Heather Camlot

Juliana is a real girlie girl. She only wants to wear dresses, names pink as her favourite colour, wants to put on makeup, and has announced that when she grows up, she wants to be an orange butterfly (I’m not saying only girls want to be butterflies, but it seems a more feminine career choice).

She also wants to be a ballerina. Most three-year-old girls want to be ballerinas, but I don’t know if they all break into interpretive dance the instant they hear music. The funny thing is, I can't recall reading Juliana any books about ballerinas or watching any shows about ballerinas. It makes me wonder just how inherent this desire is. 

Anyway, one day while the kids were taking a bath with Marc and I was on the computer, it dawned on me: YouTube must have ballet clips. I’d like to take all the credit for this masterful idea, but weeks before Marc had shown Juliana a YouTube clip of “water ballet,” aka synchronized swimming, to get her excited about swim lessons. (I’d like to give Marc all the credit but I’m the one who told an unhappy Juliana that her swim instructor knew great ballet moves that could be done in the water. She grabbed the instructor’s hand.)

So when the kids were dressed and ready for bed, we sat together on the office chair and watched clips of The Nutcracker and Sleeping Beauty. Juliana was entranced and asked questions. Alexandre thought it was girly, but it was like watching television – and before bed! – so he didn’t dare move.

I’ve avoided enrolling Juliana in ballet lessons this far, but I think the time has come. I hope she isn’t disappointed with ballet as formalized training. I suppose if it doesn’t work out, she can always continue with her water ballet and interpretive dance.

What classes do your children take? Did you have any backlash? How did you deal with it? Log in and leave a comment below!

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Photo by Iida Österman, courtesy stock.xchng