How a Spoonful of Perform Helps the Confidence Come Out
Confidence is something that we’d all love to be able to infuse our children with – I’m sure many parents have wished it was something you could bottle and administer now and again.
Alas, I fear science still has some way to go on that front…
In the meantime, I’ve heard quite a few parents describe Perform as ‘confidence medicine’ for children who can sometimes be shy or awkward in new situations. Little by little, with our warm and friendly teachers’ encouragement, the games that we play and the example that the other children set, they start to gain confidence.
That, after all, is why I set up Perform. I’d worked for other drama schools but no one else was focusing on drama specifically to help children develop social skills. Sure, some of them *said* that they did, but in reality they were just as concerned about sending the kids to audition for shows.
So it was fabulous last week to pop into a local class and be hugged by a Mum and Dad who told me that their child had literally transformed since she’d been coming. This little girl had started with us in May and back then her parents were really concerned about her. Her total lack of confidence was completely ruining her school experience, she was struggling to make friends, she wouldn’t ever answer the teacher’s questions out loud and would never go on play dates – let alone sleep over at a friend’s house.
First Day at School
Earlier this month, for the first time I really felt like a parent.
This might seem like a slightly odd confession given that I have two children; but bear with me and all will become clear :)
My eldest is now 3 and this month started doing half-days at a local nursery school. As part of the “settling in process”, on the first day, you take your child into the class and spend the session sitting on the sidelines; on the second day, you take your child into class, but then you leave them there and go and sit in the staff room; then, finally on the third day, you take them in and are allowed to leave the building.
At Perform, I’m obviously used to seeing it from the teacher’s point of view. I’ve been running sessions for over ten years so it’s second nature to reassuring anxious parents (and of course children). We bring the children into the session then encourage the parents to go off and grab a little time for themselves.
So it felt really strange being on the other side – seeing things for the first time from a parent’s point of view.
Do you need to be a Parent to express a view on Parenting?
Hello there!
A couple of weeks ago I penned a post bemoaning what I saw as overly indulgent parenting – it was always going to be a little controversial – let’s face it – posts expressing opinions on parenting inevitably are!
I think it’s probably fair to say that the commenters on the post were evenly split – two nods of agreement, a not quite sure and this:
“I am sorry, Lucy, but until you have a kid yourself you shouldn’t criticise the way other people choose to bring up their children…”
Just for the record I do have two children, so I’ll take it to mean that Jane (the commenter) didn’t agree with my views – which of course is absolutely fine – I welcome debate. However her comment really got me thinking.
Do you really need to be a parent in order for your views on parenting to be valid?
This Month in the Blogosphere – August 2010
Goodness – hasn’t August just flown by? I do hope you’ve all had a wonderful time over the Summer. At Perform, we’ve been super-busy preparing for the Autumn term and getting plans in place to open new schools. Plus, following a new piece of research from Save The Children about the importance of after school activities, Perform appeared on the BBC (NB apologies – for some reason the sound is a little out of sync on this video):
Sally Copley, head of UK policy at Save the Children said “Children who do after-school activities have more confidence, see the world in different ways, have a stronger sense of identity – and this ultimately translates into doing better in exams and getting a better job. “
