PARENT LIKE A BALLET DANCER

I was reflecting today on parenting and how people will sometimes say to me “you make it look so easy”. Firstly, it certainly is anything but easy! It is the hardest job I have ever had. Secondly, I have an unfair advantage with over a decade of experience and knowledge on child development so you can’t compare yourself to that. Even with that experience I still get things wrong.

However, it got me thinking that parenting is a bit like a ballet performance. From the outside it can look like an effortless, beautiful and entertaining dance.

But people forget all the behind the scenes work. They forget about the hours and hours of training and practice. They don’t know about all the stumbles and falls. They forget that the performance is rehearsed over and over again until it becomes second nature and is memorised. They don’t know that the choreography has to be changed when something doesn’t work out the first time round. They don’t know about the sore feet, bleeding toes and aching muscles.

All they see is the perfectly in sync dancers effortlessly floating across the stage. They forget about all of the hard work and effort behind the performance.

Some ballet dancers have a natural talent and ability while others have to learn how to do it, work harder at it and practice even more. Some dancers have better technique while others have to change and adjust theirs.

This is just like parenting.

Parenting is anything but effortless. You have to put hours, days and years of effort into it. You lose sleep over it and put your blood sweat and tears into it.

For some parents it comes naturally to them. They have the talent, ability and instinct to just know what to do and how to help raise a happy and health human being.

For the rest of us we have to be taught how to parent effectively. We have to learn and practice. We have to stumble and trip, and then pick ourselves up off the ground.

So what I wanted you to know is that it’s OK if you have to learn and practice how to be a better parent. In the end you might just be the star of the show!