Fed up with fishy crackers

Written by Victoria on 4 November, 2006

Related to change: Try out Change Everything

Tags:

Yesterday, I took my two year old and seven year old to a kindersymphony at the Queen Elizabeth Playhouse in Vancouver. The music was wonderful, with a brass quartet accompanying two charming vocalists in a celebration of Beethoven for young children. The theatre was packed, with kids, parents and fishy crackers. We were surrounded by parents listening, singing along and in the short 45 minute performance, unwrapping cheese strings, popping open teddy grahams, scooping into yogurt tubs and doling out fishy crackers. A veritable smorgasbourd of snackery. And most of it wound up on the floor. Afterwards the elderly docents came down the aisles, sadly surveying the mess and asking each other "how will we clean all this up?" Most of them were probably mothers 40 years ago, and I bet none of them ever took their kids to a show and stuffed them with snacks. All my mother ever took for us in her purse was a box of TicTacs, and if she silently slipped us one before intermission at the Sun Family Pops, we considered ourselves lucky. So stepping around the cracker crap on the way out of the Queen E. I felt mortified for our generation. It was a 45 minute performance. That's all. Whatever happened to snacks in the lobby? Surely all these hundreds of kids weren't hypoglycemic? Since when was music not enough? It is the symphony, a live performance. A beautiful thing, unless someone is chewing in your ear. Where's the reverence? It is one thing to crack gum in a movie theatre, when all you stand to annoy are your neighbours. But why do we treat every squirm, every fidget as requiring the medication of a fishy cracker? Will this generation of kids grow up to eat popcorn at the opera? So this is what I would change. At the beginning of any live performance for children, their would be the standard announcement, with one little addition. "We appreciate your patronage and hope you enjoy today's performance. No cell phones, no flash photography, and please, please, please no fishy crackers."

Comments

The healthy habits angle

Written by kinogirl on 7 November, 2006

The healthy habits angle occurred to me as I read about your fishy crackers experience. With all the recent reports about the rise in obesity in children, you'd think one of the preventative measures pointed out to parents would be about not letting kids get into the habit of snacking every time they sit down. Whether it's in a theatre for a movie or a concert, or at home in front of the TV or computer, the act of sitting down to take in entertainment or information seems to have become associated with having something to drink or eat, and this must be having an effect on our health. Having an energy-boosting snack between meals can help keep you going when you're active, but allowing kids to get hyped up on sugary soft drinks and packaged snacks during a show isn't going to encourage them to sit still and pay attention. Theatres offering programming for children could help parents set the example by not allowing food or drink into the auditorium. Being part of an audience at a live performance in a theatre is different from watching a video at home, and parents and school group leaders could be encouraged to review theatre etiquette with students before they arrive at the venue. Discouraging snacking should be right up there with turning off cellphones and saving sharing comments for intermission. In keeping with the idea of action for change, I would recommend putting in a call or writing a letter to the Audience Services Manager of the presenting organisation (Vancouver Symphony Orchestra?) to tell them about your experience and how you feel it could be improved.

Wow. I'm always somewhat

Written by sarahpullman on 7 November, 2006

Wow. I'm always somewhat amazed at how "kid culture" has changed even in my lifetime – and I'm still in my (late) twenties. My mother would not have brought snacks to the theatre.

You make some really good points, as does kinogirl. I think it's part of a larger trend, though – which I definitely participate in – and that is the inability to actually just do one thing at a time.

I can't walk down the street without checking my cell phone for messages. I can't sit and eat lunch alone without something to read. And I think on some level, that's the same as these kids who can't sit and watch a performance without something to eat. We require so much stimulation these days. Why do we have such a need for sensory input? I guess because we are surrounded by so much of it, that we get desensitized. We need to be bombarded to feel something, to know that we're alive, perhaps?

I'd like to set an intention, myself, to do my best to be present with whatever it is I'm doing – and just do that one thing. Enough of the crazy multi-tasking. Anyone else see a connection?

wow. yes. I never thought of

Written by Kate on 14 November, 2006

wow. yes. I never thought of that this way. Last week I went to a movie right after a big, lovely and completely satisfying dinner with a girlfriend. I proceeded to buy a large popcorn. WHAT? It suddenly dawned on me that it was ridiculous. The habit to eat snacks while I watched a movie was so ingrained that I completely ignored the information my body was giving me about my current need for food.

A similar thing happened at Starbucks the other day when I was about to order my almost daily soy chai....I suddenly realised that despite the fact that it has become a part of my routine, I didn't actually want one...so I left.

To me it is a combo if exactly what Sarah wrote about, needing to be stimulated and also about becoming aware of habits and how sneakily powerful they can be!