To think that my local theatre should give ALL children a sweet after the pantomime and not just 4 who sit neat the stage. Should I complain?

[scrooged]

I take ds every year to see a pantomime on christmas eve and every year they do this, ignoring all of the other children in the theatre. It really annoys me. They should give all of them a sweet or none of them but they choose 4 children from the more expensive seats, bring them up on stage, get them to sing and give them a bag full of sweets. I think it's unfair. Am I being unreasonable. I wish I hadn't have already brought tickets this year.

I really don't thing the DCs have a problem with it at all pagwatch-unfortunately a lot of parents seem to think their DC should be centre stage for EVERYTHING!!

Good post Pagwatch.

YOu should definitely complain. It's been at least five minutes since anyone on MN complained or reported someone.

scrooged, are you saying theatres should start giving out partybags now!!!

It's a theatre you pay to be entertained, if you think missing out on a few sweets is a 'harsh lesson for a child' you need to pop onto the SEN pages, or look outside your cosy spoilt bubble.

DO YOU HAVE MONEY?
Can you buy your kids a sweet?

Bloody hell, can none of you see it from the point of the other children in the audience? This isn't about my child. I wouldn't want him up there knowing that other little ones were upset. I can get him sweets if I wish, it doesn't bother me but not all parents are in the same position.

Maybe some of you lot should remember what it was like to be a sad 4 year old who feels like they have missed out. FFS, I thought you lot were caring!

throw sweets at YOUR kids - "HERE you are kids"

I think we have all been sad 4 year olds in our time, and our DCs have all been sad 4 year olds in their time. Very few DCs will get chosen to go on the stage at a pantomime-it is a fact of life and not very important-easy to get over. What would be really sad is if no one was chosen in case someone gets upset!!

I never went to a pantomime as a child so I don't know the way things work. It does shock me to see so many little ones upset though. It really put me off going this year.

Just tell her in advance that she is not likely to get chosen. They used to throw random sweets into the audience as well-I never got one nor have DCs! The show is the thing-take your own sweets.

It's not ds I'm worried about, he was OK last year, the little girl we were sitting next to (she was about 4-5) wasn't though and was in bits. ds wanted to moan at the manager for her because she was so upset. I might take some anyway and he can give them to the child sitting next to him if it happens again.

Honestly Scrooged, I don't know why you keep coming back to this. If the little girl was really "in bits" over not getting some sweets, then you giving her some just teaches her that making a big fuss will get her her own way. Not good at all imho.

Perhaps the little girl was a spoiled brat used to getting her own way! It is a lot harder to take if you are little and your mother gives into you and makes everything fair! Life isn't fair, never has been and never will be so it is no good getting upset about what is only a bit of fun.Your little DS is very sweet, perhaps it would be a nice thing to do,but you may find that she would have still cried because it wasn't the sweet she wanted!

True, I'd not thought of that. Thanks janeite.

There was alot of them crying. I found it sad, I hadn't thought that they were spolit and should be happy for the other children.

Parents are making things so much more difficult for their DCs if they always give them something if they cry. If they can't go to a show without getting upset about the lack of sweet I think they are too young to go. At that age mine were immersed in the story, they might have registered that they had missed a sweet but I don't think they would have been bothered. If they had I would have told them they could have a sweet any day but they can't go to the pantomime any day-a lot of crying and I would have taken them out.I certainly wouldn't give them a sweet!

"Maybe some of you lot should remember what it was like to be a sad 4 year old who feels like they have missed out. FFS, I thought you lot were caring!"

No, most of them are sad miserable twats Scrooged, who love a good row for the sake of it.

I have never seen little ones upset at a panto because they haven't been chosen. Mine have been chosen (there were a few others chosen as well) at a am dram one, but that is because they are related to half the cast and they had to work for it by singing and it was only a small sweet.

DD has been chosen at a professional production and we weren't sitting in the expensive seats, someone just came along at the break and asked her to go on stage.
But they have been to lots when they haven't been chosen and they haven't even mentioned the sweets.
Sounds a very spoilt little girl if she got that upset because she didn't get any sweets.

I've never seen children crying at a panto before for not being given stuff.

It's really not worth getting sad over IMO - as parents/adults it's our job to give them strategies to cope with real life. At something like a panto there is no time to do stuff for everyone! It is about helping them learn that, and accept that sometimes you're lucky and sometimes not. It is really not doing them any favours at all to always want them to get the same so that they don't cry. What is that teaching them?

You are right. I just hate to see small children cry their eyes out, I'm so glad they are not my children though.

Thanks Likely to explode.

Was Keith Chegwin fully clothed maidamess?

at my theatre panto, any child can choose to go on stage. this is all organised before the performance though and those that do, are rewarded for their efforts with a bag of goodies.

Do you know how long it takes to hand children anything? When I do touring theatre stuff, we often have to hand out stickers as the children file neatly through the doors - it takes forever, and that's with neat lines of school children. Try it with a scrum of over excited kids at a panto.

Really, I think YABU - if any child is crying their eyes out because they weren't picked out of several hundred other kids, they need someone to have a little chat to them about probability and chance and How Life Is Unfair.

YABU. That is what happens at pantomimes. Sone children are chosen to go on stage and it is not only the ones in expensive seats.