I have a lot going on in my feeble mind this morning so sit back and be prepared to read! In this blog I want to talk about how I could never be a coach of ANYTHING!
If I owned a dance studio and had a competition team, my teams' name would be "The Drama Queen Dancers". Why? It's certainly not because I would be adding some dramatic elements to their dancing. Shoot, just ask my nephew, Blake, he'll surely tell you all of my moves are straight out of the 80's! The Drama Queen Dancer name would solely be based on the fact that you are dealing with a bunch of pre/teen girls! Need I say more? Don't even bother answering because you and I both know, I will!
Let me set this up for you; One of my daughter's is a dancer. She dances all the time, anywhere and everywhere she can - Dancing is her life! That being said, it only makes sense that she would be on a competition dance team, right?
At the beginning of every competition season there is an informational meeting for students and parents. This meeting covers things like what the practice schedule will be, how many competitions there will be, estimated cost of commitment, as well as expectations. In my observation the most difficult requirements for team members and their parents are the practice schedule and expectations.
As a parent, I have an expectation of my girls when they participate in a group activity. Actually, the expectation applies to myself and others too. My expectation you ask? It's simple, if you make the "choice" to take part in a team of any variety, you always put your best effort forward and do what is asked of you for the benefit of the team. Easy enough, right? Well no, apparently not! Not all people instill this in their children and I find this to be a great injustice. The old adage, "You are only as strong as your weakest link" is so true. Let's put this in perspective, shall we?
Many of the girls on the team seem to be confused about what the word "team" implies and have a difficult time following directions. Here is what is expected of the girls if they CHOOSE to be on the team:
1. Barring serious illness or graded school function, you are required to be at every practice.
2. Be on time for said practices.
3. Come prepared to dance (proper dance attire for class)
4. Show up for competitions at designated time with hair and make-up done and ready to perform.
5. Have a good attitude and always put forth best effort.
Too much to ask? Not in my world but apparently it is for some others. It really irritates me that anyone would allow their child to join a team that is specifically meant to compete and the consequently allow them to not honor their commitment. What is the point? What are you teaching your child? Grant it these are pre- and teen girls. They are moody, catty, self-centered and the list could go on and on. None-the-less it is your job as a parent to direct and build character in your child. I am by no means a perfect parent; If you have read any of my other blogs you know I'm not! We have been late to practices, competitions and were guilty this very last weekend of showing up without her hair done! Let me tell you, the entire way there Abigail was flipping out because she didn't want to get in trouble. But low and behold we got there and one girl didn't have her hair or make-up done! This is not to excuse our hair issue but we did have a good reason and her instructors were aware of it before we even left our house.
Here's the difference in my daughter and some of these other girls that I refer to; My daughter will start getting ready for dance the minute she walks in the door for school (even though dance doesn't start until 3 hours later), she gets mad at me if we don't leave at least 15 minutes before class starts, she knows that if she isn't putting forth her best effort and/or was disrespectful to her instructors there will be consequences.
What boggles my mind is why these girls make the choice to participate and then proceed to, pardon my french, not give a shit! Oh and my personal favorite is when they get upset because they don't get higher scores....I digress
Sincerely,
The Queen of Insanity
(And Obviously Rants)
No comments:
Post a Comment