Yesterday at the end of drahma camp, came this conversation:
Mother: Trevor is very upset. He says he’s NOT in the play!
(I Thought: Trevor is being a little drama queen.)
I Said: Trevor is in the play.
Mother: He says he’s not. He doesn’t have any lines.
(I Thought: Yup. That’s right. This is theatre; you gotta earn it.)
I Said: Well, no, he doesn’t have any lines. The kids were told they needed to audition if they wanted a speaking part or solo. Trevor didn’t audition, but he’s definitely in the show.
Mother: Well, I can’t believe that. He loves this sort of thing.
(I Thought: Huh. Funny, I did NOT get that sense from his constant rolling on the floor.)
I Said: Well, that’s great. I’m sure he does. It would be great to see a little more of that.
Mother: Well, can’t you just give him a line anyway?
(I Thought: NO.)
I Said: I believe all the lines are taken by kids who auditioned for a speaking part.
Mother: So he can’t have a line?
(I Thought: NO! I’M NOT IN THE HABIT OF GIVING SOMETHING FOR NOTHING HERE, ESPECIALLY TO A KID WHO’S DONE NOTHING BUT ROLL AROUND ON HIS ARSE AND BEEN NOTHING BUT A PAIN IN MINE.)
I Said: Well, if one of the lines becomes available, I’d likely hold “mini auditions” for it, so there’s always that possibility.
Mother: Well, he’s just so upset.
(I Thought: !?#%@??!!!!!!)
I Said: Well, perhaps you can talk to him tonight about why he chose not to audition and encourage him to do so if another opportunity comes up.
I moved my mouth, hoping to find the shape of a smile. I don’t think I did. Mother stared at me, confused; walked away, confused. I could read her mind:
“What?! I don’t get what I want just because I want it, I really, REALLY want it?! Waaaahhhh!!!”
Whatever.
Drama queens.
I couldn’t help but laugh about this one – I am a high school teacher, and my last week of classes in a previous year of school featured three of these obnoxious characters. One of them, actually a Mom/Dad tag-team pair, pulled out the stops because I had “given” them, er, their child, a grade on a major project they believed that they, er, their child did not deserve, and when I stood my ground (backed up by my department head, who said I had graded too high to begin with), I thought their heads were gonna literally explode. They ran this one all the way up to the school board (really!), accused me of nearly everything from simple incompetance to the rape of Nanking, tried with all their might to get me fired, threatened to take Their Lil’ Precious One Elsewhere (don’t throw me in that briar patch…), and finally told me with a straight face that my integrity was at stake. All this to gain a maximum possible raise of the kid’s final grade from an 87 to an 88. This one incident continued on for three days, and wasted the time of everyone from me through the highest level of administration. “Drama Queens” indeed – best advice I can give is to get a big giggle out of it everytime it comes to mind, and drive on.
*Nasal screeching whine* “But she knows all the steps! Why CAN’T she dance on the front row?!”
*Me* thought: Because she’s about as graceful as a waterbuffalo and (when she attends) all she does is stand in the corner picking her nose and farting.
Superb.
good girl. we are so proud of you.
The SELF RESTRAINT
The CONTROL
could I do it? I don’t think so.
(so, don’t you sometimes, deep deep down in your heart, wish certian people would stumble across your blog? ahhh, the satisfaction from such an encounter would be grand.
but then again – it would ruin your blog for life… oh well, we can dream.)
This was actually really encouraging for me. I’m so conflict-averse that I might have actually given the kid a line. But I wouldn’t have been thinking of all the kids who did work hard, and who earned their moments in the spotlight. You handled this very well, and kept in your mind what the effects of giving him a line would have been on everyone else.
Rolling on the floor? Really?
-M@
FireTeacher — So you know the road all too well ….. great story!
JM — Not *that* much restraint. I DID think those things.
M@ — Yes. ROLLING ON THE FLOOR. If I could have written that into the script, he’d be perfect for the part.
WG — Thank the Lord above I don’t have one of THOSE!
Wait – “ship Naked”? Is this some new nudist naval blog? Or perhaps somebody who’s in charge of delivering a certain brand of freshly squeezed fruit juices? Do we have a link?
-M@
M@, actually “ship Naked” is a new delivery service in competition with UPS.
“What can skin-tone do for you?” 😉
Rev! Shocking! 😉
I think that would put UPS out of business, don’t you?
But UPS has those shorts. I’m told that they are pretty effective, yet I digress.
I worked at a youth camp this summer. I now realize that I took for granted one blessing I hadn’t thought of. We in no way ever had to deal with parents. The trade off is that we had to work with youth ministers (that can go either way).
You have a rich inner thought life.
😉