Health & Fitness
When to throw in the towel.
Teaching children the value of commitment is a hard lesson to learn.
Is it ever ok? I’m going to come at this first from a professional’s
perspective, then from a mom’s point of view.
As a studio owner and teacher for over 20 years and a theatre producer and director for over 20 years, I have seen my share of kids come and go and quit for one reason for another. Now, let me preface, if a situation is ever dangerous or unhealthy for a child, I am the first one to say let your kid pull out immediately. But, let’s take an example of an 8 year old child in a ballet class for the first time. Now, let’s just say Ballet doesn’t come naturally for this child and this child is having a hard time fitting into the class. The class maybe has 12 kids, so
unfortunately as much as the teacher would love to give this child extra
attention, she is unable to. So, after a few weeks, the kid goes to mom and
tells mom she doesn’t want to dance anymore. What do you do? Do you let her quit? This is a tough decision.
If you make her stay in, is she going to resent you and have
a bad attitude in class? Is she going to cry every week and fight you tooth and
nail? Or, will she rise to the occasion and take the challenge? It all depends
on the child’s personality and the way she has been brought up. I can tell you this, if you make her stay, she will learn fortitude and the feeling of completion and the knowledge that she gave something her all. If the child always is allowed to quit when it gets tough, she will never learn how to forge ahead and tough it out.
Find out what's happening in Cummingfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Commitment is a hard value to teach, but it is so important for kids to learn. If they are a member of a team and quit, they are no longer quitting on themselves, but their team mates too. It effects not only them, but they are leaving their fellow teammates in a lurch. They need to learn perseverance and self
discipline to push through until the end. It won’t be easy, but will be so worth the rewards they reap in the end. Teaching responsibility is an acquired skill. But, if you can pass this along to your children, they will be so much more successful in the end.
