Backstory: My niece loves movement. I noticed this when she was, what, four? and I bought her a personalized Disney Princess CD. She danced long and happily to the music, and at that time I realized that dance might be of benefit to her. I paid for the second half of the dance class' year for her, and she was mighty impressive for her age.
Time's gone on, she's been going to dance for years, and this year she's doing two classes. (She's seven, by the way.)
Where we are now: My niece is starting to complain. I don't know if it's from overload or a lack of interest or if she just doesn't see the point. From where I sit, her mother (my sister) isn't helping things. She yells, she's manipulative, she says stuff like, "If you don't want to go then I just won't sign you up next year." You know, the kind of crap that leads to kids quitting. I'm afraid to take a direct approach, mainly because my sister is largely incapable of handling any sort of criticism like an adult. (Totally separate topic, don't want to deal with that here.)
I really don't want to see my niece quit. I don't know that she'll ever go pro, but she's very talented, and like I said before, she had that innate love of movement years ago. I'd hate for her to give it up and realize years later that she'd abandoned something she was truly good at and deep down really cared about.
So what can I, the concerned uncle who started this dance business in the first place, do for her? I can't just talk to my sister, so whatever I do needs to be backhanded, kind of a soft touch without anyone being the wiser.
TL;DR: Niece starting to get fed up with dance, her mother's not helping things. Would like to steer my niece towards dance since she's good at it without getting on her mother's bad side. What are my options?
As someone that quit both soccer and karate and ended up regretting it way down the road, I will tell you that the kid is going to end up doing what they want to do. It's hard for you to really force the issue one way or another, ya know?
-- We can't stop here. This is bat country. Brace for the G's, and fast heel-toe work.
You can't really force these things. Ask her why she's losing interest as I doubt it's something as simple as it being pointless. Maybe reward her with ice cream on the days she goes to dance practice.