Day 6/365: Moira's Robot

Day 6/365: Moira's Robot
Originally uploaded by donnyatx

Last year I put my daughter into dance, at her insistence.

I've always thought that to succeed at something you truly needed a LOVE for what you are doing. Well... she proved me wrong.

The girl HATED dance. But that girl had/has talent. She was, quite literally, the best dancer in the class. She had grace and poise and had/has no clue how lucky she is to have that (both of us, her parents, are not what I'd call graceful).

Her teacher came to me one day and told me she was very lucky and extremely gifted. Moira was excited to hear it, so I had hope she'd get a 2nd wind and really enjoy it. She loved the kids in the class as well as her teacher.

Her biggest flaw is not wanting to be "told" how to dance. She wants to do what she wants to do.

I consider that a flaw because I am the same way. It's one of those elements of myself I wish were different but darn it, that's really just part of me. Try as I might, that's me. Of course, as an adult I know when to behave and suck it up. But this is dance- if she doesn't enjoy it what's the point?

I'd like to force it, but I know she will just hate it in spite of my efforts.

After a full year of dance she cried and whined and begged me not to put her back in dance. So I had this internal dialog... should I force it on her? Should I let her follow her own path?

Mind you, she was 7 (just turned 8). I never knew a 7 year old that really knew what they wanted. So I considered forcing it. It KILLS me knowing how good she is at it, naturally. How many people are given a true "gift" and just blow it out the window like that? Ugh!

But, in the end I told her she could skip this year but she needed some extracurricular activity this year.

I'm a fan of play time for kids, so both of the kids choose one class each for the school year.

I might go up to two later, but for now 1 is good. They'd both like to play guitar, so maybe next school year for that one.

Anyway...

She chose art. Great! She loves art, really gets into it. Oddly there is a "form" she has to follow every week. This semester was all about space. She's brought home some doozies.

One week she came home covered in charcoal, they drew the milky way and colored it in with charcoal.

Another week she was covered in corn syrup.... The "thing" she made was covered in saran wrap to keep the syrup from sticking to everything. Never mind that it was dripping off the paper! I still don't know what that was supposed to be.

One week she brought home a Moonbuggy they made. Sadly the dog ate that before I could see it/take a picture of it. I did see a wheel that Abby so kindly left for me!

Recently she brought home this little Robot. So far that's been my favorite. It's cute and she only had a little bit of silver paint on her fingers when she got home! :-P

I am sure she'll continue with the art class. It's not exactly what I expected but she enjoys it, which was my goal all along.

~Donna