Cheerleading AND dancing.. too much for my 4/5YO?

[Ahurricaneofjacarandas]

I have a 4YO. She currently does dancing and cheerleading on a Saturday. Currently she enjoys both and copes well. However they've been 45 minute 'for-fun' sessions. Logistically it's fairly easy to manage too as they are both in the morning, down the road from us and close to each other.

Next year, however, she starts school and commitment goes up a gear. Dancing she'll be doing 90 minutes of lessons if she does all 3 of tap/modern/ballet and she starts doing exams and they do a show every year or 2. Cheerleading she's been invited to join a competitive team which is really exciting but does mean commiting to at least an hour training a week and about 4-5 competitions a year. The teaching for both is still a Saturday, doesn't clash (for now) and she'd still be done by early afternoon meaning that it's practically still more than doable.

I have tried asking dd which she would prefer to carry on but being a 4YO she gives me no straight answer 🤣 and her most consistent response is that she wants to keep doing both. Is this crazy now that the commitment is notching up? Is it just going to be too much for her? I don't necessarily think it's a bad idea in theory to be carrying on both for some time at least as the skills tie together nicely but I don't want her to get worn out and lose the enjoyment. If I'm really honest if push came to shove I'd chose for her to keep up dancing as I think it's what she's developing more of a passion for and I prefer it haha. However like I said she loves both.

My gut is to keep her in both and see how she likes it as this will give her the brilliant opportunities that both have to offer and she'll eventually probably mature enough to tell me which, if either, she wants to continue with. However, I just wondered if anyone's LOs have been in a similar situation or are equally up to their eyeballs in clubs and what your thoughts are. I would appreciate any insight from anyone who's already been there and done that. Thanks xx

I think you know your own child. A lot of people said to me my DD would be exhausted by school and not be able to do anything. Nope. If anything she was needing more to do because she'd been used to a 10 hour day at nursery. At 5 she was doing 4 different activities a week, most after school. She didn't do a Saturday until she was 6 though and it sounds like these Saturdays will be long for your DD. I would trial it for a few weeks and if it seems too much then scale back. Also don't get sucked into the "she needs to compete" stuff because a lot of that is often that they just want more money and committment from parents. My DD is constantly being asked to join gymnastics squad and we know it's purely because that means she would be at the gym 3-4 hours a week (and paying for each hour), it isn't because she's showing promise as the next Simone Biles!

Thanks. With the cheer they give every kid the choice to compete but also they can just do fun sessions too. Tbh though one of the reasons I'd want her in a team is they get them perfecting their cartwheels and doing walkovers etc at a very young age which I'm sure will be very helpful for her dancing and general flexibility. The fun sessions are also later on on the Saturday which then ultimately means more of the day is taken up if that makes sense. She starts school in September and I honestly don't know how she's going to do but am going by the notion that she'll generally be too tired to do much but like you say she might not be so bad as she's used to not being picked up from preschool until gone 5 most days. We will probably just see how we go. I guess nothing is set in stone if it gets too much x

Try it, but I think it will be too much.

Thanks. I suspect so too but then I want to give her chance. She also does gymnastics during the week which we'd likely drop if she continues cheer as it's fairly similar things they're doing. I guess another option is to drop cheer and just keep gymnastics up midweek. Tbh though the gymnastics is lovely and there's a considerable amount more 'dicking about' and it's not competitive. This might mean less pressure but cheer will have a definite agenda to get her basic skills up to scratch if she's competing which I would've though will help considerably across the board. I don't want to pressurise her but I also don't want to spend time and money on lessons if she isn't really going to progress if that makes sense x

It's fine to give her choice but ultimately it's up to you to make the decision that's best for her and your family/finances and aspirations overall.
Cheerleading for older kids looks like great fun though!
Personally I would go for the less intense option at this age.

I think you may be taking it a little seriously. What is the end goal of all this? I want my DD to develop a love for being active, I don't necessarily care if she competes or develops a certain skill by X age because it's a long game of wanting to be active for life (unlike me who was put off sport and exercise by bullying pe teachers and always feeling like the useless one) so that means keeping it light and fun and progressing at reasonable pace. Maybe dropping the cheer and doing the gym would be a good balance (pardon the pun).

Cheer is cheaper and is a lot more "fun" than gymnastics. Much cheese than dancing too.

I would continue with both and see how it goes.

I ultimately just want her to get exercise and find something that she'll really enjoy and do something that requires a little bit of discipline and listening skills. I agree the cheer is more fun. What I also like about it is that they seem to teach the skills well whilst always having fun and being on the move. She loves the gymnastics coaches but there's a lot of waiting around for her to use certain equipment etc meaning I'm not convinced she is a whole lot active or actually practicing or conditioning herself. I don't necessarily want her to be pressured and definitely don't want her to be intensely serious about any of the above unless she explicitally tells me she wants to be. However, I do expect her to be encouraged to improve and actually get a decent amount of physical activity within her lessons if I'm forking out money for it and she's taking time out of playing and relaxing to do it. She's very good physically and can already do a fairly scrappy cartwheel and is getting more and more flexible so I don't see her struggling with the tasks at hand in the cheering and ultimately I think she'll enjoy the competitions as they look a lot of fun. We have basically told her cheer school we'll be continuing anyway so I guess oir minds have been made up 🤣 x

Cheer is a team sport something that gymnastics and dance isn't generally if you do it competitively so it does give different skills that way.

Dance festivals are seemingly all about who your teacher knows rather than who is the best!

I mean if I have a daughter I'm more likely to encourage her to do jiu jitsu than cheerleading 😂

Sorry posted too soon. I meant to add, but your approach sounds sensible to me and one I would adopt regardless of what activities we're talking about. Just keep an eye on her to make sure she doesn't push herself too hard and doesn't get sucked into too much of a competitive spirit (by that I mean driven to push herself beyond what is reasonable because for instance everyone else does it on the team).

My 5 year old son does 2 activities on both weekend mornings, and did so when he was 4 too. He wants to do both, he copes fine and does other activities throughout the week too. I would just see how she goes. If she copes and enjoys both then great, if not then you can choose to stop one

Agree but there's definitely 'special treatment' in cheer as well. There's one or 2 kids in my dd's school who are in teams way older than the typical age of the teams and get a lot of the praise etc on the fb groups and things. Then again these are also the ones who are phenomenally ahead of their peers ITO their skills and have parents who work a lot with them at home and who probably fork out for a lot of private tuition. IMO these kids SHOULD be getting the opportunity to really excel and push themselves though if that's their wish and of course any school is going to encourage a true flare for their sport. A good school for any sport values, stretches and includes all abilities and commitment levels and I think both her cheer and dance school do this brilliantly which is why I'm so not keen to ditch either just yet.

I'm just glad she's pretty tall for her age so probably won't be a flyer as I'd be eternally terrified she will break her neck 🤣 I would be absolutely just as delighted if she takes up a martial art or a sport in future. I have her in the things she's in ATM as they all overlap and develop skills across the board that can transfer to anything in future x

"Special Treatment" doesn't gain anything at competition though. Internal team politics is different to who wins at comp. It's all points based, 3 judges so very little opportunity for "fixing" the results.

My DD does both!

As long as she’s enjoying herself I’d encourage her to continue. In my experience cheer squads can vary in their competitiveness. DD tried out for one who took it very seriously indeed and decided against that one. The squad she joined train once a week and compete at 3 competitions a year but mostly concentrate on developing skills at their own pace and having fun.

The technique, posture and muscle groups used for ballet and modern are entirely different to cheerleading (and gymnastics in particular), and she might get a bit confused with it all, especially if the classes are on the same day.

I was going to say it’s too much and then I remembered my DD used to do back to back tennis and swimming at 5 (with a 15 min break in between- so to get changed) and she was absolutely fine with it
so if she enjoys them, trial it and see how she gets on