to the big bases because the short ones would have easier time with my daughter! My daughter came over nervous saying I want my bases back I'm scared. However she rose to the challenge and was still nervous and needed coaches help for the extension and wasn't feeling that to much but didn't have a meltdown. When we got in the car she said "preps are easy i want to do those again".. So we talked about it and she also said she is going to do more extensions on Monday but she doesn't know about the cradling!

So i guess were making progress! I was afraid that fear she had on Monday was not going to change but it did. She shows more love for these girls then she did with any other girls on the other teams she has been on. I couldn't be more proud of her! I appreciate everyone who gave me honest opinions and encouragement y'all are great! Thanks!

 

[GeorgiaCheerleader]

Well she could front spot.

 

[cheermommaRN]

Problem with front spotting is that by the middle of the season most gyms pull those spots and you either end up nuggeting or standing on the sidelines as an alternate (trust me I know from experience with my cp). It's important to have a "job" whether its stunting, basing, or tumbling.
This season my cp was the smallest on the team by a whole head along with one of her friends, neither one of them were flyers. They just weren't ready! Her friend got really scared and wasn't interested and my cp would jump feet first to the ground away from her bases because she didn't trust them to catch her. Halfway through the season when she hadn't grown even an inch I knew she had to get it together. She is always going to be small so I told her she had to figure it out and get over her fear. Within a month she had all of the skills she needs for flying level 2, last time she went up she did a half up to prep and then straight up to extension! I was so proud of her! Oh and her little friend did the same!
No matter how proud I get though, nothing beats her face lighting up when Brad came over and gave her a big high five for finally becoming the little Spirit flyer they knew she was.
Moral of the story, she will get it when she is ready :-)

 

[notimeforthat]

I just wanted to let everyone know; tonight was youth2 practice!
My daughter wouldn't get into a "squish" (sp) last time, but tonight she did that and was completely ok. She even went into a prep and pulled a high V no tears no complaining! She was nervous you could see it but her bases love her and were hugging her saying they only wanted to base her.

The girls who were basing her are the 3 biggest bases! Another girl who was flying is taller then my daughter so they wanted her to go to the big bases because the short ones would have easier time with my daughter! My daughter came over nervous saying I want my bases back I'm scared. However she rose to the challenge and was still nervous and needed coaches help for the extension and wasn't feeling that to much but didn't have a meltdown. When we got in the car she said "preps are easy i want to do those again".. So we talked about it and she also said she is going to do more extensions on Monday but she doesn't know about the cradling!

So i guess were making progress! I was afraid that fear she had on Monday was not going to change but it did. She shows more love for these girls then she did with any other girls on the other teams she has been on. I couldn't be more proud of her! I appreciate everyone who gave me honest opinions and encouragement y'all are great! Thanks!

thats great news!!! So excited for her!!!