Today, we held the party for my daughter’s 14th birthday. Now, at times she is still the typical teen, the type about whom the universe revolves. But today she was that unique and talented young women that I just love to see come out.
Most teen birthdays are what? Dancing? Craziness? Perhaps a movie? Not for nsshere. No, we found a friend of my mother-in-law who has a full stage in a barn. We rented that. She spent four hours doing improvisation games with her friends, most of whom were also in play production. They were doing Charades. They were doing improvised skits based on their own ideas or from Nanofictionary. They were playing “What ‘cha doing?” Yes, at time they were teens a bit too focused on sex. But they were being creative, and using their minds, and this was such a delight to see. We had some chips and an ice-cream bar, cleaned up, and it was just a nice fun day.
I think this shows how parents can be positive influences on children. We’ve never directed her into any theatre careers (and that’s even living in Los Angeles, where everyone is approached with offers to put their kids in film or commercials). What we’ve done is expose her to live theatre, since she was young, and she’s acquired a love for it on her own. We combine that we teachers who reinforced that love and made her love school, mixed in a bit of the technical side (she loves lights and stage management), and just let the mixture simmer. The result is maturing quite nicely.
