Pre School Party - Advice to Children's Entertainers...

Today was the big Pre-School party at the YMCA in Castledowns. We skipped it last year and I wish I could have gotten away with skipping it this year. It is funny. The YMCA does this as a big event, but I think most of the parents hate it. We would rather just a quiet little 'to do' as part of the regular class on the last day. The problem is, there are kids who go 1, 2, or 3 days and that means that any day of the week could be a 'last' day. So, they have a big party for ALL the pre-school kids. Crazy! It could have been worse. It was loud (which I can deal with) and unstructured (which I have a harder time with) and they had a children's performer... oh my. It was Peter Puffin, and he was okay, but there were a number of things that really were not handled well. About half of the parents totally abdicated any responsibility for their kids. This was the biggest problem and it aggravated all the others. So, when Peter Puffin asked for volunteers and he gave specific instructions (sit cross legged, with hands folded in your laps) BUT he didn't follow those rules for picking his child helpers. Parents did nothing about their kids jumping up, and Peter Puffin let them be the volunteers. Poor Gibson. He followed all the rules and he NEVER got picked. Some kids got picked 2 and 3 times because they jumped up or ran up, or waved their arm and yelled. It drove me nuts and after the 2nd or 3rd time it happened, I had a sobbing 4 year old because it was not fair (Gibson's words). He even asked once 'what about me?' and Peter Puffin said 'I'll get you later. There will be other times.', but he never did. So, when Gibson realized the concert was over and he was not given a turn to help he was distraught. He wanted nothing to do with Peter Puffin, and would not even give him a high 5 when we left. The kicker is that Peter Puffin didn't even realize that he snubbed this poor little kid.

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