Vicarious cheering?

Many people who don't have children living with them look at today's stay-at-homers, or even those who work outside the home and think that all this over-parenting is a way to vicariously live through their children's accomplishments.

I may have been guilty of such things (as evidenced by years of over the top birthday celebrations), but I assure you this weekend is proof positive that I do not live through my daughter!

We were at a cheer competition in Wildwood, NJ and I hated pretty much every minute of it. Here is a Reader's Digest style rundown of the weekends low points.

  • Hotel: so gross that my husband LITERALLY refused to sleep there! He surfed the net all night long.
  • Hotel: was paid for through the competition organization and was a complete rip off! I will NEVER book through them again!!! The hotel was $50 cheaper online, but because the coaches were decorating the girl's doors, I felt like we had to room there. Next year the three signs on our door are an honor C will have to forgo.
  • Hotel: besides gross room, pool was disappointing, the window opened all the way with a the view of the ocean but about 3 feet from the window were huge power lines. 
  • Hotel: rude staff
  • Hotel: room next to elevator. Glad I had Ambien.
  • Coaches: Rude on multiple occasions - who moves someone else's purse and then takes her seat while everyone is the buffet???
  • Coaches: Never mentioned the two girls who were left out of the party when giving out awards. 
  • Coaches: Clearly favor some girls when they described the girl
  • Coaches: Got so bombed that the first thing my daughter (13) said to me the next morning was "Ma, did you see how drunk Mrs. XYZ was last night!"
There were other things that turned me off: some of the girls were being rather catty (but what do you expect from 12 year olds?), others snuck out of the hotel and went to the boardwalk until they got caught.  One of the girls was practicing when she shouldn't have been and hurt her arm just a few minutes before they were supposed to go on. They didn't have a chance to change things around. Apparently this girl "cries injury" a fair amount, leaving the team in the lurch. The coaches didn't even consider having the left-out girls there as a plan B in case of such last minute needs. The absent girl caused a domino effect and the girl who she was supposed to be supporting fell during the routine.

After that all hell broke loose. One girl yelled at the injured girl. The injured girl's Mom yelled at the girl who yelled at her daughter. It was quite the mess (I didn't witness it, but this distracted the girls even more).

Desperately seeking good sportsmanship!

Glad this year's cheer season is over.  I do live vicariously through my kids (I also love to live through the stories my single friends tell about dating and my working friends tell about their jobs....). I'm not looking forward to next year's cheer season. Does time really heal all wounds?

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