It is exciting to take your kids to the theater! This year, Oklahoma City has a variety of family-friendly theater productions on the calendar, like Mary Poppins and Cinderella at Lyric Theatre, OKC Broadway’s Wicked and the entire season of Oklahoma Children’s Theatre. that look dynamic!
I’m a HUGE theater nerd and have loved seeing shows almost my entire life! My parents started taking me to performances at Lyric Theatre when I was in elementary school (I distinctly remember their production of Peter Pan and clapping my hands to show I believed in fairies).
As an adult, I take my kids (9 and 12 yers old) to see several theater productions a year. They’re seasoned pros by now, but that hasn’t always been the case. In fact, we did have to leave a performance of Beauty and the Beast at intermission when my daughter was preschool-aged because she was loudly saying that she didn’t want to be there and making me (and everyone around us) miserable. I made the mistake of assuming that because she had watched the animated movie, that she would want to sit for the entirety of the musical (three hours of sitting still and being quiet). Oops!
Since then, we’ve built up our theater stamina by seeing several children’s theater performances (they have shorter run times and more kid-centric atmospheres) and worked our way up to full length shows.
Learn from my experience when taking your kiddos to the theater for the first time:
1. Pick the right show
. Children’s theater and family-friendly shows are a good place to start. Typically, the run times are shorter (you should be able to find how long a show will run on the theater’s website) and much of the audience will be children or the families of children, so it’s ok when your kiddo wiggles and makes noise.
Longer shows that are based on a family movie or book that your kid has familiarity with and that they really enjoy are another great option!
2. Talk to your kids about what to expect. Prepare your child in advance by watching a preview online, reading a book or listening to the soundtrack.
Talk them though the experience of attending live theater. Give them a step-by-step preview of what to expect: tell them about arriving at the theater and getting your tickets scanned, finding your seats, having the lights turned down when the show begins and needing to sit quietly while the performance is happening.
3. Arrive early
. Give yourself plenty of time so you don’t feel rushed. Use this time to find the restroom (always go potty before the show begins) and the water fountain, take pictures, locate your seats and read through the program.
It can be helpful to use these extra minutes beforehand to remind your kiddos that their bottoms need to stay in their seats and that their feet should never to kick the seat in front of them.
* At some theaters you can go to Guest Relations and get a booster seat for your kid too. The Civic Center also has sensory bags that include headphones and fidgets.
4. Relax and enjoy the show. Turn off your phone and pay attention to the performance, your children will follow your lead. Ringing phones and lit up screens will definitely distract your whole family from the experience.
Encourage your kids to clap at the end of the show! Let them know that laughing when something is funny and applauding at the end of a song in a musical and the end of a show are ways that we show our appreciation to the performers for a job well done!
More tips:
- Bring a jacket. You never now when the theater could be cold.
- Eat beforehand and maybe pack a car snack for afterward (ask me how I know!).
- Remember that when you’re talking during the show, the actors onstage can probably hear you.
- Try to unwrap your candy or cough drop before the show begins (the crinkling!).
