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Grandparenting

What's the matter with me

(97 Posts)
Samiejb Wed 19-Dec-18 12:19:12

Hi everyone - just come home from a first school Christmas service - one grandson in year 1 and the younger one sitting with me. Please tell me why once they start singing I start crying and can't stop throughout the whole thing. It's not watching the little ones dressed up, it's the singing that gets me going. I feel and must look right stupid. I know I'm a bit emotional but this is ridiculous - even to the stage that I wonder if I should go at all.

Alexa Mon 24-Dec-18 19:46:25

Samiejb, I too am emotionally labile. I do wish I could socialise with others who emote like I do. I am sure there is something wrong with me but I really don't care.

Luckylegs9 Mon 24-Dec-18 18:29:50

Granny activist, it made me cry too. His daddy would be so proud of him.
The Nativities I went too left me crying, but with laughter, especially the one where Mary hit Joseph with the baby as he wouldn't let go of him, another time a shepherd fell off the stage as he was vacantly looking around, scratching his bottom.
Merry Christmas everyone .

oldbatty Sat 22-Dec-18 09:29:29

Perhaps a lady wearing black trousers and a flowery top could have crawled along the floor and put a hand on the over enthusiastic singer and mimed shhhhhh.

fairisle Fri 21-Dec-18 22:20:54

I used to cry at the different nativities that were shown on This Morning,when it was hosted by Richard and Judy.I sobbed my heart out years ago when my DD2 won a hairdressing award.

GreenGran78 Fri 21-Dec-18 21:23:25

Perhaps you are right, Gabriella, but what she lacked in talent she certainly made up for with enthusiasm.
Throughout my musical life I have met countless people who have been deterred from singing by well-meaning teachers telling them to sing quietly, or mime, because their voice wasn't good enough. It makes me so sad that they have missed out on one of the pleasures in life, making music, because of this attitude. Quite often. when they have been persuaded to give it a try, they turn out to have a perfectly acceptable voice.
Community choirs are designed to accept anyone who wants to sing, regardless of talent. It is so wonderful to see people start to blossom when they begin to sing out with everyone else.

GabriellaG54 Fri 21-Dec-18 20:42:15

That kid...I didn't think it was funny. Overshadowing the efforts of the other children and spoiling the concert. I'd have hauled him/her off the stage and told him/her to 'sing quietly or not at all.

GreenGran78 Fri 21-Dec-18 10:25:58

I’m a cryer too, which can be very embarrassing when I am also ‘on stage’ with the adult choir. The Service of Nine Lessons we did last week, with children doing the readings and some carols, really set me off!
I well up at all sorts of things, especially beautiful music and sad films, but just seeing peoples’ emotions at airports and railway-stations can be a trigger.
Shysal’s clip of the raucous little girl is one of my favourites. I re-post it on Facebook every year. It’s hilarious. I believe that the little girl is now a teenager, and hates being a ‘superstar’ on the internet, but that video will be around for ever!

Pat1949 Fri 21-Dec-18 04:28:03

I'd be more worried if I didn't cry. I think most people do. Is it something to do with our childhood having gone, our children growing up and knowing our grandchildren won't be children forever?

justwokeup Fri 21-Dec-18 01:06:10

Shysal thank you so much. That made me cry too, not sure whether it was laughter or the wonderful little girl singing her heart out. I guess they had been told to sing up so the visitors could hear them.

moggie57 Thu 20-Dec-18 23:49:09

watching innocent children sing ,makes me emotional too. i get a lump in my throat. you could try sucking a sweet.

Eloethan Thu 20-Dec-18 22:51:04

I laughed so much - the little boy playing Joseph (I think) was hilarious too. Thanks Shysal.

I must be a bit odd because I tend to laugh more than cry at such events. Children can be so funny.

HillyN Thu 20-Dec-18 21:00:09

At the end-of-year services at my daughters' school they always sang 'One more step along the world I go'. I can't hear or sing that now without welling up. My friend at church, who also had children at the same school, is similarly affected. Whenever that hymn is chosen we quietly sob our way through it together! It doesn't help that a few years later my Mother chose that hymn to be sung at her funeral.

Marianne1953 Thu 20-Dec-18 20:43:41

I did it with my children and now I’m doing it with my Grandson.?

icanhandthemback Thu 20-Dec-18 20:30:01

My eyes water whatever they are performing. Mind you, when I was a teacher and it was my responsibility to put on the School Musical, I wept right through them whilst playing the piano. grin

June60 Thu 20-Dec-18 19:24:34

I think that sounds perfectly normalsmile I always cried at my children's Christmas concert/nativity & I'm sure I will when my Grandchildren are old enough to do one. It's a very emotional experience & it shows how much you love them x

harrigran Thu 20-Dec-18 18:53:54

Not just the singing, I cried when I saw GD ballet dance at the dance school concert. GD was doing what I wanted to do at her age and wasn't allowed lessons.

varian Thu 20-Dec-18 18:24:01

Perhaps there are some GNetters who are not grandparents, but I suspect that most of us are.

Just the other day a good friend asked me what was the best decade of my life and I had to think about it, but I am now sure that it was my sixties. It was the best decade professionally, although I continued to work into my seventies, but I became a granny for the first time when I was 59 and during my sixties had so many wonderful times as my grandchildren were born and started to grow up.

I do feel sorry for everyone who grows old without grand children.

Rosina Thu 20-Dec-18 18:15:34

I was told that when you have a baby you give birth to your brain and replace it with a water tank. I really can't agree with the first part of that statement but the water tank.... do we develop intensely heightened emotions when we have children? I saw a play once about the Crucifixion; the narrator said of Mary 'Because He had been her little son, she followed Him to Bethlehem'. that induced the most intense emotion in me, picturing what a mother might go through given those ghastly circumstances, and because I have a beloved son I couldn't get it out of my head for ages. Silly? Probably.

MagicWriter2016 Thu 20-Dec-18 17:50:19

I think it must be partly an age thing as I know I am a lot more emotional now than I was a few years ago, especially hearing singing. I can now cry at the ending of a good book, feel close to tears watching something like a good dance on Strictly. The list goes on and on!

1974cookie Thu 20-Dec-18 17:48:37

Shysal, just watched that video. I am still laughing.
Absolutely Brilliant and thank You for sharing that with us.

CazB Thu 20-Dec-18 17:48:34

Priceless Shysal! I always cried in my children's nativity, and Away in a Manger gets me going every time.

GabriellaG54 Thu 20-Dec-18 16:33:00

I always cried at my children's plays and even now, get emotional thinking about or watching an old DVD of their school plays, parties and sports days.
My GC and GGC live at some distance and so have not been able to attend so many of their school events, however, those I have seen get me quite choked but not as much as with my AC when they were small.

cavewoman Thu 20-Dec-18 16:30:42

Shysal Thankyou so much! I've watched that clip three times now.Best laugh I've had for months grin

Emma49 Thu 20-Dec-18 16:30:21

Shysal brilliant.

Rosina Thu 20-Dec-18 16:18:20

I only have to see a fruit cake at Christmas to well up. Children singing just finishes me off - working in a school for years I never attended the Christmas concert as I didn't want to emerge with a soggy face; I watched rehearsals and slid out when emotion got the better of me.