Lauren's Ballet/Tap Dance

After participating in baby classes, sports classes, gymnastics and swimming classes, Chad and I finally enrolled Lauren in her first ballet/tap dance class.  It is offered through the Fairfax Park and Recreation Department and the nearest class is at South Run Park, which is 30 minutes away.  But, she was so excited about dance class, and we wanted her to have the experience, so we signed her up.

On the first day of class, we arrived and discovered that it was a "no parents allowed" class.  Fortunately, there are huge glass doors, so we can still see what is going on.  But all of our previous classes have encouraged parent participation and Lauren was not sure about going in on her own.  To her credit, she did walk in and did not cry when I shut the door behind me.

For the first 10 minutes of every class, she stands beside the door and watches the instructor and other girls.  She refuses to move into the room, and always peeks out the door to make sure I am still there.  Eventually, the teacher has the girls get into a circle and hold hands.  That is when Lauren joins in and she has a blast the rest of the class.

                     

Lauren has grown so much from this class.  She has become more independent, has learned patience/waiting your turn, has done very well at following directions, and has enjoyed the dancing.  And in one particular class, she learned a hard lesson about pushing. That morning, Lauren was running around the room with a few of the other girls.  They ended up in a corner and one of the girls pushed Lauren down.  There were a lot of tears, and the teacher immediately addressed the situation.  When she came out of the class, Chad and I talked to her about how it felt to be pushed.  Lauren said she was sad and we explained that she should never push anyone, because that would make them sad as well.  I was concerned that she would be afraid to go back, but she did fine in the next class, and was even running around and holding hands with the girl who pushed her.  I hope it was an important life lesson on empathy.  

Even though it takes her a few minutes to warm up, this class has been very good for Lauren (and her mommy), and I have enrolled her in the next session.  It will be perfect when the baby arrives, since I can still watch Lauren, but do not have to actively participate.  And hopefully there will be adorable recital blog posts in the future!!