I’m sure you’re asking yourself why little girls dancing would get me in such a foul mood. It’s not the girls. It’s the parents. This is Avery’s community “ballet” class. And I use ballet in the loosest sense of the word because this is not anything resembling ballet. Last year she took ballet with an actual dance instructor at a real dance school. What she got there was great physical activity, increasing her coordination, flexibility and discipline. What she gets here? Two teenagers who have no control over a room full of little girls and a completely unprofessional environment with very little real curriculum.

Now I’m not a snob. I have no problem with inexpensive “dance classes” for little kids in a school gym. But I am really annoyed that they called it ballet and yet had no required footwear or clothing. You’d think they would expect the kids to wear real ballet shoes, at least. They were told to wear “non-slip” shoes or bare feet. Well it seems that every other mother interpreted that as “As long as your daughter looks cute, she’s good to go.” In the picture on the left you can see four pairs of feet (the second from the left is Avery, in real ballet slippers) and the other three are wear some sort of faux ballet shoe that are made of fabric and are slippery on the bottom! I know some parents would complain that it is too elitist and discriminatory to expect people to shell out the cash for a pair of real ballet slippers. And I might agree if every single kid in the freaking class wasn’t wearing a $20 princess/fairy costume. Many of them wear wings! To a dance class! I’m just so annoyed with the whole thing. I’m annoyed that the parents are treating it like a fashion show, rather than respecting the actual art and dressing their kids appropriately, even if it is a low-key community class. You’d think the class right after Avery’s would be dressed more appropriately because it is slightly older kids. But no. There are even more fairy wings and crowns. They might as well call it “Dress-up like a Fairy Princess Night”.

Oh and the other thing that is pissing me off? Parents who smoke while walking their kid to school. If you are walking your kid to school, presumably you are going to walk home alone. Couldn’t you char your lungs on the walk home instead of exposing your child to your cancer sticks on the way? Only slightly less repulsive are the parents who light up the second they walk out of the school doors after dropping off their kid at school. Apparently the 50 feet to the edge of the school grounds is way too far to wait to enjoy your nicotine fix. No point in trying to protect the young ‘uns from your habit. Start ‘em early. That’s what I always say.

Yeah. I’m feeling bitchy tonight. Sorry.