Chip Off The Mom Block

She Loves It!

Do you have anything you really want your kids to love the way you do?  Will it bother you if your kids are disinterested in the things you love?  I know I am supposed to nurture my kids and be supportive of what they adore in life.  I try to expose them to as much as possible, even at their very young ages.  Still, I dream that Sophia will be like me.

I have always loved the arts.  Dance, Music, Visual and most of all…the Theater.  I don’t remember a time when I did not adore the stage, both watching from the audience or being in the play.  I grew up in the theater and, naturally, was a Drama Queen at home.  I taught Children’s theater on Long Island and worked my way up to being the director of that children’s summer theater program in college.  After my family and friends, theater is my next great love.  As you know, I chose to have a family at a young age instead of pursuing a professional career.  It is not a choice I regret at all, but it was hard.

Today I was nervous.  Sophia’s class went on a field trip to the Children’s Theater here in Charlotte.  I was terrified that she would not like the show.  Scared that my baby would not want to watch the actors.  Petrified that she would be bored and say she did not want to go back!  Sophia shows all the signs of a Theater Chick already but at barely 3, I had not yet taken her to a real play.  We have tickets to the Nutcracker in a few weeks, but even that has ballerinas, so I am not worried.  A play is different, and since she did not understand exactly what it was, she was not crazy about the idea of a play.  Especially a play about mice.   I could not lure her with promises of princesses or ballerinas with flowing hair and sparkly dresses….I had to hope that she could follow the story of these mice.  

We started with a wonderful story time with other animal tales and many songs and dancing galore – Sophia always loves story times here!

Always Up for a Good Story

Then we went to the theater.  I was very excited and explained to Sophia and her friends from school that there would be people pretending to be mice, in costumes, who would tell a story by acting it out.  And yes, they would have costumes.  And yes, they would be funny.  And yes, they would sing.  But no – there may not be any beautiful gowns.  I told Sophia that it would get dark and that there would be awesome lights on the stage and she was excited about that.  She loves playing with flashlights in the dark!

When the play started she was nervous.  There was a bad mouse, Mr. Meanie, who jumped into the audience.  She almost got up out of her seat.  I almost threw up from anticipating a melt down.  And then Mr. Meanie fell down and was tricked and was very funny and all the kids laughed, including Sophia.  For the rest of the play she laughed, she expressed concern and some fear for the characters, she participated in the songs and she clapped wildly after each scene.  She was really invested in the show.  I thought I would cry.

Then, after the show, she told me she loved it.  And then, she told me she wanted to do plays.  She said she loved the Theater.  My heart swelled with sheer joy.

Theater Fan for Life!

 My baby is like me after all!  Now to get rid of her temper – I mean I don’t want a clone here!

I would love to hear your hopes and dreams for your mini me’s!  Do you want your kids to be chips off the old block or are you totally cool if they don’t follow in any of your footsteps?