STOMP Like Children
“I got my kid this great toy but she is playing with the box it came in instead of the toy!” That’s something we hear quite regularly. When I go out with my children and need to keep them occupied, I often resort to giving them what I find in my purse or whatever is around me to make them happy: Keys, a box of Tic Tacs, my cell phone, a piece of paper, a paper cup with a straw… and my kids can stay occupied for hours. One of my sons absolutely loves brooms and vacuums and loves to push the switch on and off to hear the vacuum run. It is amazing how the simple things can make little children so fascinated! But why?
I was offered a pair of tickets to see STOMP on Broadway recently. My husband had seen the show in Las Vegas years ago and enjoyed it, but I had never seen it. I agreed to see the show and write about it. I wasn’t sure that I would enjoy it, but as a mom with four little ones, I am always up for date night!
STOMP opens with a skit with brooms. I immediately thought of my son Anthony, who would have loved to see the eight actors sweeping and dancing and making music with the bristles and handles of brooms! I am not a fan of sweeping, especially since I do it so often (our house is full of crumbs after my children eat!), but I must say that brooms do have a ‘fun side’ to them! I have made the decision that from now on, I am going to sweep my floors with a pep in my step and a beat for making music!
The remainder of the show was filled with the actors taking simple items and making music out of them. I forgot how much fun clapping in sync and in a pattern was! Memories of games I used to play with my friends in grammar school… such as repeating the rhythm of the clap. My one and a half year old twins’ favorite song is “If You’re Happy and You Know It”. CLAP! CLAP! Clapping hands, stomping feet… can actually be quite fun! Crumpling and snapping newspaper, shaking a Tic Tac box, pulling a straw in and out of a cup, rubbing a comb across a coffee can, making anything a drum or a cymbal, blowing up a paper or plastic bag and listening to the different sounds each can make. And while watching the show I was brought back to when I was a child and how simple things fascinated me. I am always doing “Mommy” things… cooking, cleaning, laundry, working, trying to keep things to a dull roar in my always noisy house… trying to keep things neat and clean, and getting frustrated when I remember that the reality is that kids will be kids and my home will never stay clean for too long. There is always something serious to handle, always something boring to tackle. I so often forget that the simple things in life, the things that fascinate my kids, are the things that are so easy to give them! Yes, although my children love all their toys and games, they are just as happy (maybe happier!) with making “music” with everyday items.
We saw STOMP on a Sunday. Mondays are always days I spend plenty of hours on the phone and answering emails for work, doing laundry from the weekend and getting things in order for the rest of the week. That Monday, I decided to take out some pots, pans and serving spoons and let my sons go to town. I think I enjoyed making music with the kitchen items more than they did! And after lunch, I took the kids outside, blew some bubbles and sang “If You’re Happy and You Know It” in the yard. Work and laundry will still be there tomorrow. My four children will be older tomorrow. I am going to Stomp along with them while they still think it is fascinating!
Jennifer
Wife to Paul, Mom to Juliana (7), Anthony and Louis (1) and Joseph (4 months)www.nevaland.com
This entry was posted on Saturday, April 10th, 2010 at 3:36 am and is filed under Entertainment, Jennifer. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.