Teach your children to be good audience members at live shows, performances, movies, lectures, etc

If you’ve been to any kind of public spectacle recently, you know audience behavior has become an intolerable distraction- and getting worse. From people talking or texting to getting up at inappropriate times, people acting selfishly has become an epidemic - and adults are the major culprit.If you’d like to make life better for yourself and others around you, start early and teach your children some basic appropriate behaviors during a live performance or event:Start by teaching them to respect the art. Whether it’s an orchestra or a superhero movie, plenty of people worked very hard to bring this performance to them tonight. If they are lucky enough to see it, they should also respect those who are putting it on by paying attention.Teach them when talking is appropriate. Very rarely do things need to be communicated during a performance, but if they do, be sure to utilize applause breaks or very loud moments to simply whisper quietly the urgent message to their companion. Save communications of approval or disapproval until after the show - it makes for lively discussion!Teach your children to respect others. Whether it’s sightlines, personal space, smells, sounds, or anything else that may impact somebody else’s enjoyment of the spectacle you are seeing, realize that as an audience member, you have a responsibility to make sure those around you are able to enjoy the show without your interruption. Be aware of yourself.Teach them appropriate times to get up. Leaving your seat during a performance should be on an emergency-only basis. Learn to plan bathroom trips for right before the performance; or grab an extra beer/snack/soda from vendors before the show begins. Getting up in the middle of the show just because you want a beer isn’t a good enough reason to distract others. However, if you do need to get up, utilize natural breaks like intermissions and between-song applause breaks that occur throughout most performances.This is a big one: prepare your children for when it is appropriate to participate in the performance. Singing along at a reasonable volume at a rock concert - no problem! Singing along loudly at a broadway show or wildly conducting along with a symphony is a problem. Members of the audience have paid good money and time to attend this show, and they are not paying to see you perform it. Children need to be taught to pick up cues as to when these behaviors are appropriate and when they aren’t.Teach your children to keep technology on hold during performances. With some small exceptions, there is just no reason to have your phone out during a show. Be in the moment and tweet about it later.These are just a few of the important lessons we can impart in our children to make them better, self-aware audience members. And though this is aimed at children, most adults could learn something from it too as they are most often the culprits today.Attending a show, live performance, lecture, or screening is one of life’s timeless great pleasures, and there is no reason we can’t all work a little harder to ensure everyone is able to enjoy them. via /r/Parenting http://bit.ly/2WQFdkE