A dream is a wish your heart makes when you are fast asleep. Growing up you had big dreams
for yourself. You were going to get into the best college, make a million dollars, and then travel
the world. You would want to see all the sporting events for your favorite teams. Going to every
stadium for that particular sport is something you would like to do. You wanted to be able focus
solely on your dreams, aspirations, and make sure that nothing would keep you from obtaining
those dreams. You were supported, educated, and mentored to achieve everything you wanted
to. Things will never be the same.

Somewhere in that journey you decide to have kids and everything changes. Your dreams are
promptly given a back seat. You can no longer justify going to sporting events. The $100 plus
tickets per person are now justified as diapers, formula, and food for the family. The
refreshments at the game would cost well over $200. That is now justified as tuition, dance
class money or money for a family night out. The things you want/wanted to do are less of a
priority and making sure that your kids’ dreams are being achieved is what becomes really
important.

How do you ever tell your kid no you can not follow your dream. If the kid dreams of being an
artist you buy supplies, drawing books, paints, canvases. If they are a dancer you purchase the
many shoes,bags,the many costumes,make up and everything else that entails. You don’t want
to. It costs a fortune. You can never say no though. You are responsible for helping build those
dreams. Helping them understand that 1,000 hours of practice at one specific thing will make
you good. 10,000 hours of practice at the same thing will make you great. Going to every recital,
practice, competition and seeing the same thing over and over again can be redundant. You do
it because you love them. You encourage them to be the best person they can be. You help
them understand that the passion they feel for this one thing can be manifested to all things in
life. Then magically it happens. From the beginning of the season until the end of the season
you see their skill level increase. They are now performing things that at the beginning of the
season they would not have even thought possible. You see the face of exhaustion at the end of
the day but you also see smiles. You see determination in the way they face each task. Learning
a routine at the beginning of the year is filled with mistakes. At the end of the year they can
perform it blindfolded and still know how to execute it.

Watching, encouraging, helping, educating a child on how to make their dreams come true is
fun. It may not be your dream but it is theirs. It is something they feel so passionate about. They
care so deeply about it. They eat, live, sleep these dreams. They feel it in their heart and they
pour it into the practices, performances, and routines they put on for you. Their dreams become
your dreams.
Wow what a ride it starts out being and then things change and you wouldn’t have it any other.