Letting Everyone Shine

A couple of weeks ago Caity announced that she had ‘auditioned’ for the school talent show. “Oh, I said. “What did you do?” Apparently she danced. Apparently she did the coffee grind dance move for about 30 seconds and that was it.

A worried teacher caught up to me the other day and in a panicked voice told me she wasn’t ‘er um, ready.’ The teacher said that she could have another chance if she wanted too, to prepare something more….structured. EEEEEH.

I give points to my daughter for having the guts to just charge up there and do ‘something’ THAT is awesome. However, my daughter has a tendency to not want to remotely understand that any ‘talent’ takes practice. I earnestly explained all this and that she and I would have to work on a routine, a whole dance that she could do. She steadfastly refused.

Later on a bit more came out. She had HEARD a teacher say she was terrible. Probably not quite in the context SHE assumed, but it broke her little heart. She refused to do anything to the point that she was going to skip school the day of the talent show because she feared being forced to get up and perform.

Oh dear.

We were watching the new season of You Think You Can Dance, a show we have all enjoyed as a family. Caity suddenly burst out with a wail of “I CAN’T DO ANYTHING.’ The realization was devastating to her. I hurredly placated her with the idea that perhaps she just hadn’t found HER talent yet or perhaps her talent just wasn’t the type you could put in a show. Awkward I know. The truth is, as much as I love my daughter to pieces – the things she likes to do most – singing and dancing – are two things she just does not have a talent for. Her brave Hip Hop solo a while ago at school – in front of the ENTIRE school – was alarming to say the least. God bless her.

Throughout her short life, I have gamely let her try anything she wanted to, she is a pretty good artist, but only when she truly focuses on her work. She is so like me. When I was a kid, I expected to just ‘do’ things. I didn’t want to learn musical theory, I just wanted to play the violin. I didn’t want to make pigs out of clay, I attempted porcelain figurines like I had seen on the Antiques Road Show. I couldn’t understand why mine weren’t the same. I quit everything I tried.

Caity is a magical being. She shines with energy and enthusiasm. She is loud and creative and it shows. She stands out from the crowd. But standing out is a hard path and I sure hope she has the strength to handle it. I hope she can find her own true talent and I will do my best to make sure her enthusiasm never wains……balanced with a teeny tiny bit of ‘perhaps you could try something else’ for good measure.

Thanks to the kind people at the Vancouver International Children’s Festival, we are spending Saturday down at Granville Island to take in couple of the featured shows. We are going to check out ‘Journey Through Sound,‘ being that the kids love street dance and hip hop. We are also going to see ‘Pete the Cat.’ Pete the Cat never stops moving and grooving and singing his song and hopefully that will reinspire my daughter into remembering that she can try and do everything she wants to do and nothing can slow her down.