ballet dad blog
  • Home
  • The Blog
  • Contact
  • subscribe

Blog Forty-One

10/7/2015

0 Comments

 
A Change in Direction

The blog is being redesigned. There are two reasons for this.

The first is that the readers deserve better. When I started doing it, I imagined only a handful of readers, and so I took a picture of some old ballet shoes on our kitchen table and stuck it through a photo-shop app. Coincidentally, there was a bit of red paint on the table. I liked this fortunate bit of synchronicity. The paint was near the big toe of one of the shoes. You might mistakenly have assumed that it was blood - appropriate for the struggle that we were all experiencing. As the readership has grown, I feel that I should now put some more thought into how I present the stories. I'd like to appear a little more professional; and a little less home-made. So, I've made a new 'banner', I'm adding some new features and I'm redesigned the site. This is my renewed commitment to the blog.

The second reason for a change of direction concerns our son's transformation while this academic year gets underway. It is a completely different experience for all of us. His activities at the school appear to be giving him such a sense of satisfaction. The ballet has become even more challenging - even more is required of them. He has some new teachers - some are new to the school, and others are just new to him. These teachers have given him a renewed enthusiasm for school. He also seems to have settled down with the other children. He seems to have found his place. In terms of the academic tasks and the ballet challenges, he is thoroughly enjoying himself. At the moment his school life has the idyllic texture of an Edwardian children's story. I am genuinely happy for him, but I've always hated the Edwardians - patriarchal and repressed.

Where, then, does this leave me? I have become lost in my own story. The narrative of my own blog has abandoned me. This is the story of a son ripped away from the heart of his family, and the father's attempt to reconcile what it happening. It is a story of loss, incomprehension and unnecessary pain. Or at least it was. Now it is the story of a child who has found a path in life that he enjoys. He understands that this path involves living away from home during the week. He is dropped off every Monday full of excitement and anticipation. Who would begrudge this for their child? Surely it is what every parent wishes.

I have to seriously rethink my part in the story.

So the blog needs to be redesigned.

0 Comments

    Anonymous

    Archives

    August 2020
    January 2020
    March 2018
    October 2017
    September 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    May 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015

    RSS Feed

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

    Categories

    All
    A Letter
    Alzheimer's
    Anonymity
    Autonomy
    Away From Home
    Birthday
    Blessings
    Camaraderie
    Changing Rooms
    Cheap Seats
    Choice
    Christmas
    Comedy
    Competition
    Confession
    Cruelty
    Daily Contact
    Denial
    Departure
    Dilemma
    Diversity
    Dreams
    Education
    Election
    Elitism
    English National Ballet
    Exit Stage Left
    Expensive Seats
    Father And Sons
    Fatherhood
    #firstworldproblems
    Fitness
    Frankenstein
    Freedom
    Freud
    Guidelines
    Half Term
    Half-term
    Harry Potter
    Hogwarts
    Holidays
    Homecoming
    Ice-cream
    Idealism
    Incarceration
    Independence
    Learning
    Liam Scarlett
    Lies
    Loving Too Much
    Midlife Crisis
    Money
    New Beginnings
    Nutcracker
    Obsession
    Parents
    Perfection
    Presents
    Reactions
    Rebellion
    Responses
    Ricky Jay
    ROH
    Royal Ballet Company
    Royal Opera House
    Rules
    Rumpelstiltskin
    Safeguarding
    School
    Siblings
    Silence
    Sister
    Snobbery
    Steven McRae
    Strangers
    Sugar Plum Fairy
    Swan Lake
    Swans
    Swimming
    Tamara Rojo
    Teaching
    The Golden Rule
    The Price
    Thomas Whitehead
    Time Passing
    Truth
    Uncertainty
    Vampire Bats
    Victory
    Vocational Training
    Widening Participation
    Work

  • Home
  • The Blog
  • Contact
  • subscribe