If She Doesn't Care, Why Should I?

Tomorrow night our elementary school is having an “Evening of the Arts,” which basically means displaying a lot of stuff that parents of the individual artists will only appreciate.   And then they’re working in a Science-O-Rama at the same time because, well, I guess Arts & Sciences go so well together.

During the 90 minute extravaganza, there will be vocal and instrumental music performances in the gym.  The music teacher had kids try out for this part of the evening, and initially I was very impressed when my 10-yr old daughter showed such enthusiasm for auditioning.  “What will you sing?” I asked.  “Not sure.  There’s no assigned theme, so I’ll just pick something.”  And I’m thinking…something popular.  Something familiar.  Maybe a Disney tune?  Um…NO.  She chose to audition with Wierd Al Yankovic’s “The Saga Begins.” 

Don’t know the song?  Let me fill you in.  It’s set to the tune of “American Pie” and tells the story of the Star Wars prequels.  Sample lyrics:  “My, my, this here Aniken guy.  May be Vader some day later, now he’s just a small fry.  He left his home and kissed his mommy goodbye, sayin’ ‘Soon I’m gonna be a Jedi’.”  I figured I’d let her do her own thing with the audition, smugly thinking to myself that the music teacher would gently let her down.  But, no, he gave her a spot in the performance!

And then I thought, he’ll ask her to sing another song.  No.  He said he liked her “take on things.”

What????  Oh my word.

So, I’ve been discreetly trying to steer her towards another song choice for the last two weeks.  But she’s stuck on this song.  She is an individual child, that’s for sure.  And I have to take some responsibility; the only reason she ever heard that song is because I accepted a Radio Disney CD from a friend years ago, and that song was on it!  And my kids all love it!  Despite the fact that they barely know anything about the Star Wars movies, and they know nothing about the original song.

I ran into the music teacher yesterday and told him that I’d been trying to get my daughter to change her mind on the song.  He told me, “Every child brings something different to the table.  I love that she wants to do this off-the-wall song!”  I felt embarrased and even a little humbled.

My husband and I talked about it, and I finally realized something.  If I was sitting in an audience and some other kid had gone up to do that song, I know that I’d chuckle to myself and think, “Right on, kid!”  If it weren’t MY child, I’d appreciate the randomness of it all.  But it IS my child, and I’m worried of what other people will think.  I can be such an idiot sometimes.  My husband finished our discussion with a very simple question:  “If she doesn’t care, why do we care so much?”  Why indeed.

You might also enjoy these related posts from Tree, Root, and Twig:

1. Listerine Oral Care Challenge
2. Wierd Al Rocks the House

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