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Tuesday, November 13, 2007

I may have bitten off more than I could chew

A few weeks ago, a notice came home with Emma from school. Someone was trying to get a little "pom-pom" team together to cheer at the boy's & girl's middle school basketball games. It was for girls from 1st-5th grade. I asked Emma if she was interested, and she said yes. Soccer was over and she didn't have any other extracurricular plans. So, we signed her up. Hoo-boy.

She had her first practice yesterday. The girls & I were late getting there to watch because of a car malfunction (i.e. complete & total dead battery=not so fun time with 2 small kids) so I only got to watch the last half hour of practice. They are doing the "Cha-Cha Slide". By the time the practice ended, Emma was asking if they could do something else, because apparently, she no longer likes that song after practicing to it for 90 minutes. After practice was over, we got the schedule. And what a schedule. The games are almost every week, with there being 2 games a night most times, because the girls play first, then the boys. We're talking from 5:30pm to almost 9, each time they have a home game. Until February. Ok, now I get why my mom didn't want me to be a cheerleader. Wow. This is a pretty heavy schedule for a 2nd grader. And this is in addition to having practice 3 days a week? A part of me says to quit now, while there hasn't been any monetary investment in it, but another part of me says,"Oh it'll be so cute!!!" She IS going to get some sort of uniform (probably a Morey t-shirt & a homemade skort, with some Dollar store pom-poms) and she'll be making friends. This is a good thing, right?? Please someone convince me this is a good thing.

I showed Jeff the schedule last night & he laughed at me, making sure he pointed out that I would be going to these events by myself. Such love.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

The reason they do that, though is because so many kids today depend on scholarships that come from these competitions and stuff... And it's not just the sports kids that are getting them now. Cheerleaders are becoming the next gymnasts. It's crazy, but as long as it's what Emma wants, i say go for it. :)

i'll never forget my friend Sharon who had to drop out of girl scouts, which she loved, because of her mom's dream that she would be an Olympian. i've never seen a Sharon Richmueller in the Olympics or the World Championships, so either she eventually quit gymnastics or she just never made it big.

i know you're not that kind of mom, and i'm not counseling you to not be like that... But that's why cheerleading is like that even in 2nd grade... It has to be so they can become "good enough" in their teens.

Shannon @ Gabi's World said...

I bet she'll love it though.

I guess the real question is "Does she enjoy it?" If she doesn't, then sure quit, but if she does, I think you are in for the long haul!

Unknown said...

Well...just to start this off...its amazing the things you will find when you google your own name.

So now let's set the record straight. I, the Sharon spoken of below(yes my last name is unique and unmistakable), was involved in a lot of activities as a child thanks to parents who did their best to provide me with a multitude of opportunities to try out dance, sports, music, girlscouts, etc... The starting or ending of any of these activities was soley based on what I was interested in-contrary to what has been written. My mother never had any dreams persay of me being an Olympian despite my infatuation with them. The reality was that if my dream was to go big, then she would do her best to see that I got all the support I needed. Her drive was to provide me with the opportunity to pursue whatever I was currently in love with. I stopped girl scouts at the level of Junior because my spark for taking part in girlscouts had dwindled which my observant mother had noticed. My passion at that time was changing to gymnastics(three to four days a week with each practice lasting 3 1/2 hours a piece-involved to say the least). So gymnastics is what I pursued. We went with that until high school and then again, lo and behold, my interests changed and now I wanted to play varsity soccer and took part in orchestra playing the flute. Again my mother noticed I was just over gymnastics and encouraged me onward to the new things I loved.

So what I would say is as long as she loves it, then go for it. It will be crazy for sure, but her enjoyment and happiness will be more than worth it. And when she's over it then she's over it. No big deal.

My mom and dad, God rest their souls, gave so much so that I could have every opportunity to pursue my extracurricular interests and express my individuality without hindrance. The feelings of fulfillment and having their support in my accomplishments are a large part of what gives me courage and confidence in my choices today.