Talent Show Update

First of all, I must thank Dr. John for selecting my previous post on Talent Show as his "Today's Link". And thank you to all that visited my site from his link and left me precious comments.

Just to update on what's been going on with this talent show thingy. I thought it would be nice for my girl to do a storytelling bit based on the book DK Share-a-Story: The Caterpillar That Roared." Afterall, it was one of her favorite books when she was younger. In the book are suggestions on extra activities that the child can do. So we chose a craft where we cut out circles, colored and pasted decorations on them and then connected the circles to form a caterpillar (sorry, forgot to take a pix). My girl was to hold that crafted caterpillar as she told her story. Even got her little brother to act out the accompanying characters.

Well, what can I say? It would have been great if... she had really been interested in performing. It was fun to play around at home. They laughed and did funny things as we tried to get the story together. But I guess, to remember scripts was far from FUN. We ended up with a very stressed out Mommy and 2 unhappy children. In the end Daddy stepped in with the golden question "Karina, do you really want to do this for the talent show?" The answer was a "NO". So, that was the end of my attempt at getting her to do storytelling. My little girl was assured that it was ok if she didn't want to do anything.

Anyway, they had a rehearsal on Saturday and I took my girl because she said they were going to do a group pom-pom dance. As we walked in the hall, her teacher takes her aside and tries to encourage and persuade her to do something. I know she meant well but I think her persuasion just made my little girl feel bad. In the end my girl just succumbed and said she would like to sing "Written in Your Heart", a song from Barbie As The Princess and the Pauper. So poor Mommy, just to make her DD happy, went tinkling on the piano to see if she could play up the tune.

And oh, by the way, she ended up NOT being involved in the pom-pom dance. So, she was at that rehearsal doing nothing. I, on the other hand, took some time out to chit-chat with some of the other ladies upstairs (after tinkling on the piano). Two hours later, DD finally comes up with a tired face and says "I'm tired at looking at people." So we decided to go home.

Now, did she REALLY want to sing that song? I don't think so. How do I know? Because I got the lyrics for her and asked her to practice BUT it was done half heartedly. In the end, the golden question again, "Karina, do you want to do this for the talent show?" She was like yes, no, yes, no and in the end, NO! So it was back to telling her, "it is ok if you don't want to participate." And she was happy with that. I think she had agreed to sing that song so her teachers would be happy.

Sigh! The teachers of course still hope my DD will do something at the talent show. But we've decided we're not going. Not because we don't want to support them but because DD still remembers the "I'm-tired-at-looking-at-people" part. She is happy with the decision not to go. I just hope the teachers GET IT that she is ok with NOT participating. I know they don't want her to feel left out and want to encourage her. I just wish they would accept and understand that she is perfectly happy NOT performing.

The way I see it, she enjoys singing, telling stories and acting out dramas. But she does it for fun at home, in the form of play. Having to practice such things just takes the fun out of it. So the best thing to do is to let her have her fun. There will be other talent shows in the future and who is to say she won't decide to take part next time right?