Praise Your Children’s Successes
As parents of dancers, we often feel that we put in as much, if not more work than the dancers themselves. With all the costume changes, hair, makeup, shoes, props, and everything else that we do to help our children succeed, it can often feel overwhelming. However, if we feel like this, image what our children must feel! They do all of these same things, but also get up there on stage to perform, and then are judged!! I have never performed on stage in front of a lot of people, so I can only image what must be going through their heads.
But the one thing we must never forget as parents, is that our children have worked weeks, months, and even years to perfect their craft, and that hard work deserves praise, no matter what the judges say. We have to teach them that their worth is not based on what others say, and as long as they are happy with their performance, they are a winner, no matter what!!! I have always told my daughter that it is all about having fun, and to go out there and have as much of it as you can. If she ends up winning, I praise her and say how awesome she did, and guess what, even if she does not win, I still praise her and tell her how awesome she did. This is what I think we should all be doing. It doesn’t matter if your child has won a thousand times before, or they have never won before, we should be praising them for going out there and giving it their all!! I guarantee you that they will remember these times when they are older, and always remember that we were there for them, no matter what a few judges said about their performance!