<p>I have to admit to feeling a bit like Aly Reisman's parents sometimes while watching my kid in performance.</p>
<p>I watched this when they first showed it during the women’s gymnastics. It was quite hilarious. I have to admit, my daughter is a swimmer, and when she is swimming, I am leaning in the direction that she is swimming, as if I am helping her touch the wall first. Sometimes I am practically sitting on top the person next to me. I am exhausted when she is done. And then there are times I can’t watch and I cover my eyes - kind of.</p>
<p>I never feel any nerves when my son performs - probably because he is always so calm.</p>
<p>When my son was racing BMX, I probably looked just like them. I couldn’t watch my son in spelling bees. But with his playing, I’m like VMT and feed off the calm of my son. When one of his pieces is being performed, I like to watch the audience and the players for how they feel for his music.</p>
<p>My DD is a dance major and when she would do a solo I think I held my breath the whole time. I was more nervous than she was I think. You just want your child to do well and you know how much they put into their performances.</p>
<p>I used to be “engaged physically” when the a new piece has a certain amount of “vocal acrobatics”. But once it becomes a solid part of her rep, we can both relax. I can now sit through “Una Voce Poco Fa” and breath.</p>
<p>It’s the knowledge that one slip-up can lead to an undesired result. That is true wheather in the performing arts, spelling bees or sport.</p>
<p>DD always said she knew she could look out and see me mouthing the words. That was until she got to college and I no longer heard her practicing for hours. Then I could sit back and enjoy it.</p>
<p>I get nervous when anyone’s kid performs!</p>
<p>I think that hearing S perform on a regular basis is the thing I am going to miss (almost) the most.</p>
<p>I miss watching my son run in cross country and track meets. He could run like the wind. He got injured as a HS senior and doesn’t run anymore. I have to admit that I closed my eyes at times!</p>
<p>Re: Track Meets - passing the baton during a relay - definitely nerve wracking.</p>
<p>Come to think of it, I seem to “help” my DH find the brake in the car, too … or else I just shut my eyes and brace for impact.</p>
<p>I sometimes am sad because I watch my son perform but it is totally foreign to me. I am not particularly musical and I have hard time hearing when he does something well or when he messes up. I often would look at his HS Jazz teacher’s face during a performance because he is somebody who has very high standards and I knew if I saw him smile or clap extra hard that our son had done well. At a recent concert our son did his private teacher showed up and I found myself constantly turning around to look at him and his reactions when our son was soloing. On the positive side my son doesn’t have to worry about me critiquing him.</p>
<p>Last spring my son, third chair played a solo/duet with the first chair in his college concert ensemble. It sounded absolutely perfect to me, but I am not a musician.</p>
<p>After the performance I asked he if he wanted to go eat, he was in a terrible mood and just wanted us to drop him off at his dorm room. Later he told me that he had been “chewed out” by the conductor for not playing his part as well as the first chair (who actually has been a professional musician for 30 years, ever since he graduated from North Texas with a BM in performance - I have no idea why he is enrolled as a 50+ year old undergrad again).</p>
<p>Since my eldest was a competative figure skater, I realized long ago that you have to put your total faith in their coach/teacher and let she or he handle if from there. Because of that belief, I rarely if ever am nervous when one of mine competes or performs. Youngest do played soccer and ran track and D played soccer forever. I will admit to being edgy when she began her Junior Recital(VP) last January, but about / minutes in her teacher took a deep breath an smiled broadly and I stopped feeling the urge to pace!! D told me last night that she’d rather sing in a packed house of 3000 than in front of 15 people whom she knows well( I’m sure that I was included in that!).</p>
<p>Yes, that’s true! It’s much scarier to perform in front of your peers!</p>