Children have crazy, out of reach dreams. Some kids tell their parents they want to be a performer when they get older. A performer. Can you believe it? Some kids actually tell their parents they want to sing, dance, and/or act as a job someday when they grow up. That's crazy, right? How could a parent ever let their little bundle of joy pursue a dream in the performing arts? However, several parents, like my own, take their child to their very first audition at a young age and boom, the child is hooked. Devastating, really. The arts may teach your children important lessons and have them develop traits that could be "very harmful" to their development. Here are a few reasons you should not let your child of any age pursue the fine arts.
1. They Will Gain Confidence
Studies show that children who are involved with the fine arts may gain confidence in themselves and their abilities. Having self-confidence may result in your child being able to build and grow better and healthy relationships with their peers and family member. Having a child with confidence may result in them being better in school and at a professional workplace later in life. It will teach them how to handle themselves properly and help decrease the chance of depression later in life.
2. They Will Learn How To Work With Others
Someone once told me, "The most important person on stage is the one right next to you." Kids who are taught this through performing arts will learn that they are not the only ones who are important in the world, but everyone they meet has a purpose and an importance to someone's life. A child who participates in a fine art will learn the value of teamwork and responsibility. They will be taught that working with a group of people is important which may lead to them doing better in a formal work environment.
3. They Will Be Humble
A child who takes part in a fine art like theater or dance will be criticized. The older the child gets, the more critiques they will be given in order to improve. When a child is critiqued, they realize they may not be the absolute best. They will watch older performers who have had more training than them, resulting in a better performance, and they will be humbled. When the child grows older and has developed their skills, they will not be egotistical, but humble and appreciative.
4. They Will Learn Basic S.T.E.M. And Core Class Skills
Being part of fine arts could educate children on skills such as English and basic math. Being in theater requires actors to read and analyze a script in order to properly portray a show, helping them gain and grow their reading skills and understand literature better. Sometimes the cast is asked to help build parts of the set once they are old enough. Taking part of constructing and putting together a set teaches basic mathematical skills and common life skills any person should know how to do. If your child decides to participate in a dance class or group, math, science, and special awareness are skills they will learn. Basic math skills will be taught to young dancers to help count the music beats. As children get older, they learn how their bodies work and how much force is needed to make a human body do specific moves. When dancing in a group, each dancer must be aware of how much space they have around them to work with so they do not hit a fellow dancer in the middle of a dance.
5. They Will Be Accepting
When someone works in the performing arts, they are surrounded by so many different people from many different backgrounds and ethnic groups. A child who is exposed to these different people and cultures will learn to be accepting of others and to not judge or discriminate. Performing arts open many doors for young children to learn about the other types of people in world not only through the different cast members they will meet, but from the content of the shows they may be apart of.
6. Free Therapy
The biggest reason to not let your child pursue the arts is that it could be a "safe place" for them. Kids, especially when they get older and become teenagers, start to deal with a lot of stress that can cause a person to develop serious health issues both mentally and physically. The arts provide kids with a free and open space for them to let loose and have fun. Within a cast or dance group, kids make friends, sometimes the best friends they have ever had. They get a chance to escape reality for a few hours with some of the best people they have met and just forget about the world and their problems for a while. This can be very therapeutic. The arts can teach young people coping skills and ways to deal with stress and pain.
So, why would any parent let their child pursue the arts? It would obviously harm their developmental growth and hold them back from achieving their greatest potential. Who knows, they could even learn how to be a decent human being.
