No Dancing please......

In a move sure to delight his Bapa, J has decided that a future in dancing is not for him and yet it all started off so well a few weeks ago.

Last Monday I received a call from the school, it was the third week of lessons and the school were phoning to say that J did not want to join in the dancing and just wanted to go home. I collected J and asked him about the dancing,

"Why" I asked "don't you want to do the class anymore"? 

J just shrugged and mumbled something about "being too tired".

Further questions and discussions were ignored or answered with short replies  - he was "too tired" it was "silly" and "I don't want to do it any more".

Oh good - so glad I struggled to pay that £20 for the sessions...... not a huge amount I know but by the time I have paid £40 for school dinners and a further £18 in Breakfast club fees for the days I work and the £5 snack money due and the money for anything else they spring on me it doesn't leave much.

A little while later it occured to me that I had forgotten to give J a bottle of water for the class and I had a bit of a lightbulb moment. "J, did you want to come home because you didn't have a bottle of water". J looked at me and nodded. "So if you have a bottle of water you will want to go next week" I asked. J nodded again and so on Monday I made sure he had a bottle of water and arranged that he would be collected at 4pm after the dance class.

At 3.25pm my Mum phoned to say she had just had the school on the phone and "could we go and collect J as he didn't want to do the dancing and was being disruptive". The person added rather unneccessarily "and he didn't want to do it last week either". A shame I didn't get the call because I know he didn't want to do it last week either. I just thought that was because he had no water and this week he does have water and so I wanted to see if that made a difference - evidently it did not.

So - we tried and it's the first after school activity he has done so maybe I was expecting too much but I thought the sensory seeking bit of him would love the dance movement along with the other boys there but it has not been the case.

Now - do I shell out £35 for the football coaching after school on a Thursday which J also wants to attend? Or will that go the same way? Not that I can afford this yet anyway but by the summer term I will have it

J struggles to listen though and it will only take one sharp comment for him to feel silly and not want to go again. He did seem to be enjoying the dancing so I do wonder if someone has said something - a comment or a criticism to make him feel he can't do it. Either that or he takes after his Aunty M who as a child joined everything just long enough to get the uniform and then left!