Parenting in our head vs Parenting in real life

I have a friend who runs the art camp at our local arts and heritage centre.  Last week she told me that the centre has been running "tunes at noon" every Thursday throughout the summer.  Come, she said.  Bring a lunch, bring the kids.  Today while packing up our lunch I told the kids we were going to have an adventure.  We were going to take our lunch down to the Esplanade and listen to a concert and it was going to be so much fuuuun!  Tristan promptly threw himself on the floor kicking and screaming, "I hate concerts!  I hate concerts!  I hate concerts!"  Naturally. 

"How can you hate something you've never done!" I yelled back.  Yelling to be heard over his screaming of course.  Not because I was mad that Tristan's Mr. Hyde - Mr. Contrary - had reared his ugly head again.  Of course not.  I am calm, I am zen, I am supreme motherhood.

"AND WE ARE GOING WHETHER YOU WANT TO OR NOT AND IF YOU HAVEN'T CHANGED YOUR ATTITUDE BY THE TIME WE LEAVE YOU'LL BE SORRY!"

On that auspicious note we headed off for our grand adventure.  The performer today was a guy and his guitar.  He had a wiry grey beard that dusted the top button of his Hawaiian shirt and he sang everything from The Hokey Pokey to This Old Man to The Twist to Blowin' In The Wind with his head tipped back to see out from underneath the brim of his old straw hat.  Thankfully Mr. Contrary let us have Tristan back and we had a great time singing along to the songs we knew and dancing to The Hokey Pokey and The Twist.  The guitar man started to lose all the kids - and the crowd was mostly kids - during "Blowin' in the Wind so he gave them all a 10 second waltz lesson and the next thing I knew Tristan and Ava were "waltzing" around the little dance floor giggling like crazy. It was adorable.  At the end Tristan even admitted he like concerts after all.

Another thing I learned about Thursdays at the Esplanade is it is also free admission into the gallery and their current exhibit is all about glass.  I love glass so I really wanted to take a look.  I'm not one of those moms who does a lot of museums and galleries with my kids.  In fact I've barely done any.  My kids are exuberant and curious which is my euphemistic way of saying they never walk if they can run, they talk at a yell and they want to touch everything they see. I've always wanted to be one of those moms who were exposing their kids to culture and art from a young age, instilling in them the importance of history and a love of creative expression but the reality of walking slowly and talking quietly and and looking without touching was always just way too stressful to contemplate. 

On the heels of the concert success I was feeling brave.  So I took a deep breath and we entered the double glass doors of the gallery.  We wandered by display cases of original AltaGlass and a reproduction of a glassworks forge/studio and then watched a whole bunch of videos of artists blowing glass into vases, goblets, tumblers and pitchers.  The kids were as fascinated by it as I was.  We wandered into another room which held two sections of glass art installations and free form glass pieces like vases and towers - none of which were behind protective glass.  Gulp. I felt a lot safer when all the glass was behind glass!  I reminded the kids to look with their eyes not their hands but still had a moment of total terror as we approached an enormous tower of glass discs.  My shout not to touch died in my throat as I watched my kids stop a respectful distance away.  I decided I could trust my big kids but that for my own sanity I would hang onto Sebastian's hand.  We were all amazed by the incredible glass creations and we talked about which ones we liked and why.  It was so interesting to hear the kids perspectives and I felt like we were being so artsy.  Sebastian did have a moment when he decided he didn't want to hold my hand anymore.  He tried to pull away but I managed to catch him a split second before he hit a stand that had a glass treehouse on top of it.  Other than that I was amazed at how well behaved the kids were.  They didn't run - or even make any sudden movements!  I didn't have to remind them not to yell even once.  And they didn't try to touch a thing.  They were so in awe of what they were seeing they forgot to be their normal exuberant selves.   As we were walking back toward the exit a gentleman wandering through the same exhibit said, "I can't believe you have your young children in a glass exhibit, I'm impressed."  Thanks I said proudly.  I was suddenly imagining a whole new life with my artistically inclined, historically knowledgeable kids who might say to people things like, "Isn't it interesting how glassworks has evolved over the centuries and yet how much of it remains the same?"  Which is the moment Tristan decided he couldn't go one more minute without doing a handstand.  In the middle of two glass installations.

Nothing happened, thankfully.  Note to self:  In a museum or gallery short = sweet.