If Your High School Student had a Part in the School Play...

I was in my high school's musicals for 3 years. I really can't remember if my parents went or not. I think they went to 1. I wouldn't expect them to attend every performance each year. I was also in a marching band for 1 season in high school and the only parade my parents went to see me in was the one in our neighborhood. They did attend all of our dance recitals but they were only once a year. Thinking back it might have bothered me a little at the time but I was not crushed. i was also the oldest of 8 and they couldn't attend every event for each child.
 
...would you attend every performance? Would the size of your child's part matter?

It depends. If there are more than three performances (not counting during school hour performances), we'd probably only go to the first one and last one.

Neither of our kids are in drama, although my daughter will be in the pit orchestra this year. Both are in marching band and we try to get to MOST games and competitions, but tend to miss one of each during the season.
 
My high school did 2 main plays/musicals each year and then a bunch of littler things. I was always involved and had some decent size roles. My mom would come one night for each one and I was fine with that. Some parents would go to every single performance.
 
I was very active in our performing arts program in high school and the drama program in college and also did some community theatre. (6 major productions a year with several smaller ones thrown in there as well) There were also choir performances. I think my mom did manage to come to one performance for each show we did, and I think my dad made it to a few. However, they made no attempt to come to every single one, and quite honestly, I wouldn't have wanted them there. Don't get me wrong. I loved my parents, but I didn't want them hanging out in "my" space when I was in high school. They didn't need to physically be there for me to know they were "there" for me. I never, ever doubted that.
 

No we must be bad parents because we coordinate with our kids which perfromances they want us to go to . Then the other performances they hang out with their friends.
 
I attend every performance my children are in. Doesn't matter how large or small their parts are or how many performances there are.

But that is just me.

I also attend every sporting event they participate in and every Mass that they altar serve at.

I can't explain WHY I feel the need to do it.

I certainly don't think it makes me a better parent than the one who attends one show.
 
No. My sons are in marching band, jazz band, etc. Sometimes I even have to choose WHICH child I'm going to see if there are things on the same night or drive back and forth like a crazy woman. I attend concerts etc. I make an extra effort to get to anything that seems really important to them. But during marching band season, Christmas season, etc. I don't attend every gig.

For marching, I attend most home stuff but only one away competition. They enjoy having me there, but they also enjoy coming home and telling me all about it. I also volunteer, but quite often that means MISSING the performance.

For me, it's part of letting go and letting them have some independence. They WANT that.
 
Question for those that attend every single event that there children are a part of....How in the world do you find the time? :confused3 Do you not work? Are there never conflicting schedules?

I was thinking this morning about events I went too and things I missed. When the girls were little playing soccer on two different teams they would often have games at the same time at different locations. So I would watch one game one day and then the next time watch the other girl play. Also my DD19 was a middle school/high school cheerleader who sometimes cheered during my work hours, and sometimes cheered 2-4 hours away from home (we lived in North Dakota sometimes you had to go far). DD17 did track one year and I only went to two meets because they were usually during work, or far away. DD17 now plays tennis and once again it's usually during work hours. I go to the ones I am able too, but I'm not going to miss a day of work to go to a tennis match.

I'm not saying it's a bad thing to go to every event because it's great if you have the time, but in my life, I would have had to clone myself in order for that to happen. :confused3
 
When our daughter was in high school she was active in the troop. We used to got to the opening and last performances.
 
Ummm...1 night only. Usually Saturday, cause that's gonna be the best performance. Bring a flower to hand her afterwards and make sure she's got a ride home with someone responsible from the cast party that evening.

She's a high school student, she wants to know you care, but once you've shown that, she doesn't want anyone else knowing you're related to her.
 
I'm genuinely surprised with how many parents attend every performance of everything! I'm an only child, and I don't see any way my parents could have made it to every performance/game! They both worked full-time and had their own hobbies as well.

Thinking specifically about theater, since that was the original topic, my dad and I were both theater geeks. My mom never wanted to be onstage, but she would help build sets or take notes for the director. We were heavily involved with several local theaters, all of which had hugely ambitious schedules. Sometimes we were all involved in the same show, sometimes different shows at the same theater, and sometimes different shows in different cities. I was also in shows at school, which was a private school an hour and a half from home.

And that's just the theater stuff. That doesn't count music troupe, baseball, soccer, basketball or dance, all of which I did regularly at various points in my life. Nor does it count my dad's status as a union rep or a founding member of the Society of Women Engineers, nor the fact that both of my parents finished college and graduate school during my lifetime, nor everybody's individual hobbies and interests.

That said, we were an extremely close-knit family (still are). Everybody made it a point to go see one or two performances of everybody else's stuff (usually the theater schedules were slightly offset, so one show opened and closed a week before the other). We took flowers and gave silly gifts and made the person involved feel important, but we also had our own lives. I think that's really important to a child's development. I loved my parents fiercely, but didn't need/want them over my shoulder at every activity, and they felt the same. Sometimes a bit of breathing room is a good thing. It certainly made for lively dinner conversation catching each other up on what had happened at that night's performance or game!

I suppose it doesn't hurt to attend everything if you have the time. But make sure you're not totally sacrificing yourself and your own life for your kids. I loved that my parents were well-rounded, whole people. I wanted to strive to emulate them and their successes and happiness. I also think I never took their attendance for granted, because I knew about the schedule-juggling they were doing to be there.

But please, whatever you do, don't become a stage parent! That breeds a ton of resentment throughout the troop, and makes the child extremely uncomfortable!
 
I'm genuinely surprised with how many parents attend every performance of everything! I'm an only child, and I don't see any way my parents could have made it to every performance/game! They both worked full-time and had their own hobbies as well.

Thinking specifically about theater, since that was the original topic, my dad and I were both theater geeks. My mom never wanted to be onstage, but she would help build sets or take notes for the director. We were heavily involved with several local theaters, all of which had hugely ambitious schedules. Sometimes we were all involved in the same show, sometimes different shows at the same theater, and sometimes different shows in different cities. I was also in shows at school, which was a private school an hour and a half from home.

And that's just the theater stuff. That doesn't count music troupe, baseball, soccer, basketball or dance, all of which I did regularly at various points in my life. Nor does it count my dad's status as a union rep or a founding member of the Society of Women Engineers, nor the fact that both of my parents finished college and graduate school during my lifetime, nor everybody's individual hobbies and interests.

That said, we were an extremely close-knit family (still are). Everybody made it a point to go see one or two performances of everybody else's stuff (usually the theater schedules were slightly offset, so one show opened and closed a week before the other). We took flowers and gave silly gifts and made the person involved feel important, but we also had our own lives. I think that's really important to a child's development. I loved my parents fiercely, but didn't need/want them over my shoulder at every activity, and they felt the same. Sometimes a bit of breathing room is a good thing. It certainly made for lively dinner conversation catching each other up on what had happened at that night's performance or game!

I suppose it doesn't hurt to attend everything if you have the time. But make sure you're not totally sacrificing yourself and your own life for your kids. I loved that my parents were well-rounded, whole people. I wanted to strive to emulate them and their successes and happiness. I also think I never took their attendance for granted, because I knew about the schedule-juggling they were doing to be there.

But please, whatever you do, don't become a stage parent! That breeds a ton of resentment throughout the troop, and makes the child extremely uncomfortable!

Excellent post!!! :thumbsup2
 
opening night and closing night.

This is what I have done in the past.

My DD15 landed the role of Tzeitel in Fiddler on the Roof when she was 8. I didn't even know she could sing! :laughing: It was just cost prohibitive to go to every performance, so I chose opening night and closing night. And that's just how it's been ever since.

ETA-my son plays football and I go to everyone of his games and practices. . .but the practices are really more of a logistics thing. I don't think it would really matter if I was there or not. The games I'm there, but I LOVE football. We stay and watch all the other grades play too.
 
When I did plays my mom always went to one of the first nights with the whole family (my sisters and neices soemtimes came too) and any speical nights such as the performance in the middle of the festival (although partially because she liked seeing all the others schools plays in the festival with me)
 
I'm genuinely surprised with how many parents attend every performance of everything! I'm an only child, and I don't see any way my parents could have made it to every performance/game! They both worked full-time and had their own hobbies as well.

Thinking specifically about theater, since that was the original topic, my dad and I were both theater geeks. My mom never wanted to be onstage, but she would help build sets or take notes for the director. We were heavily involved with several local theaters, all of which had hugely ambitious schedules. Sometimes we were all involved in the same show, sometimes different shows at the same theater, and sometimes different shows in different cities. I was also in shows at school, which was a private school an hour and a half from home.

And that's just the theater stuff. That doesn't count music troupe, baseball, soccer, basketball or dance, all of which I did regularly at various points in my life. Nor does it count my dad's status as a union rep or a founding member of the Society of Women Engineers, nor the fact that both of my parents finished college and graduate school during my lifetime, nor everybody's individual hobbies and interests.

That said, we were an extremely close-knit family (still are). Everybody made it a point to go see one or two performances of everybody else's stuff (usually the theater schedules were slightly offset, so one show opened and closed a week before the other). We took flowers and gave silly gifts and made the person involved feel important, but we also had our own lives. I think that's really important to a child's development. I loved my parents fiercely, but didn't need/want them over my shoulder at every activity, and they felt the same. Sometimes a bit of breathing room is a good thing. It certainly made for lively dinner conversation catching each other up on what had happened at that night's performance or game!

I suppose it doesn't hurt to attend everything if you have the time. But make sure you're not totally sacrificing yourself and your own life for your kids. I loved that my parents were well-rounded, whole people. I wanted to strive to emulate them and their successes and happiness. I also think I never took their attendance for granted, because I knew about the schedule-juggling they were doing to be there.

But please, whatever you do, don't become a stage parent! That breeds a ton of resentment throughout the troop, and makes the child extremely uncomfortable!

I think this is a question of how much you were involved in. When I was in high school I played softball in spring and our school did one play in fall. All my other activities didn't involve performances for parents so they had no problem going to a play or two and then a few games. As I said before mom went to more shows then Dad but the fall play was always Shakespeare and he generally fell asleep... Dad did go to more softball games though.
 
good lord, if my parents had gone to every performance of every production i was in they would have been attending constantly. there was a period of time (about 4 years in high school) when i would be rehearsing for one show while the other show was in production. literaly, with the exception of holiday weekends, never a week not in performance (and that meant a thursday and friday nite show, with 2 performances on saturday and sunday). if you threw in the high school choir performances that ran the other weeknights mom and dad would have never been home.

we go to one performance,with the preference being closing night (seems the favorite for most performers to have family/friends at).

just a suggestion for those that are compelled to go to every performance-consider asking your young performer to be honest and tell you how they feel about that. in my experience some young performers detest it, but they are reluctant to tell their parents. for some it causes tremendous anxiety knowing their parents are out there every night (and you don't see them stressing out back stage to the point of vomiting), for others it's a huge embarrassment (esp. when mom/dad have a very reccognizable laugh or tend to "cheer" out during the applause periods-"bravo", "yah, yah", VERY MUCH SO if it's a mom/dad that are always the first ones to their feet trying to encourage a standing ovation). i never experienced parents going to every performance when i was younger, but in recent years when i served on the board of a community theatre company that did productions that included kids i became aware of it, and did'nt realize what an issue it could be for the kids. it got to the point that because of the stress/embarrassment it caused for some young performers (and how that negativily impacted their performance and for some their experience which we wanted to be fun) that we ended up having to have a session with all the kids during every production where we counseled them to be honest with mom and dad, then a related session for the parents explaining that they realy needed to have this kind of discussion with their kiddos. (and it was very illuminating for some parents to find out their kids realy preferred for them to attend fewer nights, and even moreso-to cut back on the amount of time they were volunteering with the theatre group b/c they had lingering doubts about weather they were getting cast b/c of their talent vs. the company knowing if they cast them they got a two-fer with a willing parent who would do allot of free labor-which with some community and school productions is absolutly a consideration in casting:sad2:).
 
I am a parent who stated that I go to every performance. I guess I have been lucky that I really haven't had many situations where I would need to be in 2 places at once.

I know that DD#2 (she's the "actress" in the family) wants me to be at all her performances. Granted, I don't necessarily sit in the audience and watch all the time. I am involved in selling raffle tickets for baskets and doing pretty much anything that the directors might need taken care of during the show. But I am physically there and DD likes knowing that. (and I always try to be in the audience when DD is singing her solo :goodvibes)
 
My dd has been in several community theater shows. I have never gone to all performances of a show. The cost and the time would just be too much. She does not expect me to either. She is Old Max in the Grinch in December, and there are a minimum of 10 shows right now (they might add a couple of more). No way I can go to all of them.
 


Disney Vacation Planning. Free. Done for You.
Our Authorized Disney Vacation Planners are here to provide personalized, expert advice, answer every question, and uncover the best discounts. Let Dreams Unlimited Travel take care of all the details, so you can sit back, relax, and enjoy a stress-free vacation.
Start Your Disney Vacation
Disney EarMarked Producer






DIS Facebook DIS youtube DIS Instagram DIS Pinterest DIS Tiktok DIS Twitter

Add as a preferred source on Google

Back
Top Bottom