'Dance Moms' gets another turn

'Dance Moms' gets another turn

One mom forces her daughter to dance through a painful injury. Another mom brings her daughter to the dance studio at 7 a.m. and doesn't let her leave until 11 p.m. Then there's the competition where they tart all their 8-year-olds up like Vegas showgirls and then get all faux-concerned when the crowd is horrified when the second-graders do stripper squats with their legs open. The moms backstab, the teacher is certifiable and the kids are so so cute. Another day, just another trashy reality TV show, right?

I watch Lifetime's new series Dance Moms for the same reason I watch Teen Mom: Because they never fail to make me feel like the world's best parent. But it's really the superiority complex that keeps me coming back. Until this morning, that is.

A fellow mom friend and I were chuckling in horror over these obviously sad and desperate women trying to live out their dreams through their babies. And then she turned to me and asked, unironically, "So have you convinced your oldest to switch schools yet?"
See, I put my son's name on the waiting list for this supposedly amazing charter school in our public school district when he was a mere toddler. Every year we crossed our fingers and waited for that letter. It never came. Until this year when miraculously all my kids got in!
I didn't even ask them before signing the papers. This was for their own good! It would help them later in life! Chinese is going to be essential in the new business economy, everyone says so! But my eldest is in 4th grade and doesn't want to leave the school, teachers and friends he's become so close to. Of course the decision is more complicated than this and what we ultimately decide will not be based on just his or my limited views but it made me realize that maybe it's not dance but I definitely do have dreams for my kids. Big dreams. Dreams that I feel like I need to push them to achieve. Dreams that will make them happy and healthy and wise! Maybe!