As a parent it can be hard sometimes to decide what you would like your child to learn outside of school. We try to factor in what would be best for our children and their long-term growth, as well as what they’re particularly interested in (at the moment). Ballet is a holistic approach to life-long wellness for children. Many people choose to put their child in ballet for its physical benefits, such as coordination, balance, and posture, but the benefits go far beyond that.
4 Reasons to Put Your Child in Ballet
One of the best reasons to put your child in ballet is because they love it! However, if your child isn’t sure what they’re passionate about (or if they’re too young to decide between ballet and karate), then parents sometimes have to step in and make the decision. We love ballet for so many reasons, but here are 4 great reasons you should put your child in ballet:
1. Improves Physical Coordination and Posture
The core principles of ballet focus on balance, coordination, strength, and posie. Every exercise that they do in dance teaches them how to strengthen and move their body, which creates a strong and capable dancer. To be able to dance correctly you need good posture and a strong core! This is great for your child’s overall health. Dancing is a set of physical actions – moving different parts of your body in opposing directions, coordinating their movements while simultaneously stretching and controlling their muscles. Ballet will help them to develop coordination, balance, good posture, and more.
2. Strengthens Mental Acuity and Focus
Ballet calls for brain power! While your child is working hard to coordinate their feet to skip, their brains. Your child’s brain is constantly building new neural pathways to make all this happen, which increases neuroplasticity. Neuroplasticity improves learning, memory, and comprehension.
3. Builds Social Skills
When taking ballet classes, your child is around other children socializing. A lot of students will help others learn a step if the teacher is helping someone else. This is great for communication and building confidence while being around others. Listening to one other, accepting someone, creative ideas, and being encouraged to develop their own ideas through movement is a unique part of ballet classes.
4. Instills Confidence
Performing on stage in front of a big audience is no small task. Some kids love entertaining and performing in front of others, while others are more timid and shy. The confidence to overcome those fears is built through practicing ballet and performing in front of others! It is a wonderful experience to see them come in shy and come out strong and confident. Even if the performance is less than perfect, students learn to appreciate their successes and learn from their mistakes.
Final Thoughts
Anything you put your child in can be intimidating and scary for them at first. You can
always have them try a class at Central Utah Ballet to see if this is something that they are interested in doing. Here is a list of our instructors and classes we have. You can give us a call and we can help choose what’s best for your child!