give

I am not your typical mum!

I was really fed-up with Ann's ballet teacher.

Last week, she forced Ann to do the split and it hurt her terribly. Ann's threshold for pain is very high and I mean, really high. When she was two, she was burnt by the oven, five blisters on her little palm. Only a short cry and she was back to her usual self. When she was about three, she fell at home and had a bad cut. Her two front teeth pierced through her lower lips but soon, she was bouncing again. No stitches needed, the wound just healed by itself, even our family doctor was surprised. Remember her big swollen bruise on her forehead a few weeks back? So  when Ann cries, it means it is really bad. The split must have hurt her quite badly.

Yesterday, at the ballet class, the teacher scolded her and said that she was not flexible. She started comparing Ann with an European kid who is in the same class. This European kid has gymnastic background, of course she is more flexible than Ann. Moreover, she started learning ballet way before Ann.  What made me really mad was she compared Ann with that kid. While waiting outside the class, I could hear the teacher yelling at Ann and saying so and so is more flexible! *MAD*

I am a believer of an individual's uniqueness. I drill very hard in my kids that they are special, they are beautiful, they are different.  I don't want my kids to grow up thinking that they are not good enough.  If my kids misbehaved, I am all for discipline but I will never allow my kids to be put down verbally because of a shortcoming. Everyone's flexibility is different. I know some takes a longer time to learn and to master it.

At the end of the class, the teacher came out and told me that I couldn't depend on the once a week class. I must do more for Ann, blah, blah, blah...

I am not a tiger mum and I am not the typical mum.  I send Ann for ballet class because her school teacher commented that she has a flare for dance and I want to see if her interest is there. I send her there to do something different instead of all books and school. I am not training her to be a Russian ballerina (if she becomes one, God bless her), if her interest is there, if her talent is there, she will bloom. That's how I function!

Ann loves ballet and in spite of the pain last week, she never asked to quit. She went to class happily yesterday. The last I want is to have a teacher who demoralises, demotivates, robs her of her cheerfulness, her love for dance and her thirst to learn something different. If she thinks I am the typical Chinese mama, who pushes her kid to the limit so that her kid can be some Olympic star, she's got the wrong person.


Notes : Spoke to a ballerina friend, she said that she has NEVER been forced to do the split. Further research on the internet found that some teachers are not aware of the safety issues on doing splits. It can cause damage to the hips.