Well, maybe the kids are starting to listen... I (Heather/Erica) have been telling them that they have to come to practice if they want to dance in the final performance. Makes sense to me. With 22 kids in the dances, they have never all come at one time, and they have never all come ON time.
This morning Michael and I had an interesting visit from the parents of two sisters on the dance team. They came over to our house, sat down to chat with us, and finally told us the reason for their visit: their family had an activity during the time of our next dance practice. They had come to ask permission for the girls to miss one practice! In fact, the parents said that if I required it, they would send the girls to practice instead of the family get-together. These are girls that haven't missed a single practice so far and always come on time.
Wow. That is very unusual here. Several of my dancers actually come without the support of their parents. Not that they don't want their kids to come, they just don't care what they do. So I am impressed that the kids keep track of the schedule themselves.
I felt bad for scaring these two sisters, but I was glad they wanted to dance! I reassured the parents (who are actually leaders in our church) that it would be fine for the girls to miss a practice!