Yesterday Daegan had his first drama class ever—an activity I thought he might enjoy given (a) you get to move around a lot, (b) you get to play games and be silly, and (c) it’s not competitive. However, Daegan very clearly stated that he did NOT want to be signed up for it, insisting that he did not like drama class because it is something he has never tried before. Sigh. I find this to be a rather challenging aspect of parenting this child. One the one hand, Jim and I believe in listening to your kids, respecting them and their wishes as much as possible, etc. On the other, we do not accept “I don’t like it” as a reasonable stance when the activity (food, etc.) in question has never been tried. And the reality is, with Daegan’s personality, he simply would not try many new things without a bit of a push from us. So after a brief discussion of ‘new things he’s tried that he now loves’ and ‘new things he wants to try’—e.g., going on a fossil dig—that he would not get to try following the ‘I don’t like new things’ stance, I signed him up for class anyways. We told him we expected him to try it with a good attitude, and if at the end of the 8 week session he really didn’t enjoy it, that’s fine, we won’t sign him up again.
The result? Here’s what happened when I went to pick him up from class:
Daegan sees me waiting just outside the door, gives me a huge smile, says goodbye to his teacher, and comes running. “I liked it! I didn’t think I’d like it cuz it was new, but I really liked it! It was so much fun, Mommy…(pause)…Do I have drama class again next Saturday?” He told me a bit about the specific games he played (a variant of musical chairs entitled ‘the homeless fairy’, and one called ‘energy!’ were his faves). Afterwards, I had a quick word with the teacher as to how Daegan did. (We’ve had some challenges in other classes). “Oh, I had lots of kids struggling to pay attention at times today,” she said. “But Daegan? Daegan did really well—he listened well, and was enthusiastic and very keen to put on a show.”
Fingers crossed and early days, but looks like we may have found another outlet for the boys’ creative energies. Gareth starts a new drama class next week as well.