Dance Class

Haleigh has been going to dance class once a week for the past several months. She looks forward to it every week and talks about it all the time. It's fun to watch her participate and follow directions...but it's been an interesting process to get her to actually participate!

The first week or two were easy...she just ran into the classroom and did everything on her own. Then she started crying and wouldn't want to go; she would only participate if I was there doing everything with her. This isn't exactly what I had in mind when I signed her up for dance class so I found it to be quite frustrating! 

We decided that instead of me sticking around, the teacher (Mrs. V) would take Haleigh and I would leave, regardless of how much Haleigh cried. The first time we tried this, Haleigh cried for a short time and then just wanted to hold Mrs. V's hand the rest of the time. Each class since then has gotten better and now Haleigh doesn't cry at all and willingly participates. She reports back to me each day, "Mom, I didn't cry." 

The last class of each month the kids have a little performance where they show the parents what they've been learning. They sing fun songs and focus on things like following directions and taking turns while learning how to twirl, plié and do other dance moves.