10 to 25

December 12, 2007 lindsfauch

This past weekend my ten year old cousin and her cheerleading team went to Disney World to compete in a National championship. Through the duration of the past few months my I have come to see these young girls go from plain to glitz and glamour. In order to participate they needed to wear their hair pieces (which cost approx. $90-115) along with certain makeup, done a certain way in order for each girl to look like the other. While not in their cheer uniforms they were asked to all wear the same outfits and look their best .. at all times. My cousin is a dancer, and competes throughout CT. She is used to dressing up, loading on makeup and performing in front of large audiences. The cheerleading almost took it to far. It seems as if these young impressionable girls were trapped by the feeling that they HAD to look gorgeous. Not to say that little girls dont love being dressed up and decked out … because trust me a lot of us did, and still love to! But why the need to make these 10 year olds look like 25 year olds?