Equestrian sports.

I grew up on a horse farm and competed in show jumping and dressage. That world is super obsessive about weight and body shape, and also full of cocaine and other drugs in the upper levels. I imagine gymnastics and figure skating and ballet are the same.

Yes, I had a rampant eating disorder for years, and it started when I was in middle school due to my sport and that world.

My mother didn't let me do any kind of dance or gymnastics out of concern about the potentially toxic culture and body image issues and instead put me in team sports, which I didn't enjoy. So I took some dance classes in my 20s and loved it, and now my son does dance at a really supportive studio. My hard nos are football, lacrosse, and trampolines.

Hard NO:
Football. Soccer. Wrestling. Anything with guns. Cheer.

Did it but wouldn’t do it again:
Gymnastics - too dangerous and hard on the body.

Between "intro" and competition.

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand the idea of a hard no on any sport. Every sport has an intro/rec level that is cheaper and less intense. Why not let your kids try things? Yes dance can be toxic for body image at older ages, but 3 year olds don't really notice that. Yes gymnastics and cheer have a high injury risk and can really mess up the body, but there's not a whole lot of danger in learning a cartwheel. Yes football has a big CTE risk, but flag football exists. Let your kids explore!

Same. I also am aware that there is so little between into and competition level in the US. My kids know how to ice skate and it would be fun to get better. They I don't want or need to compete. Same with some dance etc. it's good to learn to move your body in different ways and get some skills. Not everything needs to be a dedication/passion and intense commitment. It's sad that a kid can't decide at 10 that they want to try something and there isn't really a way for them to do it in a chill way.

I don't understand the idea of a hard no on any sport. Every sport has an intro/rec level that is cheaper and less intense. Why not let your kids try things? Yes dance can be toxic for body image at older ages, but 3 year olds don't really notice that. Yes gymnastics and cheer have a high injury risk and can really mess up the body, but there's not a whole lot of danger in learning a cartwheel. Yes football has a big CTE risk, but flag football exists. Let your kids explore!

Anonymous wrote:Softball. It turns normal girls into lesbians.

You have 100% got to be a troll.

I draw a hard line at CTE - Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (early-onset cognitive loss caused by repeated concussions). My son and daughter never did anything that had a known concussion risk.

Beyond that, any activity you choose to do at a high level becomes full of crazies, because you need to be crazy to reach a high level in anything.

Anonymous wrote:Can someone explain to me how lax is a different culture to other team sports? Why does the culture (not the sport itself) get such a bad rap?

Genuine question. Hoping for non snarky answer/straight forward explanation.

Lax culture is very rapey.

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hockey - the practice times for our local team are ridiculous
Ballet and gymnastics. My sister and I were pretty involved in these growing up and they were incredibly toxic environments.

+1
I was very into ballet when growing up and would not allow my kids to go further than elementary in anything with the dance world.
I won’t allow my kids to do football, wrestling, atv’s, or trampolines. We have a family member who broke his neck.

My kid very much wanted to do ballet, but it seems like such an unhealthy environment of girls with eating disorders and bloody toes, so she does a different type of dance. Gymnastics has some similar problems, but my kid loves it so much and it's fun for her.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:...had an interesting discussion with a mom who would never allow her dc to play lacrosse (mine do) whereas I would never allow my dc to play football (hers do). What are some activities you'd never allow your dc to do and why?

How old are your kids? Lacrosse is also a very physical sport, similar to football. I think you're a bit of a hypocrite and standing on a high horse if you're drawing that line.

I have all girls and they don't play either sport, I just think you're annoyingly and incorrectly smug.

Girls sports aren’t as rough as boys sport except maybe rugby. Lacrosse is as tough on the body and head as hockey and football.

Gymnastics- I don’t care for the culture
Tackle football- dangerous
Baseball/softball- too time consuming, not enough physical exercise

Can someone explain to me how lax is a different culture to other team sports? Why does the culture (not the sport itself) get such a bad rap?

Genuine question. Hoping for non snarky answer/straight forward explanation.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No competitive dance/cheer/gymnastics, parents, hockey. No travel anything.

This, but also no rugby or football, of course. And due to all the concussions, no soccer either. Tennis destroys knees. I would allow cross-country but not marathons.

In middle school, you can play rugby that is not tackle.