Talent Show

Every year, the St. Catherine's 8th graders host a talent show. Anya decided she wanted to participate this time and show off her jump rope skills. She had about a month to practice her routine before the big day.

For me, the past month was an exercise in biting my tongue and stepping back.

Anya discovered a third grader jumping rope after school one day and the girls decided they would do the talent show together. Great. I emailed her mom and got permission for her daughter to stay after school some days and practice with Anya, since they asked me to. And then, nothing. The girls never practiced after school or during recess. I asked Anya from time to time how the planning was going and usually received a vague answer or that the other girl didn't want to practice (not that Anya was practicing much herself or ever really having much of a plan).  I tried to stay out of it as much as possible and let the girls run it, since this was their performance and not mine....but I was also kind of nervous for Anya to get up in front of the whole school with zero preparation. I recall dressing up as the lead singer and lip syncing to Def Leppard's "Love Bites" in 5th grade. It was pretty bad and I cringe every time I think of that memory.  Part of me wanted to spare my kid that same embarrassment, but another part wanted this to be a learning experience about the importance of preparation.

On the day before the event, I asked Anya if they had their music picked out, since it was due. She told me that they had decided that afternoon and it was taken care of. Great. But that evening I thought about it and wondered how Anya got her music to the teacher....she never asked me and barely spoke to her friend about it. So to be on the safe side, Chris burned the song to a CD. Good thing he did because Anya had no idea that you had to physically give the music (cd, ipod, phone) to anyone. As far as she's ever known, when she wants to hear a song it magically appears, thanks to the magic of the internet. So we got it to school just in time.

Anyway, here is Anya's talent show performance . The girls did fine. As it turns out, the bar wasn't set too high for the K-4 performances, so even if they did terribly, it would have been OK. The audience was quite supportive, so it was a terrific environment for kids to put themselves out there. Anya was thrilled with all of the compliments she received the rest of the day. I don't think she learned any lessons about preparing, even though she had a moment of regret the morning of the show. Mainly, she just had fun and that's a good lesson too. So there ya go.