Anonymous wrote:I don’t get the people posting on here that ballet is degrading. WTF is wrong with you people? It’s a beautiful form of art.

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Anonymous wrote:Camping.

Sleeping on the floor without showering? No thanks.

Camping is also something I have no interest in. I only went one time as a child and it was a mile walk to the closest semi real bathroom. I don’t know why people do this to themselves. Also, it’s actually way more expensive than anyone thinks.

Anonymous wrote:Camping.

Sleeping on the floor without showering? No thanks.

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Anonymous wrote:Swim team.

No diversity and early practices. Hard pass.

This. Plus in our neighborhood, the parents are crazy.

But mostly: swim really needs to be avoided because of no diversity.

Agreed. Same with basketball.

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Anonymous wrote:I am surprised at the anti-dance responses here. I didn't grow up dancing because my family had no time or money but I started taking some dance classes in college and the feeling I get when I'm dancing is really unparalleled. I wish my parents could have afforded dance lessons for me as a kid. I assume I'm not the only one who feels this way about dance.

There are pretty much zero adults that continue to dance. Most girls are done with dancing by 14

You know nothing about the dance world. You should make sure at least your children are somewhat knowledgeable about the arts as they are part of a well rounded education They should know about the contemporary dancers/choreographers like Lester Horton, Alvin Ailey, Bob Fosse, Jerome Robbins. Also the ballet classics Midsummer’s Night Dream, Don Quixote. Famous Broadway musicals like Wicked or The Sound of music.

Girls quit sports and dance for various reasons. But there are just as many girls enjoying traveling to compete as girls traveling to play soccer. And there are many more getting classical training in dance n hopes to continue until they make it. And many will.

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Anonymous wrote:These make me a bit sad for girls. I had no eye hand or eye foot coordination, didn't enjoy the repetitive nature of swimming but was a damn good dancer then figure skater then cheerleader (I did all 3 over the years and cheered in college). I took absolute JOY in moving to music and had both a natural talent for it and love for it that made me work hard to build my skill.

I never once was body shamed in it or felt I had to be skinnier for my activity (vs the general be skinny pressure on girls). Maybe I would have been if I was at very high elite levels, but aren't all high elite athletes under body pressure whether its strength or weight or whatever. I am naturally petite which helped me with cheer and skating but that was no different than being naturally tall helping for basketball or tall and lean helping for cross country.

I just makes me sad that parents wouldn't let their kids do an activity out of potential future fears that gave me and many others such joy. I've circled back on all them in my adult life (just started taking skating lessons again after a 25 year hiatus) and I get energized from it in a way i never have any other physical or artistic persuit.

Thanks for this. My girls love to dance.

For real, I have 2 girls and one loves gymnastics, cheer and is on the dance team at their school. Dancing to Arianna Grande is a joy!

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Anonymous wrote:These make me a bit sad for girls. I had no eye hand or eye foot coordination, didn't enjoy the repetitive nature of swimming but was a damn good dancer then figure skater then cheerleader (I did all 3 over the years and cheered in college). I took absolute JOY in moving to music and had both a natural talent for it and love for it that made me work hard to build my skill.

I never once was body shamed in it or felt I had to be skinnier for my activity (vs the general be skinny pressure on girls). Maybe I would have been if I was at very high elite levels, but aren't all high elite athletes under body pressure whether its strength or weight or whatever. I am naturally petite which helped me with cheer and skating but that was no different than being naturally tall helping for basketball or tall and lean helping for cross country.

I just makes me sad that parents wouldn't let their kids do an activity out of potential future fears that gave me and many others such joy. I've circled back on all them in my adult life (just started taking skating lessons again after a 25 year hiatus) and I get energized from it in a way i never have any other physical or artistic persuit.

Thanks for this. My girls love to dance.

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Anonymous wrote:I am surprised at the anti-dance responses here. I didn't grow up dancing because my family had no time or money but I started taking some dance classes in college and the feeling I get when I'm dancing is really unparalleled. I wish my parents could have afforded dance lessons for me as a kid. I assume I'm not the only one who feels this way about dance.

There are pretty much zero adults that continue to dance. Most girls are done with dancing by 14

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Anonymous wrote:Never in a million years, would I allow DD to become an empty-headed, vapid, cheerleader.

This + poms

I think Poms is most popular down South and the Midwest. Have you seen the Pom teams and dance teams in the D1 college division? They are remarkably talented. Watch videos from some of their competitions and explain why you have a problem with it. These girls are not super thin. For the most part their weight is right where it’s supposed to be and they are strong.

Just like female sports teams there are mediocre dance teams but the top Pom teams are on par with the colleges top sports team with regard to the work put in and the results.

Except for things like pay. Or scholarship money. Or future career prospects. But sure other than those minor things for which no one looks at colleges, these are great.

The sports teams getting paid significant money starting this year are football players, basketball players and hockey players. some athletic programs like tennis, swimming, diving, wrestling, volleyball are being discontinued because they don’t produce revenue for the school. The court decision to pay college athletes will cause a lot more programs being dropped to focus on academics because money is tight.

What does the activities you choose have anything to do with future careers? Most college students don’t get sports scholarships so that doesn’t matter.

Most parents encourage their kids to pursue activities they enjoy as long as they don’t see them as dangerous. They are realistic and do not force their child in a sport that the parents think would be the best bet at a scholarship. That’s crazy.

You offered nothing that would dissuade a dancer from choosing a dance team or dance pom for a college activity. Harvard university competed in a national contest for the first time. They have a ways to go but they’ll make it.

Sports teams create networks which improves post-graduation job placement. My husbands firm had a ton of guys from the same university crew team. Would be interested to see what career or industry “poms” helps get into.