Further Experiences with Children
Finally, my show is complete. That does not mean that the children became any less manageable.
There's one kid named Jeanie. Since I am the de facto child-care person, her mom introduced herself as, "Hi, I'm Jeanie's mom. Crazy Jeanie..." So now everyone just calls this second grade girl Crazy Jeanie. I leave the room for one minute during a show and come back in. It takes me a few minutes to realize, "Guys, we just lost Crazy Jeanie!" I panic and run around to everyone who might possibly interact with the kids. Someone else who spends a lot of time with the kids says, "If we had to lose one, I KNEW it would be Crazy Jeanie. *sigh*". Eventually, we figured out that one of the more irresponsible child-watchers had taken Crazy Jeanie to the bathroom without telling anyone.
Someone was really bright when they put kids IN the show in charge, because everyone is in the full cast numbers. It was always a struggle to figure out who to put in charge. I could put the girl playing Little Cosette in charge, but she was kind of an apathetic diva. I spent fifteen minutes explaining to one of the better-behaved (but still rambunctious) kids that I'm putting her in co-charge with Little Cosette. My friend, after this, put one of the quieter but more trouble-causing than my choices in charge. I sighed, got the most responsible kid (who did not much enjoy the others' company), the only one that I can trust to behave and put her finally in charge. The irony? The responsible girl was a THIRD grader and one of the youngest. There were freaking fifth graders I could keep track of.
Responsible girl had the same name as another girl, the one scary one that held me at gunpoint and wanted to mash people. Masher was shorter, but older, than responsible girl. I called them Big (name) and Little (name) based on their size. This annoyed the heck out of Little (name). I had already tried numbering the children based on height which made them mad. Word to the wise: Do not number children by such methods.
There's one kid named Jeanie. Since I am the de facto child-care person, her mom introduced herself as, "Hi, I'm Jeanie's mom. Crazy Jeanie..." So now everyone just calls this second grade girl Crazy Jeanie. I leave the room for one minute during a show and come back in. It takes me a few minutes to realize, "Guys, we just lost Crazy Jeanie!" I panic and run around to everyone who might possibly interact with the kids. Someone else who spends a lot of time with the kids says, "If we had to lose one, I KNEW it would be Crazy Jeanie. *sigh*". Eventually, we figured out that one of the more irresponsible child-watchers had taken Crazy Jeanie to the bathroom without telling anyone.
Someone was really bright when they put kids IN the show in charge, because everyone is in the full cast numbers. It was always a struggle to figure out who to put in charge. I could put the girl playing Little Cosette in charge, but she was kind of an apathetic diva. I spent fifteen minutes explaining to one of the better-behaved (but still rambunctious) kids that I'm putting her in co-charge with Little Cosette. My friend, after this, put one of the quieter but more trouble-causing than my choices in charge. I sighed, got the most responsible kid (who did not much enjoy the others' company), the only one that I can trust to behave and put her finally in charge. The irony? The responsible girl was a THIRD grader and one of the youngest. There were freaking fifth graders I could keep track of.
Responsible girl had the same name as another girl, the one scary one that held me at gunpoint and wanted to mash people. Masher was shorter, but older, than responsible girl. I called them Big (name) and Little (name) based on their size. This annoyed the heck out of Little (name). I had already tried numbering the children based on height which made them mad. Word to the wise: Do not number children by such methods.