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Pakchic Says: No Sane Adult Would Suffer through a Kindergarten Concert!

PS

Honestly, how any sane adult can actually sit down through an entire kindergarten concert and sincerely enjoy it really beats me.

It can be a very painful struggle to watch the little, short, mini human beings jumping up and down and trying to sing on the stage.

Ninety per cent of the kids are uncoordinated, forget their routine or the words to the songs, and many even just stand still and cry.

And last week was my little three-year-old Athena’s annual kindergarten concert and my wife and I, apparently, were obligated to attend.

So we dragged ourselves out of bed early in the morning, shivered under the shower and drove sleepily to the venue. Athena, of course, was weirdly excited.

We dropped Athena off at her teacher along with her costumes and we went into the hall and sat at our seats, waiting for the show to begin (the faster it starts, the faster it ends!).

The show was supposes to start at 10am, but a teacher sauntered up on stage, took the microphone and started apologising. Oh no!

“I’m sorry for the slight wait. We’re still trying to dress some of the children,” she said sheepishly.

And so we waited some more. I was getting hungry since we hadn’t eaten breakfast. I wanted to stop for nasi lemak on the way but my wife wouldn’t let me.

Half an hour later, the music started and we all told to look at the back of the hall. There were the kids all decked out in traditional costumes ready to waddle out (the theme was ‘Malaysia’).

Now I shall spare you the painful details of the next two hours. As expected, the teachers struggled to keep everything under control.

But somehow, the parents went berserk. It was like they were watching the world’s most talented ballerinas, sopranos and tenors that morning.

They clapped and cheered and every act got a standing ovation, even for that Malay dance where two kids decided to stand at the corner of the stage and cry throughout the whole thing.

Okay fine! I gave Athena a standing ovation too when she came out and did her Chinese fan dance in her cute little cheongsam and pink foldable fan.

I know that in the beginning, I mentioned that no sane adult would put himself through a kindergarten concert. But, parents with kindergarten kids aren’t really sane, are they?

Anyway, it really builds a child’s confidence to perform on stage. It also teaches her commitment and the importance of practice to do something.

And the fact that she enjoys it and was so excited learning all the songs and dances in the weeks building up to the show is just the best thing a parent can witness.

So it’s really quite okay. My parents went to all of my concerts too. But from what I remember, I was pretty darn good! Not like these kids nowadays!

Oh well, at least the concert is over and we don’t have to suffer through the requests to play all the traditional and patriotic songs on YouTube so she can memorise the lyrics!

Wait a minute! Athena is just three years old. That means she has another three years to go in kindergarten!

Looks like there is going to be another three excruciating concerts before it becomes six years of excruciating primary school sports days!

Zan Azlee is a multimedia journalist, writer and filmmaker. He specialises in solo-journalism and often reports from conflict zones around the world. He usually succeeds in staying safe and coming home unharmed to his daughter, Athena Azlee, and wife, Jasmine Abu Bakar, by screaming like a little girl whenever he is faced with danger. Follow his exploits at FatBidin.com.

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