My Kid Has Gone to the Dogs

Four months ago our school, St. Dominic Fine Arts (great school), announced they would be doing a production of 101 Dalmatians. I talked Clancy into trying out. Everyone was cast. 

Pepper

She is one of the Dalmatians, Pepper. She has songs and dances to do with her cast mates and she has four lines. The rehearsal schedule was long but was unavoidable. A cast of 98 means work and everybody did lots of it. Teachers, kids, volunteers...they all stayed after school at least three days a week for an hour for about three months. While it may have been arduous at times it will no doubt pay off.

Clancy is shy in some situations and being on stage would qualify as one of those. Unlike her brother does not crave the spotlight. She is way out of her comfort zone with this play thing. After a tough week of rehearsals and other after school commitments she got fed up and said: "I'm only doing this because you wanted me to." 

We all know how lousy that feels, when we end up doing something from time to time only because someone else wanted us to. I knew she was likely plotting to kill me and I couldn't blame her. Part of me wanted to give her the option to bail so I didn't have to listen to the complaining but the smarter part of me wanted to see her get through it all and at least not hate it. And my guilt kept me focused, I had let her quit stuff before, I was going to see that it did not happen again.

They had their first of two performances tonight (we will see it tomorrow night) in the theatre at a local high school. Her pal's parents drove her there and brought her home. I wondered what she'd be like when she got home. Maybe soaked in flop sweat and saying; "Phew. Glad that's over. One down one to go." or soaked in tears and declaring; "It was awful! I forgot my lines! I want to die."

Or would be it be something unexpected?

She came skipping and smiling up the driveway declaring: "It was so great! I wish I could do this every night!" It was so much netter than I could have hoped.

When kids do well in class they feel good but they also know they have to do it. When they excel in a sport and enjoy going it's because it's a sport they love. But when they do something that scared them, that they didn't have to do and it makes them feel 10 feet tall, well, that changes perspective - ours and theirs. 

Most importantly for us tonight, hers, of herself.

She may have done it "only because her mom wanted her to" but next time she'll do it because she wants to.