Concert Chaos Created My Latest #ParentFail

Happy June, y’all! I’m glad May is over, because it’s always the absolute craziest month when it comes to the end-of-school-year chaos. For some reason, May is when everything school-related is crammed into the span of a few weeks. It’s a constant overload of projects, class parties, permission slips to sign, etc. 

Juggling all of this minutiae isn’t easy, and I try hard to prevent things from falling between the cracks. But we all have a #momfail now & then, no matter how hard we try. 

Ladies & gentlemen, welcome to Mom Fail #25,298.

We had #3’s spring band concert on a Monday night, & the following night was #4’s elementary school spring concert. Tuesday was a blitz of errands for me, & there was a mad rush that night to get to the concert on time. 

#4 had her hair down, but it was fairly messy. As she ran into the building I told her, “Put your hair up before you go on stage!”

(The assumption that she did will be important later.)

#4 often wears her hair up with some kind of cute bow. Here’s an example:

(and the mention of her frequent bow use will also be important later…)

My husband & I found seats “along the window side of the gym”, as told by #4 so that we could best see her. We were accompanied by my mothers & my in-laws, a nice big group to celebrate #4’s chorus efforts. Ideally, anyway.

So the 3rd/4th grade chorus appeared on stage, & there were TONS of kids filling the risers. All the concert goers craned their necks to try to find their own kid- we did the same. After lots of hunting, I spotted #4- the dark glasses. The hair up. The bow, a sparkly one. Smart move, #4, because the bow stood out, making it easy to see her!

The picture is intentionally blurred. To protect the identities of the kids that aren’t mine. Notice that even the boxed child, “mine”, is blurred… we’ll get there.

She was great. She seemed really into it- had the hand motions down pat, a big smile. We tried to get her attention by waving between songs, but she didn’t notice. 

But the important thing is, we saw her. We were there for HER.

And that’s what counts, right?

Well… not.so.much.

Once the concert ended, I went back to the cafeteria where parents meet their kids after the finale. As I waited on line, kids left with the parents that we ahead of me. Just as I reached the door of the cafeteria, I spotted the trademark sparkly bow…

…on the head of another girl.

A girl wearing dark glasses.

A girl that, although she LOOKED a lot like #4, was not, in fact, #4.

And at the cafeteria door was #4, with her hair still down, glasses off, and a big smile on her face, saying, “How did I do?!”

I should have lied. Parents tell white lies often, even though we tell our kids not to lie, because we want to protect them. I should have lied & said that we watched her the entire time, that she did a fabulous job, that we loved seeing her up there.

But- I didn’t.

I blurted out the truth:

“I thought another girl was you! We all saw a girl that looked just like you, with a sparkly bow, and -“

#4: “What?? But I don’t even have a sparkly bow!”

(Which, in hindsight, I should have known, being the sole buyer of the bows and all.)

So my husband, my mother & my in-laws and I spent the entire show cheering on a girl, who -while she did a fantastic job- was not in fact, related to us.

Thankfully #4 has a sense of humor. Instead of revealing that she was aware of our gaffe, she approached the group & asked, “Well, did you like my singing?”

Collectively: “Great job, #4!” “You did so well!” “You looked like you were having fun up there!”

#4: “THAT WASN’T ME!!!”

The best part? While we were eagerly attempting to get “sparkly bow” girl’s attention, my own daughter was watching us, assuming we were waving to her.

Ice cream goes a long way to smoothing over childhood trauma, apparently, because #4 was happily placated with some Baskin Robbins following the show. And she now has a fun story to tell in the future about how her parents blew it. I mean, we were there, but we were there for the “sparkly bow girl”. Accidentally, of course.

Life Lessons To Be Learned Through This Cautionary Tale:

1. Have your kid wear something sparkly when on stage in a group, because he/she stands out. I mean really stands out- more than your own kid who isn’t wearing something sparkly, apparently.

2. Grandparents aren’t necessarily older “and wiser”. If they were, THEY would have figured out we weren’t watching their grandchild the whole time, right??

3. Parenting fails happen. To all of us.

Just when you think you’ve nailed this parent gig down, assuming you’ve got it under control, you have some sort of epic fail that occurs to remind you that parenting constantly a work in progress, as it should be. If you fail sometimes -and we all do- remember that you’re not alone. 

Any fun #parentfails of your own? Feel free to share them here!