'Why isn't my child Mary' syndrome

[Pud2]

AIBU to get irritated by parents who complain to the school when their DC doesn't get a good part in a production?

Your school had auditions for the Nativity play tess?

I always suspected my teachers of not stretching us, but now it's been confirmed.

I remember one year, a mother made a point of saying to me that the reason son was a King, and my son only had the role of Shepherd, was because she prayed for him to be a King.
Apparently I didn't 'pray' enough. .

Shedid used to badger parents with copies of Watchtower etc.

her son

This is a funny thread.

waterDucksBack that's hilarious as is the grain of sand.

I didn't really mean to start a Christmas thread! The title is just my name for the scenario - parents who think their DC should have the lead role, or sing the solo, or be chosen for every team etc. must be a complete nightmare for teachers. I witnessed a teacher being shouted at by a parent because her DD wasn't happy with her part in a play. The parent ended up crying over it. 'Get a life' sprung to my mind!

I was Mary in the nursery nativity. The next year we did a different play and my mum had joined the staff of the infant school and I was... Wait for it.... a polar bear

Still a funny thread Pud2 :)

Dd is another who doesn't want a starring role. Fortunately I realised that before doing anything foolish.

in my experience they give the good parts to the shyest children not till we moved schools and pointed out to the headteacher our daughter needed a boost did they realise she was bloody good at projecting her voice and acting it was the only school who was sensible about giving her a good speaking part since then she has been ignored by the other schools she has a very "whatever" attitude about it now

I can sort of understand the teachers wanting to play it 'safe'. I think in some schools, the teachers take it in turns to put on and manage productions and I expect nobody wants to be the one who messed up when it was their turn!

I expect the Heads put pressure on the teachers for it all to go perfectly - especially if the Governors are going to watch. (just guessing of course)

My dd was picked quite out of the blue as the main part in a school play. One of the mums whose child normally got the main role came up to me and said I don't understand why mini Muskey has got the part there isn't anything special about her. My reply to the mother was it must have been £50 I gave to the teacher then. It did make me chuckle as I think the mum believed me

My Dd was Mary in Reception, it was a non speaking part

Brilliant Muskey!

My DD2 was giving one of two starring roles in their school production in Y4. It was a massive role with an awful lot to learn and I went to see the teacher to ask her to give my DD a smaller role because I thought the pressure was too much. DD2 has AS doesn't cope well with stress. The teacher persuaded me to let her do it and she was right DD1 had the audience eating out of her hand.

I pity the poor teachers who have people like me and others who think their DCs should have bigger roles to contend with.

Agree with water....it does seem to be a bit more about teachers competing with each other for their class to be 'best in show' Its entertaining cos the male teachers classes generally go for comedy angle, and I have seen such pushiness amongst the females...its scary...

My youngest son has AS and loved being the narrator (he had a great memory for lines way before he could read properly). He told me he liked being the narrator because 'you get to wear your own clothes'.

I worked in Manchester for years and our cast were all the colours under the sun. One year Mary came from India and Joseph from Somalia.
I remember a little boy with very challenging behaviour being an angel, and his mum calling out during the play, 'whoever cast my Jordan as an angel, he's more like a little devil'!

why do my kids lose on sports day?
it should be cancelled

Our Mary was always the same girl - a brunette - who was the 'big I am', pretty, brainy, intelligent...

By all accounts she's a drug addict now

DD nearly always gets the largest role available for her age range in school productions. This is because she is reliable, learns her lines obsessively, says them like she means them and has a nice loud voice. I can see it could be annoying for others but why on earth wouldn't you pick the person who will do the job best? They're not giving the kids who can't kick a ball a go on the football team.

There is a child in my ds's class who gets to feature in everything. She has something to do in every assembly, gets the main part in any performance and even had a role in the Y6 play even though she was the only child in Y5 who managed to do.

She can't dance or sing any better than any of the others. In fact her only talent appears to be the fact that she is the dd of one the teachers

I guess it depends on what the purpose of school productions is? Is it to entertain parents or is it to help develop kids confidence and teach them about delivery etc?

nah - it's not exactly pertintent to their CV is it or asked about in their first job interview/date...

I was a brunette Mary.

My friend tells a story of how, at the age of about 8 or 9, she was told that despite having a nice speaking voice and a good memory for learning lines, she hadn't got the part of Mary because she was "too Jewish". The teacher apparently saw no irony in this reasoning.