Music Class Dropout

When I was a toddling young lass, I was apparently a terror who pinched strangers at random. It wasn't an indiscriminate pinching problem, however, in that I was specific in targeting certain people. My victims were all apparently morbidly obese and/or ugly (to me, at any rate); at least, this is what my 2 year-old self told my mortified parents when they interrogated me afterwards. The reason why I pinched them was that I didn't like the way they looked.

I recount this story not to glorify judging people by their covers (which I don't agree with now) or pinching (also a no-no), but to say that Little L may come by this trait honestly. She likes who she likes, and she dislikes some people. Intensely.

One of these people happens to be her music class teacher, who also happens to be a very hefty lady who doesn't fit the general definition of attractive. Little L doesn't like her at all. In fact, she starts fussing the moment she realizes this woman is in the room, and continues fussing throughout the class until it ends.

Now, bear in mind that Little L is usually pretty well-behaved. Sassy, yes. Loud, also yes. But she does well on airplanes and anywhere else so long as I am there. And I am always with her during the class.

She enters the room happy, until she sees or hears the teacher. The shift from joyful to miserable is instantaneous. Then Little L fusses, whines and cries for the entirety of the 30 minutes. Today, in a class with 10 kids aged 1-2 years old, only one was crying. My little girl.

So now that this has occurred twice, I'm starting to think my theory about Little L hating the teacher is correct. She loves listening to music, singing and dancing. She enjoys playing with her various instruments. And she enjoys being with other little kids, after a brief warm-up period. She gets a kick out of sitting on chairs and walking around in circles, and she likes to play in the morning at that time.  The usual explanations of fatigue/hunger/discomfort simply don't apply.

At the tender age of 14 months, Little L is becoming a music class dropout.  Yup, that's right.  I am withdrawing her from this class.  My rationale is as follows:

- at her age, if she feels uncomfortable with someone, I want to respect it.  I'm not sure why she has this aversion, but I'd much rather she listen to it than ignore it to her detriment, and I want her to understand that it's okay to be cautious/wary and in some cases, even avoid people that she feels a dislike towards.  As a grown-up, that sort of wariness will protect her.

- she's so young.  She has like 8 decades to have to deal with people she doesn't care for.  I'm not going to force it on her at this early stage in life if I can avoid it.

- I'm not too keen on the teacher myself.  She hasn't been very peppy (odd, especially since she is working with toddlers and little kids), and was kind of snarky about the fact that Little L put some of the instruments in her mouth (a totally normal response from a little person).

- I don't want Little L to form a negative association for music classes from one negative experience.  I'd rather she love the next music class I enroll her in, than stick it out in this one and subsequently never want to go to another class again.

And in an attempt to keep Little L enrolled in something, I've signed her up for Jump Gym toddler gymnastics! Hoping that this experience will prove more positive.  *fingers crossed*