I’ve stopped counting the amount of dance, recitals I’ve either performed in, helped out with, or sat in attendance at. It’s that time of year and it seems like every time I see someone’s pictures from their dance recital or over hear someone talking about their child’s or grandchild’s recital, it stirs up so many memories over the past fifty-seven years. I’m guessing, probably somewhere between $600-$1,000 per child per year to be involved, for the year, including the recital. Adjust that number if there are more costumes, more lessons or more shoes needed but really the same could be said for any activity a child is involved in from soccer to football to tennis and others activities, with sports possibly being more expensive than others. Kids need to be involved in something. Something for a child to have to be focused on, something to get better at and something to distract them from the things you would not want them to be involved in.
Think about the times you and your kids were involved so much in an activity, that they stayed up late at night planning practicing. Maybe it was a tennis shot cross court or down the baseline or they called you to meet them at the putting green to work on their putts, or it was the tennis serve or maybe it was the dance they practiced over and over again in the basement or in the backyard, maybe you help them and maybe you just watch from the sidelines, but you must probably remember the excitement in their voice as they told you about the progress they had made and excitement on their face when they hit their mark or reached their goal.
Life is about setting goals, reaching them and moving on to the next. Think about it in your life as a parent. You work to get your child ready for preschool, potty training them, reinforcing the please and “thank-you s”, they learn to wait their turn, learn their letters and when they have mastered those skills, they are on to kindergarten, and so on and so on and such is life, the getting ready for and the moving on. The dance recital, the t-ball league, the Regional Tennis Tournament, the State Finals for golf, track, softball, the school play or any other year end activity your child participates in. They are the things childhood activities are made of and they prepare them for life. Every little ballerina will not achieve the status of Misty Copeland at the American Ballet Theater. Every Little League Player will not play in a World Series like Derek Jeter, but to reach to be their best, to prepare for the event at their level, allows them a taste of what it might be like…And 57 years later, they just might still be enjoying the game or being part of the of the show…🩰
