How To Encourage Your Child To Continue Youth Ballet

The way Julia dances so naturally I knew her talent was from God.  I believe what the bible says in James 1:17  “every good gift and every perfect gift comes from God above.”  In a previous post, I explained that I prayed for God to reveal all of my children’s talent and I believe one of Julia’s talents is ballet.  Being gifted is not easy.  When something comes naturally to you, you are too talented to stop but the process of perfecting your gift can be tiresome.   It is possible to get weary in well doing.

Here are some tips on how to encourage your child to continue youth ballet before they become weary or if they are showing signs of weariness.

1. Feed Their Excitement-  You may be tired at the end of the day but whenever your child wants to show you what they have learned in ballet class, allow them to show you!  I am told there will come a time when our children will not be interested in letting us be a part of their lives, somewhere right around adolescents.  I do not know about you but I’m striving for little to no regrets with raising my children.  A few moments will not hurt you.

2.  Ask Them to Show you what they’ve learned- When you inquire about something your child is into they will be eager to let you be a part of their lives.  After they show you what they have learned praise them on how well they’ve done it!

3.  Record Them Dancing-This will make them feel special, because you believe they are good enough to be recorded!  If possible, sometime later, let them catch you watching the recording of them dancing.  This will boost their confidence in ballet.

4.  Spread the News- Tell others about how well your child does ballet. As a teacher and a mother, I have learned that whatever expectation you set for a child and have made known to the child is what you will get from the child.  If you want your child to perfect their gift you must tell them how well they do it.  Everyone enjoys a compliment and children are no different.  The more people that are encouraging your child in their youth ballet sport, the more engaged they will become in it.  Other people help to reinforce to your child how well they dance and encourage them to do even better.

5. Attempt to do Ballet with them- Children love to teach what they have learned.  Let them see how difficult it is for you to do ballet.   Sports are meant to be competitive, the competition is what drives us to work harder because we want to beat them.  The competitive side of your child will arise and they will delight in fact that they can do something that you cannot do.