When the Show Doesn't Go as Planned (And Why That's Actually Perfect)

Last week, my Broadway Minis took the stage for their final performance. For ten weeks, these four to eight year olds had been singing, dancing, playing games, and most importantly, finding their creative voice. The whole experience is designed to be loose, playful, and pressure-free — because I still remember being the kid who hated strict ballet classes that gave me zero freedom and stifled everything I wanted to explore.

Then came show time!

One of my little performers was wearing an animal costume, and halfway through, I could see his tiny red face getting hotter and hotter. So right there on stage, mid-performance, he started stripping the costume off. Another kiddo saw the laugh he got and jumped off the stage to try to get a laugh as well.

I could see the parents shift in their seats. They'd taken time off work. They'd shown up to cheer. And the performance wasn't exactly... what they'd probably pictured.

But here's what I actually saw: a child brave enough to solve a problem. Another child brave enough to try something new. Authenticity over perfection. Real kids being real kids.

How to Support Your Child After a Performance That Didn't Go as Planned

We Need to Cheer Them On Anyway

As parents, I know we have visions for how things will go. My own boys have tried different sports and activities where I've caught myself thinking, "Oh, they could have done this better or that better." But that's not really what matters, is it?

What matters is that we're there. We're their cheerleaders. We're the people they know will catch them when they fall, celebrate when they try, and make them feel safe enough to be brave again next time.

Knowing how to support your child after a bad performance — or an unexpected one — really comes down to one thing: letting them know that showing up was enough. Because it was.

The Win Isn't Always the Performance

The Win Isn't Always the Performance

At the end of that show, I had kids who I never thought would even step on stage — kids I'd watched grow from shy and hesitant into something bigger — who said their lines out loud, stood in front of everybody, and were absolutely proud of themselves.

That kid in the costume? He didn't fail because he got too hot and took it off. He succeeded because he went on stage in the first place. He sang. He danced. He showed up.

Sometimes the win is the child who finally feels brave enough to take up space. Sometimes it's the one who made everyone laugh and felt seen doing it.

Sometimes the win is your kid coming home and showing you the song and dance they couldn't quite do on stage.

Sometimes it's simply showing your child that performing and creating are safe things to do — even when it gets messy.

So cheer them on for the lines they said. Cheer them on for the courage it took to stand on that stage. Cheer them on for being authentically, wonderfully themselves — costume and all.

The process matters as much as the performance. Always.

Sometimes the win is the kid who finally feels brave enough to take up space. Sometimes the win is the one who made everyone laugh and felt seen doing it.

Sometimes the win is showing your child that performing, trying, creating—these are safe things to do, even when they get messy or unexpected.

The Moments Your Kids Remember May Not be the Ones You Think

I was once in a show when I was a kid where the band forgot my solo - a whole song they just forgot that is was in the show. I was devastated, crying backstage as my grandpa was there that night to see me. So they found another spot to put the song in, but if you can imagine I was not in the right mind frame to sing it. Even at the age of 12 I knew the show must go on. I went on stage and sang my solo through the tears, through the snot that had built up from all of the crying.

 I thought I sounded awful, I knew I normally would have rocked that solo, but my Grandpa took me aside after the show and just said "That was really something. You are really something. You were amazing on that stage and the true emotion was incredible".

Our job as parents and teachers (and directors) isn't to produce a flawless show. It's to create a space where kids feel safe to try, to fail, to surprise themselves and everyone watching.

So cheer them on for the lines they said. Cheer them on for the courage it took to be on that stage. Cheer them on for the moment they decided to take their costume off because they were hot, or to do the funny thing, or to just be authentically themselves.

The best performances aren't the ones that go exactly as planned. They're the ones where your kids learn that they're enough, exactly as they are.

P.S. If you've got a kiddo who's nervous about performing, or if you're looking for a low-pressure way to build their confidence through creative play, that's literally what we do at Centre Stage Kids. No judgment, no perfection required—just space to find their voice. Here is a fun theatre game you can try at home today!