Activities for Six Year Old

mjb14

My daughter is 6 and is going into 1st grade. She has the opportunity to be on a competitive cheer/gymnastics team.  I am trying to decide if it is worth it or not. 

The pros are that I believe this will help her work ethic, teamwork, and general fitness. She has tried other activities and she doesn't get the same joy as she does with this. Frankly, she is not very good at some of the other activities she has tried, such as soccer. 

The cons are the cost both financially and time. The cost will be about $2,000 per year for the lessons, uniforms, competitions, etc.It is twice a week with some practices and competitions on Saturdays. 

Thoughts?

ilovemygirls

That is a tough one.  On one hand, she's good at it & enjoys it a lot.  On the other- financial & time commitments.  Personally, I think 6 is quite young to be getting into that kind of commitment.  My older one is almost 9 & we're just now looking at competitive swimming as she's passed all swim levels.  I'm scared!  It is a big commitment- and even now, I get a little afraid of burning her out, which I definitely don't want to do because she loves to swim.

A friend of mine had her daughter in competitive cheer starting in middle school, I think- she ended up making varsity cheer in high school as a freshman, so that was cool. But I tell you, she was SO glad to be done w/the huge cost, traveling & commitment of the club cheer. Bottom line, you are the parent & paying for all of it- if you do it for a season & you find it is too much, you can always take a step back until she's older.  Best of luck with your decision- only you can decide what is best for your kiddo & your family!

Littlejen22

I personally am not a fan of competitive sports for little kids especially where you have to pay a lot unless your kid is over the top for the sport and really pushing hard for it and has a chance to go somewhere with it. At tr same time my son is taking private roller skating lessons for around 120 a month which I find crazy but he is not into other sports but he loves it but is not competitive. He wants to try basketball so we are probably going to try tr YMCA and ten give him a choice to continue with skating lessons or basketball and he can do open skate if he chooses basketball.

phd_y2k

Competitive cheer might start out at $2000, @mjb14, but there will be many hidden costs and things that just "pop up" during the year. The further up you go in levels, the more they will ask for. Competitive dance is the same way. If you just have the one child and can afford it, go for it. Just know that someday you could be spending 3x that amount....