Show Me Some Attitude

On Sunday, I got to be a Room Mom for Baeleigh's first dance recital. What is a Room Mom you ask? Well, it is the star role of helping to entertain, dress, primp, feed, take to the bathroom a gaggle of 5-7 year olds backstage during their dance recital.

Although I saw the whole show as a ticket-holder the previous night, Baeleigh was also performing on Sunday. Rather than pay another $16 to basically be there to pick up my kid. I volunteered as a Room Mom. As her number neared, I lined the girls up in the hallway. When it was our turn we filed in, and I figured I'd have to wait at the door until she was brought out again. But, No! I walked in right behind her and stood there waiting our turn behind the curtain, mixed in with several other dance groups all equally as excited to take the stage. The same curtain that I hid behind in my high school years for school performances and dance classes. Some of the girls were huddled together running through their numbers one last time. Instructors were tucked behind the front black drapes mimicking the dance numbers and exaggerately singing the words to the song for the little 2-3 year olds that were onstage performing to follow. The tech crew was swirling around all of us.

As we were waiting I said, "Show me some attitude out there!" And, Baeleigh looks up at me totally perplexed, "But Mommy, why do you want me to show you attitude? You want me to be MEAN!" OK, bad choice of words. I laughed, and said, "No, honey. Just smile and boogie your hiney off out there!" Then, one of the instructers said, "Alright, girls, show me some ENERGY!". Yeah, "energy", that's the word I was looking for! And, with that, her number was next and I touched her back to prod her to her spot behind the curtain and said "Have fun, honey! Smile! I love you!" She skipped herself out to her spot and did her thing. She did better even than the evening before. I was so proud! The lights went down and she came running back to me, I hugged her and scurried back to our backstage room. "You did great! Did you have fun?!" "YEAH!"

We went up to the balcony for the rest of the show, and she just sat on the edge of her seat watching almost the entire thing. I mean, come on, she's a five year old. Of course, there was some rough-housing and mischief!

So, do I play Room Mom again next year - 4.5 hours of action-packed responsiblity for about 3 minutes of wonderful...wow, that's a tough one! But, maybe...