Parenting 101

I had one of those “Ahhh, what do I say?” parenting moments last night.
I’d sent the girls up their rooms to get ready for bed, finished up a few things and went upstairs to tuck them in. There sat Ali in her bed looking awfully forlorn. I questioned her and she explained to me with tears in her eyes that she did not get the Big part that she was hoping for in Drama.
Our school started drama program last year and it was a big success. They put on a fun play at the end of the year and This year they offered the program again. I don’t think they realized just how popular it was going to be because there are over 100 students there every Tuesday morning ready to perform.
Ali had auditioned last week hoping for the part of “Cat” in there final play and from the sound of it, had assumed she’d won the part. (I mean after all, her crush was going to be the ‘Dog’, and together they’d be the stars of the show). She’d practiced and practiced and knew every word. It WAS her part!
However when the Drama teacher announced parts yesterday Ali was not only Not the ‘Cat’, but her humiliating title? “Narrator”!
She is devastated. I spent twenty minutes telling her things that I’d hoped would make her think more positively about her part. I told her that the Narrator was an extremely important part of the play and the play couldn’t possibly go on without the narrator, (which is when she informed me that she was Not the only narrator, but ‘Narrator 12’)
I told her how they’d chosen her because they were so impressed by her voice and memorizing skills, and that maybe they gave the part of “cat” to someone who needed to improve on their acting abilities because you know its “drama CLASS”.. I tried and tried but I Had NO idea what I was supposed to say. She was heartbroken that she hadn’t gotten the part. She was embarrassed because she had assumed she had, she felt like she wasn’t good enough, and she felt like they’d given her a “stupid” part for ‘kids that weren’t good actors’ because you know, “Narrators” don’t even get SEEN! .. The worst part? Her crush DID get the part of ‘Dog’.
In the end I told her she could feel bad that she didn’t get the part she’d hoped for, but that she needed to move on and to be positive and give her best to the part that she did have. Through tears she agreed, but I still felt powerless in making her feel any better.
Its only going to get harder from here…. I wish there was a book that gave parents exact phrases to use when situations like this happen!