Dating My Kiddos: Theater

This is the second installment of the Dating My Kids series. I want to carve out special time with my kids, at least once a month, where we do something special and fun, where we can hang out with each other distraction-free. And by distractions, I mean technology basically: no ipad, no video games, no cellphone, no tv...

but theater, now that's totally approved.

 

Confession: I had never been to a theater until I started dating Clay. He took me to my first show, Les Miserables, and I've loved it ever since. I have amazing memories of seeing Chicago with my bestfriend, and Clay got me a trip to New York to see Phantom of the Opera on Broadway for Christmas a couple years ago. Good lord it was spectacular! This is something we both want our children to experience, and we've vowed to take them to at least one live show a year.

We are lucky that we have a beautiful auditorium within minutes of where we live that brings in many Broadway musicals and plays, so when we found out that Disney's Beauty and the Beast was coming, we knew it'd be perfect start to Narls and Em's theater experience. They're both huge Disney fans, and Beauty and the Beast is a big favorite in our house.

The show was absolutely beautiful. The acting was perfect, especially Gaston's character, and the singing and dancing scenes were exceptionally incredible. My kids were mesmerized. Clay and I were mesmerized.

That's not to say that this date didn't encounter its fair share of problems. First, both kids were scared of the large, dark theater. And by scared, I mean Em was crying, and she's been talking about going to this performance for months. It took a reassuring talk with her dad to convince her that there was nothing scary in there.

And as much as they enjoyed the show, they both got antsy near the end. During the last fifteen minutes, Clay and I were probably asked fifteen times when it would be over. Luckily there were cocktails during intermission.

Overall, I'd say for Emerson and Narls seeing their first full-length play at 4 and 6 years old, they did amazingly well.  They were scared of the Beast, they laughed at Gaston, their eyes never left Belle, and there were exclamations of "how did he do that?!" when the Beast turned back into the prince at the end of the show.

We talked about how we should clap at the end to let the actors know how much we enjoyed the play, we talked about how plays are different from movies on TV, how the story we saw was different than the book we read.

There were so many great opportunities to learn and spark curiosity and have fun together as a family at the theater. And believe me, having your daughter take your hand as you're walking out and tell you this was the best day of her life will make it one of the best of your life, too.