Plans for the Summer…
It’s a tricky thing, having four children across an age range. Not the usual what-do-you-mean-your-shoes-are-too-small-ALREADY angst, but I’m thinking more in terms of what you actually DO with them.
What appeals to a 13yr old boy almost certainly will not appeal to a 5yr old girl (and vice versa, with bells on. Actually, the 5yr old is quite keen on zip wires, skate parks and sand dune running. The 13yr old is NOT so keen on tea parties, wrapping soft toys in ribbons, or watching Pocoyo…).
As the summer holidays approach, we have to start planning way ahead for any ‘big stuff’ we want to do. The normal family days of picnics and beaches and hills and moors and kites and cricket go without saying. But we try and incorporate a few extras where money allows, and do the one-off special events they remember for a long long time.
One of our favourite things is to take them to see a show – not only do we both feel it’s hugely important for them to learn a love of the theatre early on, but it’s one of those things that we can pretty much guarantee complete satisfaction all round, if we choose the show wisely.
Following on from pantomime, we started them off with a performance of Joseph and his Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat at our local theatre – and they were hooked. We’ve seen various shows, with resounding success each time. Last year we finally ventured from the wilds of Dorset all the way to London for them to have a taste of proper West End Musicals.
Success? Not much!
So this year we plan to go back and do it again – being 5 and ‘big enough now’ (apparently) Pink will accompany us too, so we’ve had to select something once again that they will all enjoy – and after a quick scour we found it (not that it was hard, actually, there’s always a number of productions on in the West End which suit the whole family). Yes, this summer, we are off to see Matilda!
Oh Yes.
Even if it did take a LARGE post it note stuck to the husbands screen with “Matilda Tickets London” scrawled across it every day for a week…
*excited!*
