Thoughts for the New Year

Thoughts for a new dance year .....

Life is busy when we have children and gets even busier as they grow. Parents are always juggling multiple responsibilities while navigating a world full of distractions. In this world of amazing opportunities the selection of activities and programs, especially for children are endless. It’s not uncommon for parents to be taking their child to swimming, ballet, music lessons, karate, gymnastics etc in a normal week. Not including possible sports or school activities on weekends. Over-scheduling is stressful and becomes a push to rush childhood. We all rush to get everywhere, multi tasking daily home life, with giving our children opportunities to experience other things and if the family has more than one child, the pressure on parents being able to keep up is tiring. Not only does homework then become a worry as it feels the child will slip behind due to extra curricular activities. The desire for accelerated learning with the additional technology of instant communication through the internet and mobile phones, children as do adults get addicted to smart devices in the process. Social media can be great, but can also damage our ability to interact on a personal level and hence become stagnant. Rather than actually talk or see a person, it will be a message.

As children grow we add social and part time work to the mix and life begins to feel like a mere bucket list of activities. Rushing from one activity to the next without taking time to authentically connect in the process is counter intuitive to the happy inspired childhood and teens parents are trying to create. Gradually as time moves forward, we find the teenager just about quits everything to focus on year 11 or 12 at secondary school to achieve maybe an elusive result. They become despondent, depressed and exhausted. How do we conquer this? It's called balance and being selective.

To have happy and content children, we must choose an activity of value that fosters this in the limited time that we have available. Don't overload with too many choices. Simplify, make quality and wise decisions and not rush to experience. Take time to just "be" and notice what your child enjoys to take part in. It's not important to be "first" or always a "winner" but it's about the experience, what you learn from it. We are not perfect, mistakes will be made, yet your child will come out stronger, independent and able to make decisions of what is best for them.

If you choose Ballet or another dance genre for your child, make sure that the school you select has the same aspirations of guiding your child to a fulfilling, informative, joyous yet challenging experience for a lifetime to remember........