Conquering Fears, One Talent Show at a Time

A couple of weeks ago, Midge came to me with one of her many papers from school and announced to me that the school was having a talent show and she decided that she was going to be in it.  Since she loves to write, I thought maybe she would read one of her stories or something like that.  Good, I thought, it's great that she wants to overcome some of her Nervous Nelly behaviors.  I should know by now to not assume anything when it comes to these daughters of mine.  Maybe someday I will learn what I should already know.  I asked her if she had something in mind and she beamed.  She told me she was going to sing a Taylor Swift song and have a backup dancer on stage with her.  You could have scraped my jaw off the kitchen floor.

Midge is a lot of things.  She is very smart, goofy, diligent, and has a heart made out of pure gold.  She has many great qualities that would make any mother proud.  Singing just doesn't happen to be on that list.  She has inherited my love for music but she has also inherited my pitch and tone.  I grew up thinking it was a family trait until I met some of my dad's family later in life.  They have talent abound but that seems to have apparently skipped my branch of the family tree.  Such is life.  I didn't want to alarm her with my concern so I asked her what made her decide on singing.  She told me very plainly that she knows there are things she is better at, but she wants to prove to herself that she can do something that she is very much afraid of.  This kid has balls.

She originally had an entire group of girls that were supposed to dance and sing back-up behind her but all but one have decided that the idea of being up on stage in front of all those kids and parents is too much.  She has spent a lot of time practicing along with the instrumental and dress rehearsal was last week.  The talent show coordinator called us and told my husband that she needs to practice and that he feels bad for her.  Needless to say, that pissed me off.  I'm pretty sure that there are kids at the school with a reasonable amount of talent but I am also relatively certain that Simon Cowell won't be there swooping up a bunch of kids in 3rd to 5th grade because their talent is just so freaking jaw-dropping.  It's an elementary school talent show for crying out loud.  If you've ever been to a spring concert at one of them, you know what I'm talking about.  She has no delusions of a miraculous performance.  She just wants to get up there, complete the song without forgetting the words, have some fun and know that she has conquered a fear.  Have I mentioned this kid has balls?

Obviously I am concerned.  I've seen American Idol and I know what happens when someone is told by their family that they have an amazing talent and nobody can bring themselves to be truthful.  That poor soul ends up on a show in the first two weeks of the season and then the network and basically an entire nation mocks them openly.   There is a dirty little secret that parents don't discuss openly and I am going to tell you it.  Kids can be assholes.  I'm not saying all kids are assholes all the time but all kids will be an asshole at least once.  If you're a parent and you're thinking that your sweet kid could never be an asshole, I have news for you.  You're delusional.  While I'm concerned that some kid (or worse, some adult, GOD HELP THEM IF THIS IS THE CASE) will be mean, I also know that most of them will be supportive unconditionally.

The talent show is tomorrow night.  If she gets on stage and goes through with something she has a lot of butterflies in her belly about, great.  If she gets up there and decides she can't go through with it, I can't say that I would hold it against her.  Whatever will be will be.  The only thing I have no uncertainty over is the fact that she has balls.  Just in case you forgot.