Wow, it’s been a really busy last week at school (yes, my kids were dismissed for the last time this year on Friday afternoon at 1:00 p.m.)!
My oldest just finished grade four, and is off to middle school next year. I was part of the organizing committee for the Grade Four Farewell Celebration at her school, and that kept me up past midnight from Monday straight through to the celebration on Thursday, which I was almost too sleepy to enjoy. It wasn’t that we went over the top in planning the event: there was a school assembly, the teachers and administration all made a short address and the other students sang a beautiful, tear-jerking farewell song. Afterwards we served coffee, juice boxes and cake for the grade four students and their families. Simple.
What kept me up at nights was the fact that we decided to make a slideshow, set to music, of the journey the students had taken from Kindergarten to the end of grade 4. We had dozens of pictures to scan, thousands more to cull through, and finally hundreds to crop, rotate, organize and set to music. My friend Lorraine and I stayed up both Monday and Tuesday night, staring at the computer, eyes glazing over, trying to get just the right picture lined up with just the right lyrics in each song. In the end, we had a product that we were happy with, and I stayed up all night Wednesday burning discs so that each of the grade four students could take a copy home with them along with their report cards.
WHEW. So then there we were, Thursday morning, in the school gym for the celebration. I found myself a little surprised to be one of the only parents in the crowd enjoying the event with my own two eyes, experiencing the moment and not recording it on video or snapping pictures. Knowing that it would be an emotional event — our school is such a warm, nurturing community, and my daughter’s teacher for the last two years is one of those once-in-a-lifetime great, great teachers — so I made a conscious decision to enjoy the event in real time, and not experience the whole thing from behind a camera lens.
I don’t regret my decision. Even though I won’t be able to go back and watch the entire assembly again, I did get to experience it fully the first time. I’ve found this to be an ever-increasing trend, though, at any kind of event where parents watch their children. Whether it’s school plays or assemblies, soccer games or even a gymnastics lesson, there are more and more parents out there experiencing their children’s big moments from behind the lens of a camera.
And don’t get me wrong: I love to be able to look back over photographs and even some snippets of video to help bring back memories of a special moment, but I see them as aids, or prompts, and not a replacement for the actual experience of being there, one hundred percent, the first time. So yeah, I pulled out the camera after the assembly and shot a few pictures for posterity’s sake, but I made the choice to come out from behind the lens and just immerse myself in the event first. I’ll always be able to evoke the feelings and memories of that day from images like this one:
and I feel privileged that I was able to give myself over entirely to the experience, instead of watching it through the 3-inch screen on the back of the video camera.
But what about you guys? We’re all parents, so you must have your own stance on this one. Do you record every last accomplishment for posterity’s sake, or are you like me, taking the more zen-parenting approach and choosing to live the moments in real time, instead of from behind the lens?
I do still videotape and photograph some events, but I try to make sure I’m doing it for good reasons, and not just because I can. When my little girl sang a solo at the school talent show and Daddy couldn’t be there, you betcha I taped it. But I had begun recently to feel that I was experiencing too many moments from behind the lens of a camera, and then going back and watching them on TV to get a fuller experience, and I didn’t want to keep doing that.
Sara, I used iPhoto to do the slideshow, then added some finishing touches in iMovie, burning to disc using iDVD. Can you tell I’m a Mac user? Good luck with Will’s birthday slideshow!
Because I was kid #4 there are not really any pictures etc of my time as a kid…it sort of makes me sad so I vowed to take more of my own.. but it’s slowing down for sure! Kath – what program did you use to make your slideshow? I want to key one up for the boy for birthday #2….
Guilty but with a reason. My girl had her first ever singing performance and her dad couldn’t be there so I filmed it. Not all of it but some so that they could watch it together. It was worth not seeing every moment live. But I do so get what you mean.