What Are Your Thoughts About Cheerleading and Children?

My daughter cheered from 7th grade through 12th grade and was Varsity Captain her Senior year. She did not do competitive cheer.

I was reluctant as well... not so much for the same reasons you are. It has become a sport and it can be very dangerous. We had several visits to the Urgent Care and Ortho Dr for injuries (thankfully no terrible injury)

She was good at what she did and loved it. We both HATED the drama with some girls and many moms.

B is correct... My daughter's injuries for the most part were deliberate. I hated it when she was a flyer and when she was a base she'd frequently get a foot jammed in her face.

Some of the girls are ruthless and if they are not the "star" they make life miserable for the "star", Captain or other leaders in the group.

I have to admit that I was glad when it was all over.

how old is she? I think I have some of the same reservations that you do.......but.......it's good she seems to be thinking of it like a sport - they strength, flex and tumbling skills, so that's good. I personally have no experience for the record. I'd say just monitor her of course to make sure non of those wonky messages get to her. :)

My niece was involved with it for quite awhile.
Until a flyer deliberately kicked her in the head.
She was a star member of her senior class varsity team and she just walked away from it when they started to deliberately try to injure each other.

Like many sports that are meant to be fun for kids - over competitive parents can ruin it.
When the competition gets to a point where it totally blots out every other interest in life - how can you get any sort of balance to enjoy yourself?

There are certainly people who live for this and completely thrive on it
but it really isn't everyone s cup of tea.
And that's alright.

I would discuss with your daughter about at what point would she consider it to start being too much.
She should enjoy it right up until she doesn't - and then stop.

I know what you are saying ...

I know of three girls who are in it who remind me of what you're describing (wonky message about females).

I know of 2 who totally aren't. However - the girls are totally grounded and did so because they loved it.

One is a relative of mine. She's now a woman, and did it through middle school/early high school. She was the little one they threw in the air.

She went on to be the head of her department in college and has done exceptionally well. Super grounded, confident and a career gal. She used her skills (teamwork, athleticism, being a leader, etc.) and went on to another sport after Cheer. She excelled at that sport. So for her - great experience.

I think it's like anything (dance, hockey, etc.). Hopefully your child will naturally gravitate towards the kids like her - ours tend to. I'm sure she will :)

ETA:
My relative was not in a super competitive group. She had that balance in her life and her parents have the same view we tend to - not intense.

When I was in 6-8th grade at a small, Catholic school, the only sports we had were basketball, and cheerleading for the basketball teams. Some girls did both, but I was all about cheer. It was a heck of a workout and being on the squad (and leading it one year) provided great lessons in leadership, teamwork, mastering skills, identifying and playing to everyone's unique strengths and skills, etc. I enjoyed learning and teaching sideline cheers, choreographing our halftime performances to music, and preparing for competitions, which combined dance and cheer. It was a lot of fun. I went to an all-girl school and in 9th grade, was a basketball cheerleader and cheered for both our own girls' teams as well as the boys' team for our brother school. I switched to drama after that year so I wasn't able to do both, but still have fond memories of cheer.

Honestly the feminist in me is bugged, in theory, by the idea of cheer (girls dressed as eye candy rooting on a bunch of boys and entertaining a crowd) but in real life, it's a fun and rigorous activity that combines athleticism and performance and has the benefits of any sport or performance activity (physical work, teamwork, not being shy, being comfortable in front of a crowd, etc.). So I get your mixed feelings but if she enjoys it, support it without reservation.

Things have changed since I was a cheerleader. The stunts they do now are kinda scary.

What are your concerns?
What are your reservations?

There are boys/males in Cheer as well now. So I don't think of it as wonky. Not everyone can "cheer".

i don't think cheer is inherently problematic, but some coaches sure do make it so. i have seen very young girls doing cheer moves that would make a pole dancer blush.

boys are just as likely as girls to be cheerleaders any more, a move i applaud.

but if your daughter loves it and she's not being coached into twerking, what's the harm?

khairete
S.

i think it has changed so much from when i was a cheerleader. so much so that i cannot form an opinion about it! if cheering were the same as it was when i was cheering then i would wonder why your questioning it, but with all the change?!?! i am reading every answer so i can make a better informed decision should my daughter ever ask to be a cheerleader!

i will say that as flier, i was intentionally dropped more times than i can count, i never kicked anyone on purpose. if someone did catch my foot, it was because something went wrong with the stunt and i always apologized for it.

I agree with your reservations because I think that many young girls' initial reasons for "wanting to be a cheerleader" are connected to concepts like wearing the outfits and looking nice around boys. (If someone loves gymnastics she could become a gymnast instead of a cheerleader.) And even if your daughter does not feel that way, wanting to wear outfits for boys etc, there might be developed a strong influence from other girls in her group who do.

At this point, if your daughter loves it and seems "balanced" about it that's great and I think you should support her.

If you had asked this question before she started, I might just have suggested having a conversation with her to find out exactly what she and her friend claimed as their reasons for being interested in cheerleading in the first place.

Please look up Cari Ann Cashon. She came to do a clinic with some of our cheerleader hopefuls several years back when she was a flier at OU in Norman OK.

She was telling the parents how many concussions she'd had from being dropped or missed during practice. She also said that cheerleading doesn't pay your way through college. It's an extracurricular activity and not money for school. I was completely surprised that it wasn't a big scholarship thing but she said no. She was one of the only people that were in the top squad coming into her freshman year.

She was competing in beauty pageants at the time and her platform was based on her concussion history.

I would say that you need to make sure she your girl is in good hands. Be her advocate. After hearing Miss Cachon speak I don't think I would want my girl to be a flier but very few make it and they need to be small and light.

I am a former competitive cheer coach for a public high school program. I quit when I had my own children since it was a very time consuming job. Cheer today is a competitive sport for some programs. It builds strength, confidence, collaboration skills, self-esteem and work ethic if the coaches promote those things. The adult staff is the most significant contributor to whether or not it is a healthy or misogynistic activity. I probably will not encourage my girls to do cheer because of the injury factor. I have former girls with knee and back problems now that they are adults. I ran a safe program and had few concussions, but competitive cheer takes a big toll on young bodies. My bottom girls got hurt more than my flyers. You just hear more about flyer injuries because when they do happen they are more severe. Get to know the coaching staff and their values. Every program is going to be different.