Let's Put on a Show!

My daughters are both musical theater fanatics.  So much so, that there is almost always a musical theater selection being sung or played in our apartment.  So much so, that one of them wanted only theater tickets for Chanukah (which didn't really happen).  So much so, that that they are both in rehearsals for musical theater productions.  Different musical productions.  Different locations, different performance dates, different rehearsal schedules.  Even when they were in the same show in the fall, their school schedules required that they be in different casts of the show, so again, different just about everything.  And with new opportunities popping up every day, there are times when there are multiple shows for one or both of them.

Now, for a family who has juggled 3 different schools for, well, all the years we've had 3 kids in school, this shouldn't seem too unusual.  But as I sat at the dinner table laying out next week's transportation needs for all the various rehearsals, needs that could easily fill up a flow chart, I was struck by how complicated things can get when you let your kids--not just let, encourage--your kids to do all the exciting things that are put in front of them.  

There was a time when I barely participated in all of the logistics, except for making up a full page note detailing the week's needs for one or more babysitters who would do the daily carting of children.  Oh, and doing damage control when a sitter fell through at the last minute or a pickup time changed.  These days, I tend to do at least some of the schlepping myself, which, you would think, would make me think twice about letting the kids take on activities.  

Apparently, it has done the opposite.  Is it "Supermom" complex--my desire to prove that I CAN do it?  Is it Mommy guilt--a desire to make sure the kids miss out on nothing (even when there are far too many possibilities for any kid ever to do it all)?  Or is it my uncanny ability to leap into what sounds good without first analyzing all the ramifications of the leap?

I'm not sure, but I am fairly sure I'm not alone in this.  Given the number of mothers I see running around daily, I think we probably all try a bit too hard for our kids, then absorb the consequences, some weeks with a smile, others, well, not so much.  I figure for me, there will come a day when either I once again can't participate in the schlepping, or when the kids will be too old to need any schlepping, so if I can do it now, I want to give the kids as much of the advantage of that as possible.

And hey, I like musical theater too, so if I can see a show (or 7 performances of a show) and make a child happy, isn't that a win-win situation?