To not take DD (3) to ballet

[Littleblueboatsail]

I have a 3 yo and a 1 yo and just returned to work after mat leave. I work full time over 4 days. Whilst on mat leave I took DD to a ballet session which she didn't really enjoy at the time and was the youngest by a fair way so we decided not to go again. But she does remember going and 6 months later has started talking about wanting to do ballet.
The problem is purely time. There is a session I could get her to but it's at 3pm on my one day off a week. My sister is currently on mat leave and lives an hour away, we like to see her and her baby as much as we can. I also have friends with similar aged children that we like to arrange meet ups with plus just the odd day where it's me and the kids to do library/ soft play/ woodland walks etc. committing to ballet every week means all of these things are not impossible but suddenly just a lot more awkward and restricted so my thought is to just wait until DD starts school next September when we will be committed to being bound by school hours anyway and hopefully at that point find an after school ballet class for her.
But am I being selfish and unreasonable in not allowing her to go now when she has a natural interest developing and I absolutely could go, I just don't want to be restricted with our one day off together in the week.
There is a weekend one in the middle of the day on a Saturday but honestly our weekends are always jammed with family and friend commitments as it is that again, that just isn't going to work for us.

She’s 3. I’d def skip it. People on here like to martyr themselves to their kids extra curricular activities. Which is fine if you want to but completely unnecessary at 3. Your kid will be much better off with the variety of things she is doing instead.

Yes, absolutely. Tell her she can start ballet when she starts school. She might have lost interest by then! But if she is still keen, get her the basic kit required (usually a leotard, ankle socks (tights for older girls) and ballet shoes (soft, not toe shoes).

If she goes regularly and enjoys it, you can always get her something pretty later on. From memory of my early years at dance school, there were regular medal tests and you needed a costume (usually a leotard gussied up in some way with sequins and chiffon) but there are plenty of shops that do dance wear and accessories also.

@DisabledDemon did you need to bump a 5 month old zombie thread with nothing new to add?

I honestly didn't notice it was so old so my bad there.

But thank you for your kind response. I'll add it to the trash.

Fuck me, she's three and you are her mum. You decide what she does and what she doesn't do. She really is not missing out on anything by not going to ballet class at three.

Yanbu, my dd did a class at that age and honestly while she enjoyed it, it made zero difference to her learning ballet. The girls who started at 4 and 5 didn't have anything meaningful to "catch up".

It’s not as simple as ‘finding a single hour’ though, is it? If it’s 10-11 for example, then you basically can’t plan anything else for the morning. I would prioritise doing a range of things as you’ve suggested OP, including seeing family etc. Absolutely loads of time for organised classes when she’s a little older.

Oh just seen it’s a zombie 🙄

Don't worry - hang around long enough and you too will be chastised!

Family life should be priority not money / time consuming unnecessary activities.

Your one day a week off work would still have all day until around 2pm and then 4pm until supper.

Isn't that enough to see family and friends. You mention you see family and friends all weekend too

Ok. The. Don't go. Why start a thread ?