Ледзь больш за тры гады таму, Мая жонка і я падпісаў мой сын на летні час, The Midland Park Players. This is a drama group that spends about three or four weeks preparing for a play and then showing it to the parents, friends and relatives. It’s always been done very well.

Я не ведаю, калі кожнаму дзіцяці, як гэта, but my son is extremely reluctant to try new things. Knowing this, we signed him up for the program. We’ve found that it’s best to alert him to these kinds of things early and often. Так, для таго, каб пераадолець яго натуральнае нежаданне, мы сказалі яму рана і зрабілі ўсё магчымае, каб гэта гучала як весела, і г.д.. Even with a multi-month advertising campaign, he still wasn’t convinced. We forced him to do, хоць, і як гэта часта бывае, he had a great time.

Да таго часу другі год каталася, he had once again convinced himself that he didn’t want to participate. Але, мы падпісалі яго і на нулявога дня, I dropped him off one morning at the high school where they practice. When I went to pick him up after lunch, ён быў вельмі ўсхваляваны, ўсе ўсмешкі і абвясціў, "The play is the Плюшавы Трус and I want to be the Rabbit". He had spent literally months carrying on (часам істэрычна) пра тое, як ён не хацеў мець нічога агульнага з выглядам на парк і гульцоў пасля першага дня, he wants to be the lead role in the play. We’ve seen this pattern before.

(Да нашага вялікага здзіўлення, ён сапраўды атрымліваў ролі труса, і ён быў дзіўны.)

Fast forward a few years. He’s been in Park Players three times now, so he’s something of a veteran. This summer (2008), Players starts up again. Тым часам, ён, нарэшце, пераканалі нас, ён на самай справе doesn’t want to play soccer and he never liked basketball. That left him with no extra-curricular activities for late Winter / early Spring. A client with whom I was working mentioned that his daughter was in a program called Stage Right. Stage right is a slightly more expensive version of Park Players and it’s not in my town, but adjacent to it. Perfect.

The thing to know about that town is that it’s practically another country in terms of wealth. It has a high-frequency train right to Wall Street and NYC in general. It’s just a wealthy place. One of the on-going family discussion themes is whether we should have moved to that town instead of where we live now. It’s a bigger town, сваёй школы прапануюць некалькі праграм для дзяцей, і г.д.. My wife grew up in that town and her parents live there, so we are "hooked in" despite not living there. I personally grew up in different circumstances in Massachusetts, so I don’t have a lot to say about this during family dinner conversation. This isn’t to say that we aren’t very happy where we live. We just know that that town is a level above our town economically.

Stage Right’s next program started too soon for us to launch our normal advertising campaign to overcome my son’s reluctance. This is when he came up with one my personal favorite arguments against doing something: "Friday nights are простае лік ночы для сну кадрам!" Stage Right was going to interfere with his weekend socials.

Настае дзень,, мы прыносім яго там і высадзіць яго і як з усім астатнім, яго натуральная каханне, каб проста быць жывым ўзяў на сябе, і ён быў добра праводзіць час з ім.

Гэта ў мінулыя выхадныя мая жонка размаўляла з ім і ў першы раз, I think he’s tailoring his discussions very precisely for his audience. She had asked him how Stage Right compares to Midland Park Players. He tells her that "In Park Players, we have teenagers that help us out. There aren’t any in in Stage Right. In Park Players, teenagers make all props. In Stage Right, we have to bring our own props. We have to do everything. And then he twists the knife: "I thought this was supposed to be a rich town."

Усе гэтыя гады, I never really thought that he was hearing or understanding anything as it related to the "rich town". Аднак, аказваецца, што ён быў.

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