The Parent Guide to All Scotland Week

The CLRG All Scotland starts on Thursday, which means that by Sunday night, your kitchen will have quietly turned into an Irish dancing preparation station.

Shoes polished. The wig on the worktop where the fruit bowl usually goes. Tan mitt and makeup spread out ready to be packed.

And your dancer will be sat at the table being far too quiet.

Not upset. Just somewhere else. Pushing dinner round the plate, one earphone in, running the set through their head for the fortieth time that day.

You'll want to say something useful. Every option in your head will sound like pressure.

If that's your house, here's what actually helps in the days before All Scotland Championships 2026.

What to stop doing in the run-up

• Extra classes. Whatever fitness your dancer has this weekend is the fitness they're taking with them on Thursday. An extra class on the Tuesday won't add anything except tired legs. It usually takes something away.
• New stretches. The days before a major are the worst possible time to introduce a movement the body has never done. New stretches, new warm-ups, that thing somebody swears by on TikTok. All of it can wait until after the weekend.
• The comparison scroll. You know the one. Fifteen minutes of other people's practice clips, other people's wig hacks, other people's new dress. It does nothing for your dancer and it does nothing for you. If it's in your house all week, it's coming into the hall with you on the day.

What to do instead

• Sleep. Boring and unbeatable. Two early nights between now and Thursday will do more for a dancer's legs and their head than any extra session. Phones out of the bedroom if you can manage it.
• Routine. Keep next week as ordinary as possible. School, homework, the usual classes, the usual dinner time. A dancer who's been treated normally all week walks in feeling normal.
• Food they already know. Not the week for anything new or clever. Familiar meals, water in the bag, and something they actually like packed for the day itself.
• The car ride. This is the one that matters most, and it's the one most of us fumble. Keep it light on the way there. Chat about anything else. Let them have their earphones in if that's their thing. Save the dance talk for when they start it, because they will, and it'll be on their terms.

What's going on in their head

Your dancer isn't nervous because they're not ready. They're nervous because they care.

The thing worth knowing is that confidence comes  from preparation. From knowing they've done the work, knowing what they're focusing on, and knowing what they'll do when something wobbles in the practise room.

A dancer chasing perfection has nowhere to stand when one step goes wrong. A dancer relying on their preparation can wobble and keep going, because their confidence was never resting on being flawless.

If you say one thing to them before Thursday, make it that. They're ready because of the work, not because the work was perfect.

After the result

Whatever the result, they'll look for your face first. Before the teacher, before their friends, before the other dancers.

So lead with the thing that isn't about placings. That you loved watching them. That you're proud of how hard they've worked. The analysis can wait, and the drive home is almost never the moment for it.

There's much more to say about this one, especially the days afterwards, and I'll be writing about it properly in November.

Come and say hello

We'll have the MWM stall at All Scotland from Thursday - with mindset sessions with Annabelle, movement sessions with me (Meg!) and Bróga’s to try on in person.

Come and find us, even if it's just for a chat between rounds. Some of my favourite conversations of the year happen at that stall, usually with a parent who's been carrying something around for months and hasn't said it out loud yet.

After the weekend

However it goes, the week after a major is the best week of the year to work out what your dancer's body actually needs next.

Not more of everything. One thing.

The free Unlock Your Focus quiz gives you their number one focus, so the work after All Scotland goes somewhere useful. It'll be there waiting when you've all had a sleep.

Take the free Unlock Your Focus quiz