{"id":119,"date":"2011-11-23T10:43:00","date_gmt":"2011-11-23T10:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/2011\/11\/the-show-must-go-on-even-if-your-pants-are-falling-down\/"},"modified":"2011-11-23T10:43:00","modified_gmt":"2011-11-23T10:43:00","slug":"the-show-must-go-on-even-if-your-pants-are-falling-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wordynerdy\/2011\/11\/the-show-must-go-on-even-if-your-pants-are-falling-down\/","title":{"rendered":"The Show must go on. . . even if your Pants are Falling Down!"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><div class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both;text-align: center\"><a href=\"https:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_5z0Rz-1kDe8\/TTKSDZCUOLI\/AAAAAAAAAAQ\/UPbGS1hDpeA\/s1600\/pants-on-the-ground-stop-the-sag-590x329.jpg\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" border=\"0\" height=\"178\" src=\"https:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_5z0Rz-1kDe8\/TTKSDZCUOLI\/AAAAAAAAAAQ\/UPbGS1hDpeA\/s320\/pants-on-the-ground-stop-the-sag-590x329.jpg\" width=\"320\"><\/a><\/div>\n<p>\u201cI think Ren\u2019s losing his pants,\u201d whispered Scott as we watched <i>Annie Get Your Gun<\/i> for the 2nd time in one weekend.<\/p>\n<p>I looked over to my boy dancing on stage and sure enough he was grasping his pants with one hand while trying to wave his other in unison with everyone else while singing \u201cI got the sun in the morning and the moon at night.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In horror, we watched as he\u2019d let go, raise his arms, and then quickly shoot his hands down again to yank up his pants.<\/p>\n<p>But give my boy credit. \u00a0He kept singing and dancing with a big grin splayed on his face despite the periodic clutching at pants. <\/p>\n<p>Scott and I couldn\u2019t stop laughing. \u00a0There\u2019s something about an upbeat song and a son losing his pants before 500 spectators that just has to be enjoyed.<\/p>\n<p>Parental mortification happens to us on a regular basis and comes in all shapes and sizes. \u00a0Our family incidences include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>a kid forgetting how to play piano in the middle of a piano recital (come to think of it, that\u2019s happened to more than one kid more than one times)<\/li>\n<li>the whole Somerville pool being evacuated because someone pooped during swim lesson and then finding a poop smear in my kid\u2019s bathing suit<\/li>\n<li>a 4 year old\u00a0screaming and\u00a0lying on the floor outside Sunday School kicking at me\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>all of our kids running in the opposite direction of soccer balls, baseballs, pretty much anything round or that\u2019s meant to be thrown, and looking in all directions OTHER than the ball<\/li>\n<li>the same kid who lost his pants this weekend looking like a frozen deer in the headlights on stage, barely singing, dancing or waving his arms (read <a href=\"http:\/\/plumbingdemons.blogspot.com\/2011\/03\/joy-of-human-development.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">here<\/a>)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div>And I\u2019m not even writing about my own behavior that\u2019s caused everyone, including me, mortification!<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both;text-align: center\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.giniscott.com\/KidsMistakes\/images\/WhenIGrowUp.jpg\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" border=\"0\" height=\"320\" src=\"https:\/\/www.giniscott.com\/KidsMistakes\/images\/WhenIGrowUp.jpg\" width=\"320\"><\/a><\/div>\n<p>But the gift we receive from regular bouts of mortification is parental pride. \u00a0Because almost always, it takes a little mortification to achieve anything. \u00a0Falling down, failing, being mediocre, feeling humiliated are usually necessary steps towards gaining skills and eventually excelling.<\/p><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Two falls ago, Kai-Kai played Maid #1 in <i>My Fair Lady<\/i>. \u00a0Her only line was \u201cProfessor Higgins, may I take your coat?\u201d \u00a0And that darn Professor Higgins forgot to bring his coat on stage so her one line made no sense because there was no coat to hand off! \n<p>She hates it when we joke about that story. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt wasn\u2019t your fault!\u201d we protest. \u00a0\u201cAnd you dealt with it great!\u201d <\/p>\n<p>But receiving no coat at her only line seems to have wounded her deeply. \u00a0<\/p><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Since then, she\u2019s played the shopkeeper in <i>Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory<\/i>, a government official in <i>Annie<\/i>, and this year, Frieda Wilson, the hotel keeper\u2019s wife. \u00a0She\u2019s gone from one line to 17, and has sang a solo line or even verse at every show since. \u00a0She\u2019s blossomed in confidence and grace.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Ren-Ren didn\u2019t get into the first play he auditioned for and as mentioned earlier, looked like a deer in the headlights in his first show.\u00a0<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Because I served as a volunteer coordinator this year, I was invited to Cathy, the director\u2019s party. \u00a0I\u2019ve never talked to her before, but when she saw me, she called out across a crowded room, \u201cCan you believe how far your kids have come?\u201d<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<div>I reminded her of Ren\u2019s frozen deer imitation in <i>Little Shop of Horrors<\/i>.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\u201cFinally!\u201d Cathy shouted, \u201cA parent who has an honest assessment of her kid!\u201d \u00a0<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Yup, that\u2019s the thing with us Tiger moms\u2013we have honest assessments of our kids weaknesses and failings\u2013too much so often. \n<p>But Cathy\u2019s right, both my kids have drastically improved on stage, and the confidence they\u2019ve gained has led to being different kids in school as well\u2013not nearly as quiet and shut-down.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>After the show, we asked Ren what happened. \u00a0\u201cI had such a quick change and I couldn\u2019t get my tie on right so I forgot to zip and button my pants.\u201d\n<p>Wow. \u00a0Big oversight.<\/p>\n<p>As if to make us feel better, he said, \u201cAt least I had knickers underneath\u2013I kept thinking I should take my pants off, do you think anyone would have noticed?\u201d<\/p><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\u201cRen, believe me, if you had stripped off your pants on stage in the middle of the show, everyone in the audience would have noticed.\u201d<\/div>\n<div>Whew! \u00a0Just dodged a bigger bullet!<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cI think Ren\u2019s losing his pants,\u201d whispered Scott as we watched Annie Get Your Gun for the 2nd time in one weekend. I looked over to my boy dancing on stage and sure enough he was grasping his pants with one hand while trying to wave his other in unison with everyone else while singing [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1263,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Show must go on. . . even if your Pants are Falling Down!<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"&quot;I think Ren&#039;s losing his pants,&quot; whispered Scott as we watched Annie Get Your Gun for the 2nd time in one weekend.I looked over to my boy dancing on\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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