We have a bit of a dilemma here….one that repeats every few months. It revolves around Caity’s yearning to dance.
Our community centre has a little ballet program starting with classes for wee one’s and on up…they are all short…45 minutes and pretty inexpensive. This is her third go at it….she LOVES buying the outfit and the shoes and she LOVES me doing her hair. What she seems to be lacking is staying power in the class.
Now I NEVER had staying power. Ever. I still don’t. Biggest quitter on the planet. So my expectations tend to be spectacularly low for my kids holding interest on anything.
I drove my mom batty with my OOOOH I HAVE TO JOIN THIS and then QUIT!
I went to ONE Brownie night. (really…the dotty old lady making us sing to a plastic little people tree did me in)
I BEGGED to learn the Violin and then balked the moment I sat down in the class. (I went on to play the recorder and then the flute in high school….I cannot to this day read one note of sheet music)
It went on throughout my life.
This time though….I really don’t think it is Caity being…well, Caity. I think she may have a point. It is a pretty light weight class. The teacher is sweet…a dance student from UBC and Caity likes her a lot…but I think even in the short class…she gets bored. Yes ballet DOES involve a lot of repetition, but they don’t ever get very far because the rest of the class tends to be well…distracted and flakey.
Where Caity walks in VERY serious, the others tend to be more concerned about how pretty they look in their various tutu frocks.
She tends to frown through the whole class….she appears to be trying very hard to do the right positions and so on….and gets very fed up holding the pose while the teacher has to bring the rest of the class to order.
Then it is all over.
So this makes me think that she could do a more serious (ergo more expensive dance class)….that she would take it seriously enough to warrant that effort. However, she is also a huge worrier…she frets at not being able to do things…gets very anxious. So THAT could also be a part of it. And therefore perhaps a more ‘real’ ballet class would be to hard on her.
Also….as enthusiastic as she is…..she is not really ballet material. But is that me just being cruel and harsh? Probably so.
The stage mom that wants to live vicariously through her children in me would love to see her do something more ‘Scottish.’ I would love to see her try Scottish Highland Dancing….but she loves the pink of Ballet and I don’t know if she will ever see form over fashion.
I find that not being a joiner myself….nor is their dad, makes it very hard to encourage the kids to JOIN things themselves. We are SO thankful that neither of them have displayed any real interest in sports.
The whole parents running around like mad people after school and on weekends for the kids extracurricular activities makes me feel slightly ill.
Don’t get me wrong. I am happy that my kids seem popular at school. Adam certainly is and they both get plenty of invites for playdates and so on and this door doesn’t stop knocking after school, with kids looking for them.
They live far more sociable childhoods than either I or their father did.
For that I am glad.
Still doesn’t help me decide on dance or no for our pretty in pink ballerina to be.
ah dilemma! i’m pondering releasing wee guy from his tae kwon do class – it comes with a price tag, 3 or 4 classes per week, and is Right After School. it’s just too busy and not quite his style but he does like it as long as the instructor doesn’t get annoyed with him ‘bouncing’ (he’s had quite a few disciplinary moments for jiggling around in class – a big no-no with martial arts apparently). he’s not really progressing either, he sees it all as a big run around game and again, i don’t think this is how the instructor sees it either.
i wasn’t much of a joiner, but i was a stayer; i tried what i started and progressed so i’m not at ease with his attitude. however, i think it’s just that he hasn’t found his groove.
i’ll wean him off the TKD with a promised art class – much more his style.
PS: i never found the wee ballet classes much more than a run around in pink froth (none of the teachers ever looked competent – is there some kind of dance sampler or gymnastics class which would let Caity explore her theatrical/rhythmical side?
My daughter took the same ballet class twice and I agree with yoy. It was so slow-paced and poorly run I found it painful to watch. Has she tried rhythmic gymnastics at the centre? The teacher is more structured, there is the girly element of floaty ribbons etc. and it is quite athletic. The program continues on at Killarney (part of Lori Fung’s rhythmic gymnastics empire). It’s a hundred times better and no more expensive.
Can’t speak to the dance classes but you do seem to have bloggy bloggerton staying power 😉
I don’t think it matters if Caity isn’t ballet material – none of the other little ballerinas are, either, in all likelihood. It can be just for fun, as a child.
My own daughter wants to do EVERY activity under the sun. EVERY activity. She wants to do ballet, soccer, gymnastics, figure skating, swimming, Sparks, art classes, and on and on and on. We have, for now, limited her to one thing – soccer. It’s working well for us. It’s a lot of running around and yelling, which is up my 5-year-old’s alley. In the end, it was really up to me to pick, and so I did. Yes, it would be great to follow all her interests, but there just isn’t enough time or money in the world to do that.
I think if your child really wants to do it we parents should be supportive although it is sometimes very hard on our pockets so to speak. But the things they learn through their classes will mold them one day. I remember my child dancing in her trainers girls and even if she was wearing trainers she would still twirl like the ballerina that she saw on her dance class.