How many times a day do you tell yourself you can’t do something? I, for one, am guilty of this. I can’t, I can’t, I can’t, has become my twisted mantra.
Well, turns out 10 year olds do the same thing. The saddest part is that there is no denying the can, they just need a little faith in themselves.
One of the goals of D.A.N.S.E is to boost the confidence of some pretty amazing children. Sure, they are very vocal and outgoing, but, they are also in that “tween” stage. Remember that age? It was like the whole world was watching you, just waiting for you to mess up. The truth is everybody is more preoccupied with worrying about themselves to care about what you did wrong or if you look bad that day.
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Unfortunately some other “tweener’s” make it impossible for their peers to learn this because they make it a habit of pointing out others flaws so they can forget about their own insecurities. There has been drama like this at the camp, especially today. But, this is expected. It’s kids being kids, humans being humans, no matter how unfortunate that may be.
The taunting and “drama” was easy to deal with, the hardest thing to confront the girls about was their lack of faith in themselves.
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By some heavenly act, today’s teachers were all about showing the campers their true potential. Pete Rizzi took the girls out of their comfort zones with break dancing. They were not scared of failing because he let the girls do moves they knew how to do and then brought a professional twist. They were encouraged about their abilities and therefore eager to learn how to do even cooler tricks.
Afterword, Janet Rosen brought drums to the studio. Drumming at any age is fun and these girls ate it up, almost as quickly as the New Canaan Diner chicken nuggets and French Fries that were donated for lunch today.
David Gomez continued the make-your-own-music trend, this time through song. There was not a shy girl in the house, as they all belted lyrics and followed melodies.
My favorite part of the day was Kiwanis park. We swam and played for a long time, thankfully beating the thunder.
