pop concerts for preschoolers

because it's the winter school holidays i had lined up a couple of concerts to bring the bean to: a playschool concert and a concert by justine clarke - pop star to the under 5s.

the playschool concert was hosted by 2 not so current presenters - alex and angela - although the bean should be familiar with angela from a couple of playschool dvds we own. it wasn't too bad - nursery rhymes and some skits were rehashed from old episodes and most of the children were well entertained. i say most, because the bean spent a large chunk of the concert being miserably snuggled against me. i don't know why she wasn't enthused. perhaps the auditorium was too big and airy; maybe cuz we were at the back and she couldn't see much of the stage; maybe she didn't like the crowds of kids and parents. who knows.

despite her seeming lack of enthusiasm for the concert itself, she did perk up at the merchandise counter. when i offered her a choice of jemima or humpty finger puppets, she picked humpty. angela and alex also signed a colouring book i'd bought the bean. i don't think she is as impressed now as she will be (i hope) when she is (much) older.

justine clarke in concert was a much more positive experience for the bean. as soon as the first chords of "i like to sing" were played the bean began spinning round and round* (almost non-stop), pausing only between songs. it's also a testament to her enjoyment of the concert that she was courageous enough to move away from me in order to get closer to the stage.

i did wonder if the bean would yell at justine "no, no, not that one" if she were to sing a not-so-favourite song (the bean's partial to 'the gumtree family' instead), but she was happy to just spin and twirl till she got dizzy.

unfortunately, when the show ended, justine didn't hang around to sign autographs although i did buy a concert souvenir - a t-shirt, which the bean later stained with orange juice.

back home, the bean was still pretty psyched about the show and insisted on watching justine's dvd. the ironic thing is that when it came to a song she didn't like on the video she did yell at the tv screen, "no! not that one! the other one! the other one!" - hmmm...where was her voice when she had the real justine in front of her eh?

* spinning till she stumbles from dizziness is the bean's idea of dancing