Last Monday night I attended what might very well be the longest Winter Concert I have ever attended. Mind you, all of my kids have been in either choir, band, or both, so I've been to a few concerts. I was in band and choir myself as a kid, so add all of those to my total number of concerts as well. And yes, I do believe this one took the cake.
Oh, I can hear you all designing and forging my Bad Mom medal as I'm writing this. I feel terrible mom guilt for not yelling, "That was the best concert ever, and my baby was the star of the show!" from the rooftops. However, as my husband said, the parents don't even have enough of an attention span for the length of concert we went to, let alone the children. We listened to choir, then beginning strings, a couple of solos, and then advanced strings. After that the beginning band was on, and the advanced band closed. There was lots of banter introducing each number as well, stretching out the numbers of minutes those kids fidgeted in their chairs up on that stage.
Don't get me wrong; I love to go see my kids demonstrate their skills, whatever skills those may be. I've been to choir and band and soccer and robotics and Destination Imagination and drama performances. I've cheered at softball and at dance recitals, and been first in line at the History Day and Science Fair presentations. I'm semi-pro when it comes to being a cheerleader, really I am. I wouldn't miss my kids' events for the world. I'm also not a fan of people coming to see their own kid and sneaking out (sometimes not so stealthily) when their portion of the show is over. (Besides, it wouldn't have been an option in this case, since Danielle was in the very first performance group and the very last. How'd they manage to orchestrate that?) But please, can't we all agree that if a show goes on, at the elementary level at least, for more than an hour we should cut it into two shows? Say, all the beginning groups on one night and all the advanced groups on another? Or band and orchestra on one night an choir on another? Yes, that means some of us, including me, would be signing on for an extra evening of being at the school, but I think it would be worth the trade-off.
The upside, of course, is that Danielle had a great time, looked adorable, and was thrilled to see Doug, me, and her dad all in attendance. Her big smile and hug at the end of the concert made up for the painfully uncomfortable and too tightly close together chairs we had to sit in for the duration of the concert. In the end, although I'm venting here, it's all worth it to see her feeling so proud of herself. But I'm still gonna lobby for that one hour rule, anyway.
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Your daughter looks adorable! And I am SO not going to design a Bad Mom medal for you. I think your one hour rule is excellent.
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