Do you know how your child develops from ages 0-5? Do you know what you can do to enhance their development and give them the best start at life?

We’ve heard the saying, ‘a child’s brain is like a sponge’ - they absorb everything! That’s because it’s true. A child’s brain develops the most when they are under five years of age than at any other time in their life. Isn’t that amazing? That’s why these formative years are so important for our child’s development.

Raising children is hard. We all know this. There’s no handbook to tell us exactly what we should do and when – because every child, every parent, every circumstance and every situation is different right? YES! There are no exact right and wrongs when it comes to this art and parents all over the world debate consistently on this view and that view – sometimes polar opposites but both claiming to be right within their own right. Then there are parents who, no matter how hard they try to instil positive values and beliefs within their children, are ignored and sometimes even pushed out of spite from their children’s oppositional behaviour. That coupled with social pressures, societal expectations, relentless media influence and social media – how do we stand a chance?

When we first enrolled Elleigh into UDC she had no experience with dance. Her very first end of year concert was super cute. She is now in the under 6’s Performance Team and has a beautiful group of friends. I am amazed at the level of dancing she is at now in only two short years. Her exam results say it all!! I have seen her confidence grow not only in dancing but at school as well. I am very excited to see what another year brings.

This topic would be by far the most important thing you learn that will, quite certainly, set you up for life. There are some fundamental principles that we will discuss that are transferable in whatever lifestyle you choose or wherever you find yourself over the coming years. But right now is crucial – right now is where you really need this information – and right now you can change the quality of your life whilst continuing everything that you currently do! It is not a coincidence that you are reading this NOW.

A failure to plan – is a plan to fail.

It takes a certain kind of person to go on this journey. Someone who is committed to excelling in every aspect of their life and has that drive and passion. This is something that can’t be taught – it’s embedded inside of us. And most dancers have this. Especially if you are still dancing at a senior level. Sometimes this ‘overdrive’ can cause a disconnect between teens and their parents as they find it hard to see you stressed and going through the pressure of life at such a young age. They may even tell you that you need to stop or slow down – and in some cases they are right! For sure! Your health and well being is of utmost importance. But what if there was a way to still be able to do all that you do – working smarter not harder – and basically take your stress levels from 100 to 30?

By having a clear plan for how you manage you life – you are eliminating stress in huge amounts. This is because you KNOW that you have TIME to get everything done. You don’t have to worry about when you are going to complete that assignment, because the time you require has already been scheduled. You don’t have to feel down about not having ‘me’ time, or ‘family’ time, or any down time at all – because you have already scheduled it. There is something rather freeing about being rigid with your time. Sometimes people look at this process and feel stressed and think that this would increase anxiety levels – but it does the complete opposite. You relax – knowing that you have everything under control. You can rest in the fact that your timetable has set you free.

One of the beautiful Mum’s from the studio reminded me of this email I sent when my Arielle was heading off to Prep. This information is so relevant to you, because I know that some of you are now going through the same thing I did only two years ago… The last thing we want to do as parents is overwhelm our children by having them in an extra curricular activity when they have just committed to 5 full days of school.

I was quite curious to think what a person (who doesn’t have a dance background) would believe is the ‘best’ age to start dance classes for their child.

So I googled it…. and to my surprise, Google’s most popular answer was between the ages of 7-9 years old [insert all dance teacher’s SHOCK horror!]