Parent Cheerleader without a cheerleading kid

My daughter has decided not to continue with cheerleading this year, but instead to try musical theatre classes, where she will learn acting, singing and dancing. I'm happy that she's found something she will enjoy, and that she may actually be better at.

But it's gonna be weird being a part of a cheerleading team when she's not.

Not all of the members of our "parents" team are parents of cheerleaders; in fact, some in the past haven't been "parents" at all, just adults who wanted to cheer but not at the advanced levels of the open team, with all the competitiveness that involves.

Part of the reason I joined the parents team, besides that it looked fun and was great exercise and a super stress-buster, was to make sure that I wasn't going to live my cheerleading dreams vicariously through my daughter. I wanted to be sure that I wouldn't push her to continue past the point where she enjoyed it, just because I enjoyed it. Lots of parents do this to their kids, be it through cheerleading, or hockey, or yes, musical theatre. I've never thought it was fair.

So I'm glad she felt free to go in a new direction, one that I won't be following.

And I'm glad that I feel free to continue to cheer, for all the right reasons.

But I am going to miss the bonding that we had, doing this together, competing at the same competitions, going to open gym and working out together. I'm going to miss her companionship through the process.

And yeah, it's gonna be weird.