New Here! Proud Mommy To A Little Redheaded "tiny"

[Lori Touchton]

Hi! I'm new here! I can't believe I've never found this forum before. This is my daughters first year cheering and I've been looking for a place like this to talk with others about our new crazy obsession ;-)
My little redhead is currently on a tiny team. She just turned 6 last week. We are doing exhibition this year since there are only 6 of them and this is all of their first year cheering. (well, and the fact that two of the girls never come to practice lol. thats a different story!).
She will age out of tiny this year and go on to mini's next year and they are really wanting her to have her back walkover by May for tryouts. She just got her cartwheel and she isn't the most flexible kid! Am I pushing too hard to put her in private classes so she can get it before May? Or should I just let her progress at her own sweet time? My husband is super competitive and thinks she needs to be at the gym more than 3x a week. Obviously he is saying that from his nice comfy desk at work lol.
I'm happy to be here and advance thanks for all the advice! :)

 

[Mclovin]

My opinion...it really depends on your daughter. Six years old is young and if you want it more than she does she will dread it. Not to mention you could end up spending a WHOLE lot of money on privates for something that a year from now she may say she wants to dance instead or play soccer. But if your daughter is asking for those privates and seems hungry to learn new skills, do it! Kids that young are capable of progressing quickly if they have the right drive and passion. But it has to come from them, not the parents.

Hope this helps!

 

[Lori Touchton]

She's pretty easy going and probably doesn't really care (not in a bad way) either way. Meaning she LOVES cheer! She LOVES when it's time to go to practice and does great while she is there and tries her best. Well, most of the time like most little kids lol. But she's not obsessed about it. Doesn't practice 24/7 at home or anything. I mean she does have toys to play with ;-). So yes, she talks about how she would love to get her back walkover but isn't devastated that she can't do it. So I know it's me wanting her to get it so she can be on the more experienced mini team instead of the beginner team next year.
I kind of just answered my own question didn't I? lol

 

[retiredl5cheer]

She's pretty easy going and probably doesn't really care (not in a bad way) either way. Meaning she LOVES cheer! She LOVES when it's time to go to practice and does great while she is there and tries her best. Well, most of the time like most little kids lol. But she's not obsessed about it. Doesn't practice 24/7 at home or anything. I mean she does have toys to play with ;-). So yes, she talks about how she would love to get her back walkover but isn't devastated that she can't do it. So I know it's me wanting her to get it so she can be on the more experienced mini team instead of the beginner team next year.
I kind of just answered my own question didn't I? lol

If she likes to go to practice and works hard while she's there, I say give it a try. You may consider just doing a few privates in the "off season" to keep her at the gym and build her skills before next season's tryouts.

That being said, my most accomplished minis are the ones that attend tumbling classes outside of practice. Those that rely on the tumbling time we get at practice don't progress nearly as quickly.

 

[Mclovin]

If she likes to go to practice and works hard while she's there, I say give it a try. You may consider just doing a few privates in the "off season" to keep her at the gym and build her skills before next season's tryouts.

That being said, my most accomplished minis are the ones that attend tumbling classes outside of practice. Those that rely on the tumbling time we get at practice don't progress nearly as quickly.

Agree with this. She will most definitely progress quicker with more time in the gym. So if she loves being there and wants to get better, I say give her every opportunity possible to excel!

 

[Lori Touchton]

Thank you so much! I've actually never thought about additional tumbling classes. Maybe I will look into that and compare it to the price of the private lessons.
I did ask my husband if we could just put a spring floor in our bonus room and he laughed at me lol. Won't know unless you ask right?!

 

[BlockHead]

Personally, I think she has plenty of time to learn her BWO while she is at cheer practice. If they don't start competing until October or November, I don't see any reason that she could not learn her BWO during cheer practice during the next several months. If I was in your position, I would wait for them to start teaching it to her at practice. And perhaps when she gets much closer to achieving it, then I would put her in some privates to help possibly speed up the process. When my CP was on a mini squad, most of the kiddos could not do a walkover in May. By November, almost all of them had it. By February, all of them except for one could do it.

I kind of speak on personal experience here. My CP spent almost a year and a half in privates before she learned her BWO (I should mention that she has cerebral palsy characteristics in her brain that does affect her muscles and physical abilities). I do not think that the amount of time she took to learn it is typical. When she started, she could not even do a backbend kickover. Once she got that, it was 3 weeks later that she had her BWO.

 

[Lyerin]

I agree with the above poster who suggested tumbling in addition to cheer. Adding a one hour tumbling class to regular practices really makes a difference for a lot of kids.

 

[CookieMomster]

Hi there from a fellow Tiny Mama. :)

 

[fullpass]

A spring floor at home is a terrible idea for any child who hasn't perfected all levels of skills. The last thing you want is your child trying to teach herself. Gyms carry million dollar catastrophic injury insurance for a reason. Tumbling can result in major injury if not properly supervised and spotted!


The Fierce Board App! || iPhone || Android