I recently had an idea that I wanted to sign my Doll up for some dance classes. She is old enough for them, and with a quick google search I found >10 studios in the area! (And many more with a little driving.) I called all of them. Each one. Not one has any classes available on the weekends for children that young. All of the classes are offered on weekdays, right in mid-day (11AM-2PM). There is no way I could make that work. ::Working Mom guilt explosion::
Thought: My child will just have to be deprived of life's pleasures such as dancing, her life is ruined!!
Feeling: Guilt and sadness
Restructure to: My child has many pleasures in life, but dance class will not be one of them at this point.
CBTing myself didn't quite work...I am still writing this blog, feeling deflated. Oh well, life goes on.
Presumably your kid goes to some kind of daycare during the day and is getting all sorts of activities at school. You don't give your kid's age, but they're not really learning dancing in those most of those toddler classes.
ReplyDelete"at this point" is key. There will certainly be weekend classes for older kids. I took my son to a dance class that had much younger kids in it (he was nearly five, the youngest were 2) and the really young ones just clung to mommy or daddy or needed diapers changed, etc... he was the only kid that was willing & able to participate. I think 2 (or even 3---my 3 year old just clings to my legs at anything) are too young to get much out of it. For the really young ones the classes are for the SAHM to get out of the house, which is why they are held on weekdays.
ReplyDeleteTry calling the studios and expressing your interest in a weekend class. The may open one if they have enough interest, and it doesnt hurt to try. That is what we did and after sending out an email blast to see if there was interest , they started a new weekend toddler class- it was small, which worked out nicely as well.
ReplyDeleteHow old is your daughter? Presumably for kids ages five and up, they would have to have later classes or weekend classes, since kids that age are in school at those times. Maybe you should widen your distance range. I've had my daughter at three dance studios and all of them had Saturday classes so I promise they exist. I'm pretty sure her life wont be ruined if she doesn't start dance till age 5 :-)
ReplyDeleteI did the same search in our area. Then gave up because it's too much work and we are relocating in 4 months. Zo will be 4 this Fall and we will sign him up for a fun activity when we have settled and he is older.
ReplyDeleteSide note: Zo loved swimming classes at our local pool. We tried the ones at the YMCA, but the community ones cost less and the pool was better. Follow the age-guidelines - I mistakenly got Zo enrolled in a class for older kids and he cried and clung to the instructor.
We take our kid to gymnastics, but I confess the activity is more for me (to help me get out of the house) than it is for my daughter. She did learn how to do a somersault, but I think she likes chasing her friend around the gym more than anything structured they are doing there.
ReplyDeleteI used to HATE that. My daughter was in full-time daycare and they had dance classes in the afternoons for a while, and music - I mostly ran into that crap in the summer where there were all sorts of wonderful camps available from 9-12. No early dropoff, no aftercare because "we're not daycare". AARRGH.
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