Did your daughter come to you and say that they want to quit dance? Maybe this was their favorite activity and one they have been committed to for years, and suddenly they want to stop. It can be very concerning when your child decides to quit an activity that seems core to their identity. Dance for many girls is an essential part of their physical and social health, but; there could be many reasons aside from the dance itself that influence your daughter’s desire to quit.
If your daughter wants to quit dance, it is crucial to get to the root of the issue and determine what is causing your dancer to throw in the towel. Often there are many other reasons for wanting to quit than simply not liking dance anymore. Burnt out, stress and many other things could be causing your daughter to want to quit, and there is likely a solution that does not result in leaving dance for good.
Extracurriculars such as dance have many positive benefits for children’s lives. They help to build confidence, discipline, and social skills. Youth who participate in dance are also more likely to get good grades in comparison to their peers who do not participate in any activities.
To help your daughter stay in dance, it is vital to address all the possible reasons that could be affecting the decision to quit. Burn out from too many activities, stress, new interests, being overstretched, or an incident occurring at dance could all make your daughter want to quit dance.
Burn out
Athletic burnout occurs when an athlete experiences physical and emotional drain as well as decreased athletic accomplishment and desire to participate in the activity. For a dancer, this could mean that they are not performing and are unexcited to go to dance. It would also cause a dancer to be exhausted from overtraining or competitions.
Burn happens to many young people in strenuous activities. Possible signs your daughter is experiencing dance burnout are not wanting to go to dance, acting more tired than usual, acting more mentally drained than usual, or performing at a lower standard than your daughter typically world.
There are ways that you can address burnout that does not result in your daughter quitting dance altogether. The first would be taking some time off of dance. Even just a few days of rest could give your daughter the break she needs to love dance again.
The second thing you could do to address burnout would be to reduce the amount of dance your daughter is doing. This could mean practicing four days a week instead of five or doing 1-hour practices instead of 2. Less dance for a short amount of time is an excellent solution to burnout.
Incident at dance
In addition to burnout, there could be other reasons that your daughter wants to quit dance. One of them is that an incident happened at dance practice that you’re your daughter did not like. To find out if this is the issue, you will have to ask more questions from your daughter and her dance teacher. Perhaps an incident happened with the teacher herself. Maybe your daughter got yelled at by the dance, or the teacher made them cry.
If you talk to your daughter or her dance teacher and discover that this is the option, you should have a conversation with your daughter and her teacher to discuss the incident and move forward. Perhaps talking to your daughter about how to handle constructive criticism while also talking to the dance teacher about expectations could help make your daughter feel more comfortable in dance.
Another explanation for your daughter’s desire to quit dance is that she got passed up for a position or solo in a competition. Missing out on a good role may explain your daughter’s desire to quit dance if her feelings are hurt or if she is jealous of another team member. If your daughter is experiencing these issues, the best solution would be to have a conversation about how she can work harder to get the next role.
Instead of feeling defeated, she will feel motivated to work harder. Your daughter is likely feeling frustrated by missing out on a solo or feature opportunity. It will be worthwhile to encourage her to discuss why she did not get the role with her dance teacher to find out what she needs to work on and how she can do better next time.
Overstretched
Stress can play a prominent role in your daughter’s motivation to continue with dance. If your daughter struggles in other areas such as school, family, or friends, she might be overstretched. Busy schedules can contribute to a lot of stress and can also cause a lack of sleep or leisure time. It is essential to check in with your daughter to find out what activities or commitments might be keeping her from wanting to participate in dance.
Your daughter may be feeling like she is missing out on valuable time with her friends due to dance practices. If this is the case, a solution is to schedule time on the weekends or other non-dance days to spend time with her friends. The same issue could be occurring for time for homework or spending time with family, and this could need a reexamination of the current schedule to see how you can adjust it to fit your daughter’s needs better.
Everyone needs time to relax, get homework done and spend time with friends and family, and it is essential to include your daughter in decisions about how her time is spent. Additional activities such as music lessons or another sport could also be contributing to this strain.
If your daughter is in multiple activities, it is worth spending time talking to your daughter about what activities they genuinely want to participate in and which ones are just causing extra stress. If you address these concerns and include your daughter in the conversation, she will be more likely to feel more relaxed and will have more desire to continue with dance.
New interest
Your daughter’s desire to quit dance may have nothing to do with dance itself and instead has to do with a new interest or the desire to do a new activity. As children grow and change, so do their interests. Your daughter might want to do a new sport with her friends or do to changing interests.
In order to find out if your daughter wants to quit dance because she wants to do a new activity, you should have a conversation with her to find out what new activity she is interested in and why. If she wants to do a different sport, it would be worthwhile to first remind her of her commitment to dance and then ask her why she wants to switch to a new activity. The discussion should include time commitments to different activities and what she might be missing out on if she decides to quit dance now.
Your daughter’s commitment to dance could be influenced by many other things happening in her life. Too many dance practices, competitions, or recitals could be contributing to burnout. In this case, the best avenue is to take a small break from dance or reduce the number of dance practices throughout the week for a short amount of time to give your daughter time to rest and recoup. Suppose your daughter is interested in other activities.
In that case, you should have a conversation about commitment to dance and discuss thoroughly the other activities she is interested in to decide on the right path. In the same vein, if your daughter participates in too many activities, they could feel overly stressed and do not feel like they have enough free time. In this instance, you should include your daughter in scheduling out time to rest, spend time with friends and family and get homework done, so she does not feel overwhelmed with dance. If your daughter wants to quit dance due to an incident with her dance teacher or another incident at dance, it is important to address the issue and find the best possible solutions.
Managing constructive criticisms, jealousy, and what your daughter can work on at dance will be necessary for this conversation. Your daughter may say she wants to quit dance but, in truth, is feeling hurt, jealous, tired, or stressed out due to life circumstances on top of what is going on in her life. It is necessary to find out what the true motivation is of wanting to quit dance and work with your daughter to address these issues in order to continue with dance .