I have been concerned about my limited ability to expose my children to the arts. Several times over the years, I have tried to teach art classes to them (usually following my reading of books or attending conventions which told me that it was CRUCIAL that I teach my children art.) Unfortunately, I have failed every time and we have given up after brief attempts. I have little artistic ability and even less drive to teach it, and it seemed to always be the subject that went by the wayside when we were pressed for time.
However, we have done better with other artistic areas, especially in the area of performing arts. It all started a couple of years ago, my in-laws purchased season tickets to what is now the "Connections" series from the DPAA for my oldest child for her birthday. Her dad and I enjoyed taking turns accompanying her to these Sunday performances of the philharmonic, which were followed by free Graeter's ice cream -- always a plus! We considered the possibility of our other children going to the philharmonic performances, but thought that the Connections series concerts might not hold their attention. (The younger two were 9 and 12 at the time.)
However, the DPAA has another series which is targeted to families. The family series includes three philharmonic performances (one by the youth orchestra -- which was awesome, I might add) and one "wildcard" performance of your choice. The philharmonic performances are a little shorter than a standard performance -- a little over an hour as opposed to closer to two hours.
For $120 (with a teacher discount), we got one student and one adult ticket for each performance. Then we let each child choose which performance he/she wanted most to see. It has been great one-on-one time for us with the kids, the performances have been very entertaining, and I have finally found an easy and enjoyable way to get some arts exposure for our children. Even our teenagers have enjoyed these family friendly performances.
We've already ordered our tickets for next year. We will be seeing the orchestra's annual "Philharmonster" around Halloween time, a matinee performance of "The Nutcracker," a concert with the youth orchestra accompanied by the Magic Circle Mime Co., and (for our wildcard), the ballet "Cinderella." I am so excited to get to attend two ballets next year -- one with each of my girls. My husband and son will get to enjoy the other two performances together.
If your children are interested in music and old enough to sit through a shorter concert performance, I highly recommend that you check out the DPAA's family series.
