Big Mama

I am never having kids. This children's theater camp that Molly and I were so excited about directing has turned out to be an absolute nightmare. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs? More like Snow White and the Seven Devils. Every day we have kids starting stupid fights with each other and either someone threatens to quit the play or someone else ends up in tears. I did not sign up for this. Nor did I sign up to experience what happened yesterday. So Molly started her summer classes last week which means she can only be there for about the first half hour the kids are there on Mondays and Wednesdays; Fridays she can stay the whole time. Which means...I am normally left to babysit 16 kids. Our three leads are awesome. They do everything we ask of them and they can act. The rest are absolutely horrible. What ever happened to parents actually parenting their children? These kids do. not. listen. I guess it's too much to ask for them to come and give us their undivided attention for 3 hours. Do they realize they have a show to put on in 3 weeks? I don't think so. And I can't work with them on making their show good because the whole time I'm trying to break up fights between the little crappers and console the ones who are crying hysterically. I have to deal with this every day. We get through it. I even survived the day the crazy one tried to run away. However, yesterday even though the first half they were acting like little angels, the second half was a whole nother story and somebody messed with the wrong kid. Now there are 2 sides to every story and I know that both were somewhat in the wrong here. Child A was getting frustrated at the other kids for not listening when she was where she needed to be and was actually paying attention. Child B was talking to me about the scene that was coming up. A was continually yelling at B to get in her place which escalated into an argument. Both have very strong personalities and are difficult to deal with. So child B got upset and her little sister decided to get involved and began yelling at A. A told C to shut up, C yelled more, B started crying...end scene. No...not even close. So I have to stop the scene we are doing because I can't work with my actors and deal with this and had to break up the fight. By this time, our time together was over and B and C left in an angry rampage towards their van. Child A comes up to me and begins defending herself which...I was there, I know the story. So I was just talking to her about it and most of the kids had left by this point except Child A and her sister and one more, we'll call her Fifi. Then. Here she comes. The Big One. The Big Mama. The mother of Children B and C. Dun Dun DUN!! Molly and I have dealt with her before but before she was always talking about OTHER people's children...never her own. So here she comes thundering down through the park. The talk starts off pretty harmless..."So, what's going on that my kids are wanting to quit and crying every day? Is it them?" Yes, lady, I'm going to tell you to your face that your children are just as bad as the rest of them and they often stir up the fights. So I simply said, "It's just little fights that the kids have every day." What happened next I was not expecting. She turns to poor child A and starts screaming at her, saying that she "will never say anything to her kids ever again, blah blah blah, if on Wednesday I hear anything happened, I am pulling them out. I did not pay $130 for my kids to come here and get in fights every day. If I hear that it's my girls I will come down here and pick their butts up and take them home!" Then she rounds on the other 2 girls who did absolutely nothing and points her huge finger at them. "And this goes for you, too! If I hear that you were saying anything...blah blah blah..." And my favorite was, "Have you been to college? Have you taken theater classes? These girls have and they have so much to teach you and they can't because they're worried about breaking up your fights all day." Now, I see so much truth in what Big Mama was saying. However, she had no right whatsoever to come down and scream at these poor kids and threaten them the way that she did. I was so scared for them because I didn't know what this lady was going to do. She then proceeded to give me a hug and said sorry and I'm thinking woman, don't touch me! You are RUDE! So she finally left and I looked over at Child A and she just started sobbing. I was heart broken. I felt soooo bad for her so I talked to her for a bit and comforted her. Both she and her sister gave me a big hug when they left. I hope this never happens again. Molly and I are getting together today to paint set stuff and get props, make copies of music, etc. and we are going to talk to our boss. We are going to have to have yet another talk with the kids tomorrow before we get started. We have done everything we can. What else is there for us to do? I thought this theater camp was going to be such a great experience and I would rather be doing anything else right now....