4 years old and hating ballet classes...help!!

[LuLu15]

My dd will be 4 next month. For the past 2 weeks I've taken her to a ballet class for pre-primary children on a Saturday morning and she either clings to me screaming or cries all the way through the class and today we had to leave early because she was obviously too distressed to carry on. I feel both cruel for 'making' her do something she doesn't want to do and disappointed that she won't give it a go at least. Do I carry on making her go and hope she gets over it or wait till she's older? I feel like I've let her down by not helping her get over this better

does she hate tha class or hate leaving you?

ypu havent let her down!

Wait till she's older.

wait until she's older, there is plenty of time

Stop the classes FFS! Why on earth should she have to do something uncecessary that she doesn't like? If she wants ballet lessons when she's older, let her ask for them: if you want her to be more active, find something else to do with her that she actually enjoys. There is no good reason to force a child to do bloody ballet at the age of 4 when the child doesn't want to do it.

Stop them then - there is no rule in life saying 'thou shalt go to ballet, like it or not!'

mine did ballet from an early age.

Dont go back leave it a few months she may well ask to go dancing again when she is ready one of mine did.

Do you sit in the room while the class is held?

dd1 did this. we lasted one taster session and said never again.

she is now 8 and wants to do gym and modern dance.

Just don't take her. She is not even 4 yet!!! .
Some children love it and are ready for it. Others obviously aren't.
You are being a pushy parent.

Why would you feel like she has to give ballet a go??

Stop taking her if she doesn't want to go.

am confused

aside from the classes, does she want to do ballet?

If she is too distressed to carry on, I think you have our answer really!

even if she wants to do balet, this class clearly doesn't work for her

she is very young, only 3.

You could wait until she asks to do something?

My dd1 and i went to belly dancing which she loved but we stopped going cos it was a 7pm till 8pm class. She was only 3.5 at the time.

Sounds like she is just not ready.

Doesn't mean she won't be in a few months or so or even next year.

But she might not ever be ready.

One sure way of putting her off ballet is to make her go when she's so clearly telling you she doesn't want to.

3 years old and you are asking this??

She is not old enough for them then. Let her stop. She is very little for organised activities.

Daughter of (very musical) friends of ours used to hide under the piano at her Suzuki violin class when aged 3. At 17 she was good enough on the horn to be accepted at Music College. Refusal at this age don't mean anything. Just let her be with her dolls' house and potting compost for a while.

I agree with everyone else - if she hates it, why force her? She's not even four yet!

I got put off ballet (and anything pink!) from being made to go to lessons. My opinion is don't force her to go. If she decides to try again later on then take her. I do now enjoy going to the ballet sometimes, but it's taken time. (I still hate anything pink, though!)

Quite a few of the girls in my DD's class (also pre-school age) also seem to hate it - cryng, reluctant to go in. I always wonder why their parents bother making them go. It seems so pointless paying for something that they hate. Try again in a couple of years if you're really desperate she does it!

I really don't get why anyone would force a toddler to go to fucking ballet. OP are you a thwarted ballerina or something? Even if you are, your DD is not you and doesn't have to do things just because you wanted to do them when you are little.

I personally think that ballet is bordering on child abuse at any age, with its emphasis on moulding the body to fit the discipline, the obsession with a sylph-like shape, and the sheer likelihood of injury or deformation (I'm thinking of the damage caused to feet from doing points). A friend who went to Emlhurst Ballet school says they sent the girls off to WW if they reached 8 stone, and many girls were bulimic/ anorexic/ ate inappropriate things such as toilet paper, thereby wrecking their gut for ever. I dislike the whole obsessive nature of the discipline. Have always banned my children from it. I'm sue the pink tutu and crossover cardies are a real pull for little girls.

Having said that, my friends' son has been going to ballet for years and loves it and is pretty good (he's now 14)

dd desperately wanted to do ballet at 3 , but did the same and I decided it just wasn't worth the angst. When she started again at 4, once at school, she enjoyed it and is about to do her 2nd exam aged 6.

yes, I don't mean this in a nasty way or anything but it is very possible to learn ballet as an adult

if you do really want her to do it, I'd take her to a few kiddie ballet things (angelina is doing the rounds atm-ds who is 4 loved it) and maybe do a class yourself to show her its fun, iyswim.

I do tend to agree with duchesse but have a ballet mad 4 yo boy and am a bit uncertain as to what to do really-if possible I don;t want to get him doing lessons and am hoping this enthusiasm will go away really (bloody angelina )

Wait until she is older. She is still only 3 plenty of time to do xlasses just let her play.