Performing in public is a great way to give children controlled danger.
What’s controlled danger, you might ask?
Danger where we’re practicing dealing with the fight-or-flight response without actually being in real danger.
Danger where you prepare your kids, you’re there for them if it goes well, and you’re there for them if it crashes to put things in perspective.
You wouldn’t let your kids peel off in the car after reading a few books on driving do’s and don’ts. Right?
Controlled danger is hands-on drivers ed for the brain.
So that when the fight-or-flight response goes off later…
…when your kids eventually have to deal with all manner of odd adult situations they didn’t learn about in school…
they know how to handle it.
It’s an alarm bell that goes off in our brains all the time. The more we practice dealing with it, the more we can use it to our advantage.
And controlled danger is our training ground.