Would you be happy seeing your child's nativity play in person?

[Barbie222]

Government guidelines today state that in tier 1 and 2, nativity plays can be performed to parents in school halls. As a teacher, given how strict we've been about everything, I feel uneasy about this. How do parents feel?
YABU - I'll go without worries
YANBU - should be videoed / streamed

Indeed Hmmph ,I have been to many Nativity s/ Xmas plays at both my boys primary schools in the past ,IME they have always been packed and stuffy ,even in a tier one area that's surely just asking for trouble .

We’d can’t fit all the parents in as it is so we wouldn’t be able to fit socially distanced. Ours are filming it.

I’d have elbowed the Magi out of the way to watch. Nativities by tiny children are the best thing a being a parent at Christmas.
Terribly sad for children and parents if they have to miss out.
Ours were always in the church next door, so very well ventilated and quite well spaced.

In terms of IPC the whole Christmas thing is against best practice and likely to cause a third wave, I’m not not convinced nativities are worse than Weatherspoons being open.

Neither am I @CherryPavlova ,neither seem like sensible options right now .

We're recording ours for the parents to watch at home.
I'm think it's actually nice for the children, a lot find it hard doing it to a big audience and particularly tough when they spot their parents etc
I'm also pleased that working parents who struggle to get time off will be getting a year off the crushing sadness/guilt that they're missing it.
(And secretly pleased that I'll have a year off from all the usual suspects that hog the entire front row, standing up to film & wave etc with their entire extended family

No thanks, sitting in a hall full of people for hours? Isn't that exactly what we are trying to avoid?

Even without a pandemic IIRC people were coughing throughout and there were pre schoolers running about touching everything and everybody.

Not really comparable with a trip to the pub where there's social distancing and you have your own space, but I wouldn't be doing that either currently.

Mine are older now, so not an issue for us, thankfully, but no, I definitely wouldn’t be comfortable with watching in person at the moment (they’re bad enough at the best of times!).

I could imagine it wouldn’t be very nice for the kids either. I know they’re all used to seeing people in masks now, but a school hall full of parents, all masked up and staring at them - familiar but ‘wrong’ because they can’t see facial expressions properly etc - could be the stuff of nightmares for some children.

I would jump at the chance.

I love watching a nativity but our school is always so crammed and it's really hard to see anything anyway unless your lucky enough to get a seat at the front. I spent most of last years performance looking at the back of someone's head :(

Filming is a good idea but schools should maybe try to be innovative. A little Christmas parade in the playground would be quite cute, 10 minutes before school finishes and take the kids home after.

I just don't think school nativity plays are high on the priority list during a pandemic.
If they do one and it gets filmed you'll probably see more than if you went in person. I agree with @onedayinthefuture, many a nativity spent looking at someone's head or in later years at their ipad. All front seats mysteriously taken by the same people who are sat there before they even open the doors-but that's another thread!

I don't miss it at all and if DS1 was 4 now he would be thrilled about not doing one as he hated it.

YANBU.

Getting all the parents together in aq hall or church with the class/year bubble and the staff and the vicar, probably a week before Christmas, seems an unnecessary and daft risk to take.
Many parents are at low risk personally, have youngish healthy parents, and will be uncomplicatedly delighted to get to see the nativity after all. But not the vulnerable parents, the vulnerable teachers. It's not fair to subject others to the extra risk, however much we might want to coo over the adorable infant school Christmas production.
But I am braced for the email from DS's school saying words to the effect of, "Glad tidings of great joy, the in person nativity is back on, hallelujah!"

They had already arranged to video it, seeing the writing on the wall for these events not being allowed. But they are a C of E school, this stuff is super important to them. I hope they will be sensible and stick to the video only plan - just because something is allowed doesn't mean you have to do it. But I fear religious zeal and Christmas sentiment will win. And we'll have to decide whether to run the risk we don't agree with taking, or miss out and leave DS unsupported when other kids have parents there. I am not pleased.

Lol @Sparklingbrook and let's not get into the children who get picked for everything every year 😂

I'm also pleased that working parents who struggle to get time off will be getting a year off the crushing sadness/guilt that they're missing it.

This year our school have asked parents and grandparents to video themselves reading a Christmas story and the videos will be shown to the children during their zoom assembly. So for the first time ever DM (who lives in another country) has been able to do an activity for school. DS doesn't know about it and hasn't seen her since summer 2019 so hopefully he'll love it. Innovative alternatives to the lack of a nativity allow families who are not all local to take part in school life and I hope they continue to do things like this even after we've all been vaccinated and life is back to normal.

You did say they have enough to be doing, which is why i responded as i did. A live audience vs a video doesn't imply more work imo.

Then presumably you also read my earlier post which talked about being surprised performances were being held in person? It's quite close to the second post after all. Personally I'd regard an in-person performance as more work than a video piece. Usually that'd be the other way around but these days there's the added headache of distancing etc.

@x2boys

Lol *@Sparklingbrook* and let's not get into the children who get picked for everything every year 😂

My children are 18 and 21 and still I still wonder what on earth the deal was with the children that got picked for everything being those of the parents who got the front row before the doors opened.

My DC are doing a special 9 Lessons performance with each year group singing a different Carol and "acting out" the lessons (the mind boggles).

Only for the school though, although I think it is being recorded for parents.

Mine are a bit older now but chicken pox took out 20 out of 30 of them following a 'camel train' as part of the nativity several years ago.

Distancing won't happen and why load all the parents into a church / school hall unless you are going to do the 'performance' eight times a day. You can't see anything when you're there anyway.

@CountFosco "Innovative alternatives to the lack of a nativity allow families who are not all local to take part in school life and I hope they continue to do things like this even after we've all been vaccinated and life is back to normal." - That's such a lovely idea, what your school has done with the compilation video of parents/grandparents reading stories. Definitely agree that one of the silver linings of this year has been making it easier for geographically distant family or working parents to be more connected with the school stuff. I really hope that continues too.

So true! Since my DH works in a school and I worked full time till recently, it was always near impossible for us to attend any of the DC's school performances. I've actually felt more involved this term than ever before, lol.

I am in tier 3 so it doesn't affect me, but I was very surprised that this is allowed in tiers 1 and 2. Our school announced a while ago that the Christmas performances would be recorded. I assume the recordings will be sold to us as a way for the school to fundraise as they haven't been able to do any fundraising. I don't see how any schools will have space to allow parents to attend a live performance but in a socially distant way. I am not sure if infants will actually do a nativity anyway in our school as we are half-way through the entire infants self-isolating and they would probably have spent most of this time practising.

@Jourdain11

So true! Since my DH works in a school and I worked full time till recently, it was always near impossible for us to attend any of the DC's school performances. I've actually felt more involved this term than ever before, lol.

That's so lovely. I remember begging work for time off to go the the nativity plays and the church services. Then wondering why I bothered. One church service was so packed that DS1 accused me of not being there as he couldn't see me. Or sitting in a packed hall being unable to see or hear a thing that was going on.

Theatres are re-opening this week , socially-distanced, so I can't see that's any different. Although personally wouldn't have any desire to mingle with other people's germy kids.

My sons is doing a online nativity.
Each class has a scene and the kids in the class are writing the script.
Also have to perform two songs (one Christmas,other class choice)

It actually sound great, the children are finding it hilarious and I think it been great for some normality and remembering the silly stuff.

I would love to go to the theatre but wouldn't dream of it even if they are back open. Which is sad because they need support but mixing together indoors in large numbers is just not wise.

I’ve kept my cool about all these bizarre restrictions but this tips me over the edge. All the things we cannot do, but we can now watch nativity plays? FFS it is actually ridiculous!!