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Raise your hand if your shocked :cookie:i got really excited because i thought the thread was about wine. i'll keep my contacts in next time. color me disappointed.
@MissCongeniality and @Dixie yes! These are big parts of why my kids don't cheer anymore.
World's team? Yes. You need to be dedicated and be there. Want to be on a worlds team in 5 years? No, you don't need to be in the gym that much, yet.
Way too much trying to force kids who are way too young to decide what they want to do as their main activity. Can you imagine if you'd had to choose your college major by 5th grade and you couldn't change your mind? Let them try a few things! I know, I know...your princess was born to cheer and doesn't want to do anything else. Sorry - I don't think 8 year olds actually know what they want to be doing for the next 10 years.
Lastly, and i always ask this and never get an answer... what on earth are y'all going for? Why does your child have to have a double at 9? So you can brag to another mom? And ok, they want to go to worlds. I get that. But why do they need to go by their 12th birthday? And what is the ultimate goal? Why would you sacrifice your child's academics, their chance to do other things, friendships, basically their childhood, so they can go to worlds? Yes, by all means, teach your child to work towards a goal. But at the end of the day it's still just cheerleading (or whatever other youth sport they do). Take it down a notch. Unless you have some kind of prodigy (and I hesitate to even say that), relax.
Sorry. Rant over. Just drives me crazy to see the expectations of little kids, just to do one activity.
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Thus, I think that this is the scenario that is happening today... some parents get overzealous and their egos get puffed up--and they want to be able to bragged about how their child started on L5 at age 6 y.o., etc... and forget that this child must be allowed to experience some fun and not always be in training mode...
Yes. Everyone wants to be the one to say (example) "My kid has been a Twinkle since first grade."
No one wants to be the one to be like "Nah. My kid has been on Whatever WC Y1 Team for 2 seasons and we're still working the walkover to cartwheel. We're good."
Cheer is not a race to L5 but it is repeatedly treated that way.
Most tiger moms, will tell me in my face that I was blessed with a talented child and I should exploit those talents while she is young.
I agree with your statements, however, my daughter expressed an interest in going to the Olympics at around age 4 after watching gymnastics on TV, so I enrolled her into a tumbling class and was told by a coach, she had something there... my daughter practiced in the beginning for about 4 or 5 hours a week on a team and every year for the next 4 years, these practices increased... when my daughter was 8, in gymnastics, she was required to be in the gym for more than 16 hours, which she balked at and wanted to do cheerleading instead... I have to disagree that cheerleading requires a child to decide early on what they want to do, there are other sports that required the participants to commit more time at a younger age... My daughter is doing cheerleading and practice only 6 hours a week, and 1 hour for private tumbling, which is half of the time, had she stayed in gymnastics... When talking to the parents of my daughter's friends, who are still doing gymnastics, they practice at least 20 hours a week and are not able to enjoy movies, roller skating, etc... with friends, but on the other hand, my daughter have been able to enjoy movies, roller skating, etc...
Thus, I think that this is the scenario that is happening today... some parents get overzealous and their egos get puffed up--and they want to be able to bragged about how their child started on L5 at age 6 y.o., etc... and forget that this child must be allowed to experience some fun and not always be in training mode...
The lengths people will go to just to be able to brag astound me. What's really funny is that people are so obsessed with being able to say their kid was level 5 by age 8, and no one cares. No one. All that bragging and all anyone is thinking is "Ugh. I gotta remember to bring headphones next time." :rolleyes:
I first read this as "my only exposure to the SPORT of bragging" & thought yep to some people bragging is a sport! :rolleyes:Previously, my only exposure to this sort of bragging was from a coaching perspective. Easy to ignore as I was rarely in the parent area anyway. However, my son coming into our lives has exposed me to the Soccer Parent version of this way more than I'd like.
"My son lead his 4 year old team in goals last year."
"Is your boy trying out for Elite Travel? We made elite travel last season at age 5."
Ma'am. My son did not sit down and pick grass last week. That is our greatest accomplishment. Kindly leave me to my iPad.
My daughter has tried a few sports, but hates anything with a ball. She enjoyed gymnastics but we moved way too much for her to do it seriously. She has done rec cheer but is bored. All Star is her thing.My thoughts...and some food for thought...
I have no problem with the above example of a child needing to choose between elite soccer and elite cheer as a teenager. I think that is the reality of life, we can't do everything. What I do worry about is the trend I have seen in cheer since we began... And that is that the little ones are having to choose to forgo all other sports/activities due to the commitment to cheer.
My feeling is that when a child is in elementary school (and before) he/she should be doing as many things as possible...working all muscle groups and seeing what is out there. I feel like the increasing trend is for 7-year olds to be in the gym with a commitment to their team and a couple of privates and classes ...all because heaven forbid they don't have their full by 8 and don't make the worlds team at 12! (And ok...before you chime in and say that your 7-year old Suzy is just the most uber passionate cheerleader and demands that she be at the gym 6 days a week... I get it! The thing is, and I speak from experience, is that the best thing for Suzy? )
I have watched cheer become a year-round, majority of the week, commitment. Again, I get that it is necessary to keep your skills up, but again, 4/5/6 days a week at 7? What ever happened to cross training? What is this level of repetitive activity doing to our kids growing bodies and bones? And does the "team" (choreographed) aspect really need to be year round? Let's think about how often routines are changed over the course of a season. Or what about those half year teams that seem to manage just fine in the shorter amount of time?
Important to note: Cheer is not the only sport where this is happening. I just think that having our kids "specialize" at younger and younger ages, is going to backfire in the long run.