So, I’m at the theatre tonight to see a show about ‘motherhood’ and what it is REALLY like. Childbirth, vomiting toddlers, loss of intimacy with your partner…you know, the straight dope on motherhood…a mostly lighthearted (but totally realistic) look at the life of your average mum.
Yet one couple decided to bring their young daughter along for the show. The little girl would have been about 8 or 9, and either would have been thoroughly bored by the whole thing, or perhaps frightened off having kids for life. Some of the ‘scenes’ were very disturbing, and while they were much appreciated by the older audience, I doubt they would have been enjoyed by this poor young kid.
Folks, if you want your kid to experience live theatre, take her to see Oliver or something more age-appropriate. Making her sit through two hours of six women ranting and raving about how revolting kids are is probably NOT the best place for your kid to be.
I never cease to be amazed when I attend a public showing of a show or film that is obviously intended for adults (or even just “mature audiences”) and some fool brings a child along.
Babies are bad enough… but five year olds? Seven year olds? Admittedly, I’m not the one who’s going to have to put up with the nightmares, but you’d think they’d consider the cost of therapy…
For some reason, while I advocate a nice and early introduction to the joy that is the theatre for most kids - I’d agree with you here. If I knew what it was about, I wouldn’t take a kid younger than maybe 15 or 16 to see this. Unless I had a particularly precocious and intelligent 9 year old whom I thought would be able to look objectively at it, take everything in context etc etc. Maybe thats what this kid’s parents thought. Who can say?
I’m not a mother and I don’t plan to be, but I don’t really believe one should expose an impressionable kid to a uninterrupted rant on the ‘evils of motherhood’ (an oddly refreshing kind of phrase!) without presenting any of the apparent ‘joys’ that, I assume, would balance out the horror and general nastiness. (Unless the play did that, I certainly haven’t seen it.)
I do feel pretty certain that 9 year old girl would quite possibly develop into a sensible enough young woman so as not to let whatever memory she has of the play influence her life decisions. But whether she shakes the ideas presented to her before she goes to bed tonight or never manages to rid herself of this vision of motherhood - it still probably wasn’t the most exciting or most pleasant two hours of this kid’s life.
Could you see the kid from where you were? Did she look bored or scared? Or did you just see the family going in/coming out?
My best guess is that they wanted her to have an idea of what she could be getting herself into before she gets old enough to start experimenting with sex. Waiting till they’re teenagers is too late, unfortunately; I have a former classmate who just became a grandmother at the ripe old age of 27.
Man, I just gotta say that when I was in first grade they’d have us sing songs from Oliver in class.
The sight of a bunch of seven year olds singing “what would you do when you turn black and blue” must have really been something. I had nightmares about stairways without any bannisters for weeks.
And the six women did indeed have their own kids, and were chosen for the cast precisely because of their experience and affinity with the role of ‘manic motherhood’. The show combined mostly the bad bits (like interminable tiredness and loss of mental acuity) but was interspersed with poignant monologues about how it feels to have a child in intensive care and nearly lose him.
I loved the show. I felt, as a mother, that this production was honest and truly demonstrated just what it is like to live with little people. It showed a very different picture to the eternally smiling babies of magazines that have a tendency to make many new mothers feel inadequate because they are NOT coping and babies are NOT always nice or cute. Sometimes they are revolting little sprogs, and many mothers feel guilty for sometimes wishing that they had never decided to have kids (as much as they love them to bits, and would be devastated if anything did happen to them).
But I still feel that taking a young child to the show was inappropriate. I don’t feel that it is necessary for kids to be aware of all sorts of ‘adult issues’, and how motherhood really changes your life is very much an ‘adult issue’ as far as I am concerned.
Yes, indeedy, kasuo, it’s quite sad. That poor baby hasn’t got a chance. Granny got pregnant the first time when we were thirteen, and at last count, she had five kids she was raising, 2 miscarriages, 2 abortions, and one she had given up for adoption because she had no idea who the father was. Her second husband had a vasectomy after the last live birth, but she screws around on him and doesn’t use birth control when she does it. That’s why she had the second abortion; he wouldn’t let her stay in the marriage while pregnant with someone else’s kid. Mommy was dating an 18 yo at the age of 13, and they started spending the night in each other’s rooms with the door closed within a month or so (Granny figured they wouldn’t dare get up to anything with her right there in the next room.) I’m going way out on a limb and guessing this kid won’t be picking up any responsible attitudes towards sex at home.
If taking kids to stuff like this at the age of nine makes them at least use some bloody birth control 5 years down the road, I’m all for it.