catlady
Cheer Parent
- Jun 6, 2012
- 2,791
- 6,203
In years past, yes I'm that old, parents did not invest as much time and money into their kids sports. Organized sports were at the Middle School and High School, and if there was a "league" sport when I was growing up, I didn't know about it. With that said, when you are a parent and you are writing checks in the upwards of $5,000-$10,000 per sport activity/per child and you're spending 6 and more hours per week per sports/per child, it does tend to over-invest the parents. I am not justifying the behavior, however, spending this much time and money in sports is truly a new phenomenom on this large of scale, and just like any investment, parents want to see a "return" for the money they are spending. Unfortunately, also, many parents can't afford to spend this type of time/money on sports, but do anyhow, so it puts additional stress in the mix. Lastly, on burnout, my child is required to tumble one hour per week for her team. I, however, require her to tumble two hours per week, plus a half hour private. Why? Not because I'm a cheer mom, but my daughter tumbles slowly. She has injured herself by others colliding into her, because she doesn't tumble fast. She tends to "bust" her tumbling if she isn't extremely confident in her passes. I don't care what sport she decides to do, but I will require her to do what is needed to keep her safe in that sport. On starting kids young, often it is as simple as, neighbor kids are so busy anymore, that if your child isn't involved in something they will be coach potatoes. Again, this is a new phenomenom.This is gonna be kinda short since I'm on my phone (broke my computer.. Again), but I am working on my speech right now and a lot of what y'all have said is included. About how parents are trying to live through their kids yet there are still the good ones who keep the fun in it. Im also talking about how starting younger and younger more "burnouts" and injuries occur which in turn result in kids not wanting to go back to their sports. Specializing young is another topic I'm exploring because specializing young means you may not get other skills you could learn from more sports. Thanks for the input though, keep it coming! It's a semester long class so I'm only breaching the topic this week