If there was just some way to get the parents to read this with out hearing them complain because were complaining about them.. lol YEAH RIGHT!!

Everyone seems to be having the same problem. Lack of commitment and effort from parents and kids. Also lack of commitment from other teachers and so forth in your own studio.

I will agree that the summer months take the biggest toll on us (teachers/owners). We have a lot of students that drop out over the summer for other sports or just because the parents dont want to mess with doing anything over the summer (lazy). Then when fall rolls around we see an increase in kids in classes. Then we face the problem of all our kids that were here during the summer are at a much higher level then the kids that just came back. Same thing year after year and yet we still explain to the parents they need to come to class during the summer to stay at the same level as the rest. (like talking to a brick wall)

My new thoughts... and I tried this last night. Enough with the nice teacher, time to get down and ugly. Once again referring to my comp class, they have jazz for an hour then a 45 min break then acro for an hour. In between classes they all ate arbys. So I calmly walk up front look at all the girls and proceed to tell them "If i hear 1 person complain about their stomache hurting, heads hurting, or they are going to get sick, NO ONE will be eating between classes. You will have to eat before your first class or after your last class!!" They all started to say well.. and I quickly shut them up and told them I was serious and walked away. Didnt leave room for the but, well, why, but, stuff. Class was a different story. We went over and over and over and over and over and over the dance. Lets just say the girls went home with an attitude, and wore out, and I went home HAPPY! I felt like I finally accomplished something, like we actually made progress, like that all actually learned something.

So sticking to your guns and becoming the "Mean horrible teacher that never lets us rest" is well worth it to me to produce a winning team and wonderful students.