Paul Newman forever and ever, amen.

Sure thing! Next Monday?

oh I was just waiting for them to throw out some rules on skin bleaching. They’ll probably tell her to bleach herself and then paint herself orange.

“Idk. My daughter is in competitive dance, and everyone’s hair and makeup MUST be uniform. It’s so strict that we all have the exact same makeup kit from the same brand. Curly, straight, it’s all styled uniformly. It’s part of the gig.”

You’ve got to be kidding. No, she doesn’t have to straighten her hair, or dye it, or put in extensions if it’s not the right length. If she’s willing to wear the uniform and put whatever stupid bow on her head that’s part of the uniform, it’s enough.

You do realize that 2 of those 3 pictures are of girls with curly hair, right? She didn’t say she wouldn’t wear a ponytail, she said she wouldn’t straighten her hair. Should she have to dye it if all the other girls had hair a different color?

And also who cares? Shouldn’t we be encouraging kids to play real sports, not the sport of cheering on men playing another sport?

Hey – don’t hate on the mom for trying to emphasize to her daughter that she’s beautiful the way she is.

I’m absolutely demanding at regular school. My children have a right to an education and it will be the best one I can get them. Dance school? Ehhhh. Not worth it, and not really my place. She’s one on a team of many.

I hope so. I’m gonna just leave the cheerleaders alone, I’m a little too easily bristled tonight and finding stuff to be grouchy about all over the place, but as far as the article goes: Seems like even in an elite group, where you do want things to be as uniform as possible, the girls shouldn’t be required to damage…

Yeah, I think instead of saying “sorry, this is how it is” and collectively shrugging, we can at least toss around the idea that maybe some diversity wouldn’t hurt.

Brown hair is also okay as long as it’s straight, white girl brown hair.

I agree with you 100%! In the sixth grade I signed up for the cheerleading team with my friends. I was also on the basketball team. Throughout that year, before my basketball games, my dad would say something like “Where are your cheerleaders?! Why aren’t the boys coming out to cheer in your basketball games?” Or “I…

Actually, thought the finer points of the rule said it had to be “clearly visible from *two galaxies over*.”

Yeah, I have a HUGE issue with how cheering is generally on the side of boy’s games still. In one school where I taught, cheering was very serious business, but they were still expected to decorate the boys’ lockers before games.

My problem with it isn’t the sport vs non-sport aspect (I don’t care about sports in general) it’s the “you must become a stepford doll to participate” aspect of it AND the insanely dangerous stuff they do with no safety gear. If I signed my son up for circus acrobatics class (a real thing where I live) he’d be…

Basically the idea of her jumping and clapping for some rando dude makes me want to throw chairs.

Yes. I was afraid too. And then I had a daughter. And my mother in law gave her a little cheerleading outfit. My husbands side of the family is Very Serious about cheer, I have kept my opinions to myself for years. ANnnnyhow my neice said “oooh! I had that! She can cheer like me!” And then basically I blew my cover.…

I don’t have children, but it is actually in my top ten nightmares that I would have a daughter, and she would want to be a cheerleader or beauty pageant contestant.

““When you come into the sport, you understand there is makeup to it. There’s hair to it.”