Proud father

Yesterday I attended my 4 year old daughter's first dance recital. 150 of us were squeezed in a small auditorium for this prestigious event. She attends dance class on Tuesday after school. It has become a highlight of her week, even though she first balked at attending it. She even hesitated several weeks ago at participating in this performance. But her aunt Nathalie and my wife worked to sew sequins and a belt on her outfit, so that she looked like a princess on the film Aladdin. This did the trick to motivate her to want to be in the show.

Before the show, my wife curled her hair, put some makeup on her, and painted her fingernails and toenails. I already can imagine my daughters doing this as teens.

Her group was the first act in the show. She looked very calm on the stage and even looked like she enjoyed herself. When I asked her afterwards if she was nervous, she said no. She danced very well to the song from the Aladdin film.

I'm new to the world of dance and dance shows. But it is something that she loves...and my younger daughter will probably love too. So we'll have to do a ballet sometime.

There were a lot of girls at their school who were in the performance. It's a good networking activity for the kids, as well as for their parents.

Unlike her older and younger siblings, my 4 year old is shy and sometimes afraid to try new things. Dance is a way that she can come out of herself and express herself. I hope that she can also use it as a way of worshiping God. Some churches can handle this and some can't.

We plan on visiting a new church in Paris this morning. For our kids' spiritual and social development, we are looking at some other options. While we as parents have the primary responsibility to oversee this area, we need help from the local church. Children have an openness to spiritual things that often isn't there afterwards. We don't want to waste this opportunity in the lives of our kids.

Yesterday afternoon our son went over to the home of one of his classmates for a couple of hours. We've had her over many times, so it was good that he could go to her place for the first time.

I'm reflecting on ways to help each of my kids develop in areas that they need special attention on. In this way, parenting is hard and time-consuming work. Some of it is natural and flows easily. But other areas require intentional effort that goes against my and my kids' natural flow.