Mother Bear Syndrome

This week was Allison's last dance class so they put on a little recital for grandparents and anyone else who wanted to see. It was really cute- I got to see it last week since they did this 2 weeks in a row to accomodate families who'd be on spring break this week. My parents took her and videotaped the entire thing, which meant Paul and I got to see it together afterwards. (It's always fun to see what she does when Mom and Dad aren't around.) Allison was hammin' it up, dancing off by herself, wrapping herself in the curtain (even though the teacher kept telling her not to), and smiling gloriously for the camera. She was really into the whole thing, as they did little bits of all the imaginative dances they've done throughout the session. She got better and better at following the teacher's lead and dancing with the girls and it showed.

Now, on to the Mother Bear part: at the end of class the teacher always gives the girls a handstamp and a paper to take home and color. On the videotape we could see Allison waiting patiently for her stamp, she was even in front of most of the other girls. No pushing, no shoving; just waiting. The teacher repeatedly ignored her and gave each and every other little girl their handstamps before doing Allison last. Paul noticed it first and immediately started calling this teacher a bi$#@ to the tv. I slowly realized that it seemed pretty mean spirited shortly thereafter, and I also recall how Allison is usually the last one off the dance floor when I take her. (They have a curtain up so it's hard for parents to see the dance floor from the waiting area. They have a tv screen so you can see them when they're dancing but it's hard to see them during stamp time.) I wonder...did this teacher just not like our little angel? The more I thought about it the more I wanted to call the studio and complain, plus offer evidence of this spiteful behavior to the studio owner. I mean, how DARE she be mean to our girl. What did Allison do to deserve that?

So, this is where I have to stand back and accept that there will probably always be people out there who just don't like my kids, for whatever reason. Sure, she's spirited but she's the most full-of-life 3 year old I know! She does follow directions, even if she sometimes gets into a little mischief. I mean, come on, she's 3! Better not make an a$$ of myself when they probably couldn't care less...they'd probably just have a big laugh on my behalf and they'd toss around the story for ages, like "remember that psycho mom who went off on you?". Anyway, I hope it was just an oversight on her part because it still bothers me a lot.

What would you do?

That's her in the middle...aren't they all so cute?