Basketball Player vs. Cheerleader

Okay. For those of you who know us, you know that Robert & I are big athletes and like pretty much all sports. However, we are not fans of cheerleading. If you are a cheerleader, used to be a cheerleader, dream of being a cheerleader, or have a daughter who is a cheerleader, I am not trying to offend you! This is just a personal opinion! We personally do not want our girls being cheerleaders. We would prefer for them to be athletes and play ball! Before you think we're horrible, we have let them both dress up like cheerleaders for Halloween before!!! Some of you may not be sports fans and not want your kids playing ball. To each their own opinion. However, here at our house, we encourage sports and discourage the cheerleading option.

I have said all that to set the stage for this next paragraph. You see, each fall the local newspaper highlights all the first grade classes in the county with a special section in the paper. It includes pictures and write-ups about each child. This year's first grade class is the Class of 2019! They asked each child what they like about school, what book they like, what they want to be when they grow up, and who their hero is. So here is Rachel's response:

"My name is Rachel. The thing I enjoy most about school is recess. My favorite book is "Miss Nelson is Missing." When I grow up I want to be a cheerleader. My hero is Jessica."

Did I just read that correctly? She wants to be what? I about died!!! My first thought was "oh, all the other girls were probably saying that, so she just said whatever they said." Not that I want her to go along with the crowd, but this time that's what I was actually hoping for. But no. The other girls wanted to be teachers, vets, doctors, etc. A couple actually did say gymnasts, but hey, at least there's a chance for an Olympic medal with that! No other girl said they wanted to be a cheerleader. Just Rachel! I'm not sure what all was going on in her brain that day. For starters, she loves absolutely everything about school. Her favorite special is guidance. She cried when I had to pick her up early for a doctor's appointment one day and she missed like 5 minutes of guidance. So I'm not really sure where recess came from as her favorite part of school.

Anyway, back to the subject of her wanting to be a cheerleader. That just blew our minds! She has said she wants to be several things when she grows up. For the past year or so, if you ask her what she's going to be she'll reply "a princess, barbie, astronaut, mail carrier, teacher!" What a combination!!! I would fully have expected to have seen all or part of that reply in the newspaper article. But no way did I expect to read cheerleader!!!

But before you cheerleading people go and think that you've swayed Rachel to come over to your side, guess what she begged to do this fall/winter? Play basketball!!!! Our church has Upward basketball and cheerleading. A girl asked Rachel at evaluations the other night if Rachel was a basketball player or a cheerleader. I was so proud to hear Rachel say those words, "I'm a basketball player!" YEAH!!!!! She is my daughter!!!! Puddin and Jessica have tried to corrupt her, but she has remained true to her upbringing!!! HaHa!! (By the way, did you see in Rachel's newspaper article where she listed Jessica as her hero? Jessica is her cousin.)

I don't have any pictures from Rachel's Upward evaluations. But I'll include a picture of her from last Halloween when she dressed up as a FUTURE LADY VOL basketball player!