There are cheerleaders for Pop Warner Football. I told my daughter I would rather see her on the field than cheering for boys, while wearing skimpy uniforms and boatloads of makeup. While the activity is athletic, I (personally) despise the "dress-up" part of it. *I* would find a different sport for my girl. As I did.

My daughter cheered when she was 6 for the small town football team and it was the normal cute cheerleaders most people think of as described above. She is a middle school cheerleader now and it's fun. But one of her cheer friends also cheers on a competitive team and with the make up, hair, and skimpy outfits, I told her she will never be doing that. I agree it is a great sport and good competition, but the rest is unnecessary, especially considering all of the bases had guts hanging out over their skirts, which I find disgusting. Cover these girls up. My daughter has danced for many years without ever needing to bare her midriff. And she's never needed a costume or uniform that cost $400 simply because of the added bling. To each her own...

Exactly what onthefence2 said. There are different levels of cheering.

There's recreation youth with is Saturday or Sunday games and sometimes small local competitions, if your squad chooses to do that.

Then there is competitive cheer which is intense, hardcore, expensive, and can be sexualized quite a bit. (I would argue some competitive dance is worse)

But why do you think cheerleading = body image, sexuality, eating disorders and such. That is a small minded thing to say.

That's not the case. That's poor parenting, poor influence, poor judgement. That's not cheerleading's fault. In my opinion, and I coached for 8 years and ran a business from Cheerleading and am still involved at a regional level cheer = confidence, strength, agility, power, and hard work.

I think at the age she is right now it would just be a social thing. Maybe its where I live but cheerleading is a big thing. Girls start as young as 5 or 6 (same as peewee football for the boys) playing in the community teams. Its usually these kids that get started early on that stick with it and get into the competitive cheering. I know in middle school and high school you weren't likely to make the squad if you weren't also apart of a competition squad of some type too. I know at least 2 girls I graduated with that are National cheer coaches for UCLA and fly across the US training other girls. They've really made a career out of it. My point is that its just like football or any other sport when it comes to body issues or peer pressures but these extra curriculars can be just as beneficial to these girls. If anything it kept these girls from getting pregnant and dropping out just so they could compete.

I started cheerleading at 9... coincidentally, I started my period the same year. 4th grade... yeah, was a youngin'.