Cait came home yesterday with her cert from RAD (Royal Academy of Dance) for the ballet exam she took. Not only did she pass, but she passed with a Distinction!
We are very proud of her and happy that she has done well. But once again, we are very mixed about gym vs dance. Although she's already made the decision to stop ballet, this recent development again got me thinking. Are we making a mistake? Should we have let her continue?
If the girl is just passing ballet with a simple pass grade or even with a merit grade, it would be an easier decision to make. She too, is now very mixed up and confessed yesterday that "this is a hard decision mummy."
At the same time, I suppose something's got to give right? Her schedule looks like this:
Monday: School, Gym training from 1pm to 5pm
Tuesday: School, home
Wednesday: School, home, Berries from 4pm to 5.45pm
Thursday: School, Chinese supplementary class from 1.30pm to 3pm
Friday: School, Gym training from 1pm to 5pm
Saturday: Gym training 9am to 12.30pm, Catechism from 2pm to 3.30pm, Swimming class from 4pm to 5pm
Sunday: Gym training from 4pm to 6pm
By the time she gets home, has her bath, dinner, finishes her homework and some revision that we set her, she's seriously tired already. Her only 'free' day is Tuesday but if we include ballet, this would mean Tuesday afternoon slots from 1.30 to 3pm. So there goes the 'free' day. The second slot would clash with Friday gym training too.
Are we overdoing it? But if we don't, are we constraining her total development? I've said that if a child demonstrates a talent, an inclination for something, then as parents, we have to do all we can to let her take it as far as she can go so that she has more choice. Just wondering if, by taking ballet out of the equation now, are we limiting her options/choices?
4 comments:
Well done Cait!
I understand well your/Cait's dilemma. We just had to make a tough decision recently for A n I'm still wondering whether, what if etc.
But Cait does have a VERY packed schedule. It wld be VERY tough to squeeze one more activity into all that.
One way to see it it is to tell yourselves tt it's not forever. If she's meant to dance and truly loves dance, she'll come back to it one day. The foundation tt she has had will stand her in good stead. No doubt, it will not be quite the same as if she had done it all along, but she will still have it in her. Trust n have faith.
We must have some trust in our children. But at the same time, watch them very very carefully. I do that with our 2 older boys, so I really know what you're talking about. Somehow I feel that we will be cheating them if we don't at least let them try to excel where they can.
Sarah has schoolfriends who've done both gym competitively and continued with ballet even until today, so I guess it's not impossible?
One thing - you really must drive. ;-)
I was thinking of negotiating with the ballet teacher to let her do ballet only on Tuesday (once a week only since the Fri slot clashes with gym). Will see how this goes.
And yes, I SHOULD drive, but no point also since I work longer hours in the office these days. The bulk of fetch/send is left to my dad and mom. Cait also takes the CCA bus home. But ya lah... can foresee that as time goes on and Owain and Trin enter the system, the ferrying could be a serious issue!
Ah, no wonder u don't need to drive, and no wonder i need to. LOL.
In our families, our older folks need to be driven around - extra "children" to us
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