Gymnastics Program

The most heartbreaking scene for a mother is seeing their children when they are sad.

No, wait.  I take that back.  The most heartbreaking moment in a mother's life is when they see their children sad and scared....and there's nothing she can do about it.

It was only 1 minute and 48 seconds, but it seemed like forever. 

{I know, I'm being dramatic here, but really, it broke my heart.}



I'm not sure if you can tell from this video, but Parker cried his way through his gymnastics performance.  I don't blame him....the gymnastics studio was packed with parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and others.  It wasn't anything like gymnastics practice.  It was pretty chaotic.

I mean, geesh, Brandon and Andrew were standing in the back row and couldn't see any of Parker's performance.  There were so many people.

As soon as his performance was over, I went back stage to see him.  Parker ran into my arms and cried and said he didn't like that at all.  Not one single bit.

So, we dropped it.  His grandpas and grandmas, aunts, and cousins who came to watch all told him he did great and asked him to show it again when we got home.

He did.  Then we ate pizza and played some Lego Star Wars.  We put that gymnastics program in our memory cupboard....and, I don't think we're going to pull it out again.

I am so accustomed to Parker being my 'go with the flow' kind of a boy, that it didn't even occur to me that he wouldn't have any idea what a 'gymnastics program' meant.  I thought he would love it.  This was a huge learning moment for me and it's an experience that I'm glad happened, but not one that I want to relive anytime soon!

Next Sunday, Parker will be a Shepherd in the Christmas program at church...I've got a new plan for getting him ready for that performance...it involves a good afternoon nap, a Momma that will stay with him until it starts, and a preview of the audience before he goes out on stage.

How do you help your kids get prepared for things like this?