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Original poster

Nativity performance disappointment

136 replies

FruHagen · 11/12/2020 20:48

Due to COVID restrictions it was not possible to go in person to see my sons nativity play. This is the first play any of my children have been in so I was looking forward to it... instead it was filmed.

So we watched it tonight and my son who is 8 was the worst performer in the play. He seemed to be quite happy but he didn't use the microphone and held a shepherds hook in front of his face the whole time.

All the other kids were like stage school kids with strong confident performances. So I was quite upset and disappointed and blamed myself for not practicing enough with him.

Can anyone relate or care to share their own nativity dissatisfaction.

I had obviously thought it was going to be a magical experience that I would cherish forever Grin

OP posts:
Original poster
FruHagen · 11/12/2020 22:25

I am proud of him, it was me I was thinking could of done a better job. It can be quite difficult without social interaction during lockdown to get a normal sense of the world so that's why I posted on here. If I was in an audience I would of seen other parents and felt less alone.

OP posts:
LaceyBetty · 11/12/2020 22:27

Aw, I get it, but this is what school nativities are all about. If he was happy and not stressed, it was a good outcome.

IEat · 11/12/2020 22:28

My son sulked one year through the entire school play about a skinny snowman because he was told to turn and face the front.
They're crap, they go on and on and on, you can't hear anything and you've suffered weeks and weeks of them practicing we WISH you a merry Christmas 423,364 times. Happy days

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Events & celebrations
CaptainMyCaptain · 11/12/2020 22:30

[quote Cattenberg]What were you saying about strong confident performances? Anyway, here’s one I really enjoyed Grin

m.youtube.com/watch?v=ihQuiyV-lXU[/quote]
I absolutely love that one. I was going to post it. It was the loud singer's sister who originally put it on YouTube.

Lilmzsnowflake · 11/12/2020 22:31

Ds aged 4 was a wise man. He was appalled at having to wear a ‘dress’ and basically threw the gift at the manger, then during the final song pulled the dress up over his head and waved his arms from side to side inside it. It was being filmed for parents to buy on Cd later. I have a copy that will be saved for future enjoyment 😁 at the time I was mortified but the other parents thought it was fabulous. His Paw Patrol pants have gone down in school history! As long as the kids are happy it’s all good.

PronkWine · 11/12/2020 22:33

We lost Joseph mid performance one year as he was about to vomit 🤢

TerrifiedandWorried · 11/12/2020 22:35

DS2 stood centre stage, pulled up his shepherd's costume, showed everyone his pants and WINKED at the audience.

DinosApple · 11/12/2020 22:38

My children hid shyly at the back, even the gobby one.

This year is my second being a TA in reception class. Last year my nerves were battered with rehearsals, stopping the shepherds fighting, praying the star didn't take an eye out with an umbrella and trying not to miss my cue to slide the baby Jesus onto stage Grin.
This year was a doddle! A picture nativity, every clearly child in view, they all had to only cooperate and look angelic for a millisecond (which was still tricky!) But I feel the new parents will get a shock next year when they (hopefully) get to see the live action carnage.

booearing · 11/12/2020 22:40

My first Ds was Joseph in the Nativity play and he spent the whole time calling me to ask if i was going to take photos of him.
Then he was at the part where Joseph and Mary were knocking at the inn and the inn keeper shuts his fingers in the door and he is shouting ow ow ow it was a disaster but he loved it all.
Apart from hurting his fingers.

Fuckitsstillraining · 11/12/2020 22:45

As long as your dc enjoyed the play that's all that matters. Not sure if this link will work but it's well worth a look if it does, it's a small school not too far from me that due to restrictions couldn't have a normal nativity play this year.
m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=3475619389185793&id=1093114600769629

crackofdoom · 11/12/2020 22:59

I love a properly anarchic Nativity play. The kids at the DSes school are an exceptionally characterful and spirited bunch (DS2 not least among them), so school plays will usually feature one or two kids deciding to do a bit of freeform dancing during the songs, a King having a full punch up with an angel centre stage, a couple of absconders, someone dissolving into tears and having to be cuddled, someone nearly falling off the 4ft high stage, and the shepherds having all their crooks and stuffed sheep confiscated because they've discovered their potential as weapons.

BeeDavis · 11/12/2020 22:59

My mum has a video of when I played Mary in my year 2 Nativity and I literally spend the whole play with a face like a smacked arse 😂😂 I wouldn’t be too disappointed!

MaryLeeOnHigh · 11/12/2020 23:09

My favourite nativity was the one where one of the angels was obviously struggling with the scratchy tinsel around the neck of her costume. First she pulled it up so it was on top of her head and she looked like a ghost, but it came down again. So ultimately she just tore it off and happily spent the rest of the performance in vest and pants. Her mum was mortified, but the rest of us congratulated her on her daughter being the star of the show.

Unescorted · 11/12/2020 23:13

Thank you so much for making me laugh so much that I have twanged something. DD was so shite in a nativity version of Chicago that as a dancing / chorus she made a more convincing ice statue. To this day I still don't know why the sheep were in the cell.

It can be quite difficult without social interaction during lockdown to get a normal sense of the world so that's why I posted on here. If I was in an audience I would of seen other parents and felt less alone.

In the room we would have all sat there po faces... it is here we can truly roar with laughter about how random it is.

PyongyangKipperbang · 11/12/2020 23:16

@FruHagen

I am proud of him, it was me I was thinking could of done a better job. It can be quite difficult without social interaction during lockdown to get a normal sense of the world so that's why I posted on here. If I was in an audience I would of seen other parents and felt less alone.
He is what? 4?

I really dont think that you would have judged him any more able if you had been with other people. The simple fact is that you are disappointed in your very small child for not delivering the special experience you feel you deserve.

FYI, its about him, not you.

AmICrazyorWhat2 · 11/12/2020 23:17

@PronkWine

We lost Joseph mid performance one year as he was about to vomit 🤢
Mary actually did vomit at one Nativity I saw. Luckily it was at the end when people were getting up to leave.🤢

Her parents said she hadn’t been feeling well that morning...why did they send her in?🤣

PyongyangKipperbang · 11/12/2020 23:17

And if you need to take your social cues from what other people are doing, with regards to your own child, the nativity is the least of your worries.

TwinkleFairyLight · 11/12/2020 23:19

You'll look back and think how adorable he was in it when he is older. Enjoy it just as it is now OP. Don't dampen it with dreams of a perfect performance. It was perfect just as it is.

Italiangreyhound · 11/12/2020 23:22

My dd has never been willing to do the things other kids wanted to do. I can certainly understand the disappointment.

But if he enjoyed it, that's good.

Fudgefeet · 11/12/2020 23:31

My dd was always in the back row of singers with a bit of tinsel on her head every single year. Bored the pants off me sitting there for half an hour smiling at her forehead which was all I could see. She was always so proud and enjoyed it so that’s what counts. I’m glad I don’t have to go to any of those anymore!

FortunesFave · 11/12/2020 23:31

My DD was Mary in reception and I thought I was the bees knees. Watched it and she spent the entire performance chatting to Joseph. I was so embarrassed! Ridiculous to care I now realise looking back!

LiJo2015 · 11/12/2020 23:37

If it makes you feel any better... my son was Joseph at nursery. He started crying and bee-lined to me and refused to go back! Poor Mary had to go through it all alone 🤣

m0therofdragons · 11/12/2020 23:40

Dd1 is now 12 but in her first nativity a child vomited on stage during the second song. Her mum came and scooped her off stage and the TA threw down newspaper and they carried on. Dd was totally oblivious even though it happened in front of her. Dd2 was once the Angel Gabriel and once she’d said all her lines (beautifully) she crossed her arms and looked beyond bored for the rest of the show. If he enjoyed it that’s all that matters.

GuiltyPleasure · 11/12/2020 23:46

Dd was Mary in her reception year nativity play. Her year group had 5 girls & 25 boys. She was so upset that she wasn't with the other girls, dressed in tinsel as stars and angels, clearly having lots of fun. She did the entire performance giving death stares, sat there swaddled in a blue cloth, viciously rocking her doll baby Jesus 😂

WeAllHaveWings · 11/12/2020 23:51

Ds only had a main part in a nativity once, it was during his last year at nursery when he was nearly 5. I had been called as a witness at the sheriff court so couldn't go and videos /cameras were not allowed. Dh went with his gran, who was so pleased to be able to go instead and they said he was brilliant.

The sheriff court was between the nursery and the church hall where it was being held. So I saw them from a tiny window all walking over excited, and waking back while I sat in a witness room all day alone wishing I was there instead. Never even got called to give evidence in the end.

Had to make do with a home performance instead and ds telling me all about it.

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