Basic concert etiquette for Dummies
Over the last few weeks, I have attended quite a few school spring concerts. Performers in the concert ranged from kindergarten through eighth grade and were all very well behaved. However, the amount of inappropriate behaviors witnessed by people in attendance who qualify as adults needs to be addressed.
Let's go over some basic concert etiquette. Feel free to share this with the dummies in your life.
It is not appropriate to answer your phone. I don't care if its your mother, answering the phone during a school concert, or any school function, is inappropriate. Let it go to voice mail. The world will not end.
It is not appropriate to record the entire concert on your iPad. Your iPad is freakin HUGE! I can not see around it, Let's be serious, you can't zoom close enough on an iPad to make a video worth watching. Leave it at home.
It is not appropriate to say "Who the fuck is that?" when school administrators are talking. This should be self explanatory but apparently it isn't. In fact, you should refrain from cussing at all school functions. Odds are that if you came to more school functions you probably would know the speaker.
It is not appropriate to take your misbehaving toddler to the lobby and then let him run and squeal as if he is in the middle of a soccer field. This may shock you, but we can still hear him. If your child can not sit still for 90 minutes they are not invited.
It is not appropriate to check your Facebook, to text your dad, or to play candy crush during the show. You can unplug for 90 minutes. If not, you have a problem.
It is not appropriate to yell anything during the concert. Not "turn on the mike" or "way to go, Jack!" or "We love you, monkey." Just clap, like everyone else.
It is not appropriate to leave once your child is done performing. If your kid is in the orchestra and they played first, you need to keep your butt in that chair until my band student is done playing. You are not allowed to leave because that is rude.
To summarize, turn off your electronic devices, be quiet and stay in your seat. If we all did this, the concert would be even more enjoyable.
About Me
- kisatrtle
- I'm a 41 year old (gasp) freelance writer, school cafeteria manager, wife and mother. I have three children and one anxious and overweight beagle. I use my blog to make others laugh, to share some cool crafts, to document my lunchlady adventures and to lament about the challenges faced by us all on the journey called life. Thanks for visiting. Please leave some crack...um...I meant some comments.
3 random thoughts:
I am so thankful that my child didn't perform in many concerts. I would have broken a rule (as discretely as possible). I would sit or stand in the very back and when my child was finished, I would be outta there. I have been known to take a magazine or small paperbook along too. I try to tuck them into the program and keep it out of sight. Those events are endless. The awards assemblies are even worse with way too much talking by presenters. You have written about my worst parenting skill I believe. I do agree with all the other rules though.. LOL
Ah! So I guess things haven't changed much since my kids were in school, eh? Except maybe they got worse and isn't it so sad that it's the adults that are getting worse. Let's hope those kids who know how to act, will continue to remember and not take on the characteristics of those adults they are seeing at school functions!
Wow … it just shocks me how alleged grown-ups behave. And we wonder why kids don't always have manners!