It wasn't really 'my thing' but I feel it is very important to go watch shows live.
I cannot believe how much I enjoyed watching 25 adults zoom around a stage on roller skates pretending to be toy trains!
Infront of me were a couple, not much older than me, and inbetween them, their teenage daughter, who had learning difficulties. They clearly loved her and it was so enderring to watch her cuddle and hug them. At first she was very antimated and enjoyed the show, but as it wore on, it was obvious that it was becoming harder to keep her occupied. As the show was nearing the end something startled her and she screamed. Unable to calm her down quickly, her parents took her out.
We all know what it is like to take small children to something and to keep them occupied and quiet, but I was really struck, just how much courage it must have taken for this couple to bring their child.
I some times sit on tender hooks with my own children not knowing how they will react, how much more so must this couple have felt, with the upredicablity of their daughters behaviour?
I felt deeply saddened that they had to leave the show.
I have never had a child with special needs. The nearest I have come to this was working for a period of time in a lovely little school on the Wirral, which sadly, thanks mainly to Baroness Warnock's report, is now no longer functioning. I remember clearly taking the children out shopping. I was a student and had no children of my own. It was nerve wracking. The headmaster gave me a little boy that was terrified of electric doors and another who hated umberellas.
Bear in mind we went SHOPPING and it was RAINING.
He did it on purpose, so I would never judge the parents for rarely having the courage to take them out.
I never did.
My own children really enjoyed the performance. I left, with perhaps a new appreciation of how fortunate I am, to never have to be placed in that kind of situation, as well as a new respect for the courage and tenacity her parents showed.
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