Like Kids Much?
I was a volunteer usher at a matinee dance recital this weekend put on by my daughter's dance school. The matinee performance consists of the most junour of dance classes with a few seniour numbers thrown in to spice up the show a bit for the audience. My daughter was in one of the seniour acts asked to perform at the matinee - which fell on Saturday afternoon between a Friday night and a Saturday night evening show featuring just the older kids.
My, oh my. Have I forgotten new parenthood? Or are new parents suddenly a new breed of rude and selfish individuals who only care about THEIR kids... Because I have never, ever, encountered such a truly awful group of people in my life. Opening doors during performances, talking audibly to each other during performances, fathers trying to brush by volunteer security to get to changerooms to pick up little girls - even though they aren't allowed "back there" because OTHER parents' BIG girls are in various states of dress and undress - complaining about ticket prices that barely cover the cost of renting the facility. I could go on...
Now, this may sound petty to any non-dance parents reading this but really - it's not. The recital is a huge extravaganza - the dancers work up to it all year. There are signs posted everywhere on Show Day explaining the protocol, parents are instructed ahead of time as to the necessary cooperation of all parents to make the show a smooth running success. But it was as if none of the parents at the matinee had heard or read a single word as to what was expected of them at the show. Except that they had - because I was pointing to the signs and explaining everything before, during - and in the case of one father - AFTER the show to counter the obnoxious behaviour that was going on all around me. True, I'm a rule follower, but these people went beyond rule breaking to showing a complete disregard for the feelings of others - including other children dancing in the show.
That was what really got my goat. The parents weren't just concerned with their own children - they were completely unconcerned with the children of others. After the show, a few of us older parents - with teenagers - sat tired and cranky discussing this behaviour and one mother said, "You know, you've got to wonder why these people had kids."
And you do have to wonder because they didn't seem to care about anybody else's kids. And if you don't care about anybody else's kids, what DO you care about?
Just asking...
