Are Christian parents allowed to send their children to dance lessons?

Question:

Upon studying the Bible I realized that a child of God must set aside the things of the world. I have a little girl who is  8 years old and she takes dance lessons both folk dance and Gypsy. She does not want to stop these lessons. When I talked to her about it and asked her to stop, it created a stressful situation. I think that these are shameful dance moves that she has to learn. My spouse and I are disabled and we cannot pay for her to learn a trade so I thought that dancing could be a way for her to make a living in the future. What is your opinion?

From your question I deduce that you recently repented and started to follow God and the Holy Scriptures. You have come to realize that it would be good for your daughter to stop going to dance lessons because they imply something shameful. I have previously addressed this issue in his article “What does the Bible say about dancing?”

Now if your daughter loves dancing so much that she takes  folk dances lessons, I would advise you not to impose prohibitions right away, but instead, to teach her from the Scriptures every day until she comes to understand the Gospel. Then she can make a decision to become a child of God, willing to live her live for Christ, being holy in body and spirit.

If you’ve noticed that the dance moves are shameful then help her understand this from your point of view. Maybe it’s better to read the article that I made reference to earlier. Encourage her not to seek to make a living via shameful ways. If the dance moves that she practices now do no good for her now as well as do no good for others, then will things change in the future if she makes a career out of dancing? God teaches us in the Bible to work with our hands doing something good to meet our own needs and the needs of others. You do not have to worry about being able to pay for her schooling or not so that she can learn a profession. Put your hope and trust in God and He will take care of your needs at the right time.

Translation by: Erik Brewer