Way back in January, I signed Abby up for a dance class. It met on Tuesday mornings, which matched well with her M-W-F preschool schedule.  She had been asking to do something, but I was reluctant, because, well, "Third Child Syndrome."  Money, time, quality of programming, money, time, sigh.
The morning of her first class, I captured the photo above and felt like the worst Mom ever that I hadn't had her in class sooner - look at the joy in that face!

She LOVED her class. 6 little girls and Miss Amy, the very patient teacher. Rarely did all 6 girls show up on the same day, so Abby always got a lot of attention.  One of the reasons I agreed to join this studio, was that their end of year recital was optional. However, joining in January gave me only 3 weeks to decide if we wanted to do the recital.

Knowing that at Abby's level, her dance would be very basic, and knowing that to buy her costume (which I found ugly) would be around $60-75, and knowing that to buy the tickets for our family (not grandparents, just family) would be $40, and knowing that I had no intention of putting a full face of make-up on her, and styling her hair - - it seemed an easy decision to say, "No Thanks" to the recital.

But, seeing her face crumble on the day the costumes were delivered and handed to each girl who WOULD be in the recital? And having to answer her pathetic, "Why can't I go on the big stage, too Mommy?" every week?  That killed me. She fully understood that she was 'missing out' on something other girls were doing, and it was very hard, for both of us.

At the end of April, they had a parent observation class when we could come in and watch their whole class. (Otherwise it was looking through special "windows" from out in the hallway)  Other than the recital it was the only time to see their routine. (I did sneak a video on the last day, but it wasn't very good quality, from outside the classroom.)

Seeing the performance took away some of the burden of being the 'Meanest Mom in Franklin' because I know I made the right choice to NOT be in the recital.

And I've already signed her up for GYMNASTICS for next year. She can go at the same time as Katherine, we get a family discount, and there is NO RECITAL! Just a welcome mat to watch whenever we want, and a final performance in June - during class time!