What's Next, Doomed Beginner?

First, if you've just come to this blog, scroll down and begin at the beginning. I've decided to divide post #1 into three parts so that if you start hyperventilating somewhere, you can stop and come back later. New things, like performing in public, are difficult. Be gentle with yourself.

In the last post, I talked about what to do if you'd like to give puppets a first try. Just do your usual story time, but add in a little friend. This friend can be called any name you like (I chose Little Earwig; see my P.S. about Little Oatmeal). You can have one little friend who comes along regularly to story times; or you can change your little friend to match your story. Last post had The Three Little Pigs, so you could use a pig puppet if you have one. If you don't, use what's at hand or bring a stuffed animal from home.

What?! You don't have any stuffed animals? That's just fine. Ask around. We'll be covering simple puppets in the days to come, so hang on. You may wind up with a Little Pig sooner or later!

The point is, you don't have to do anything. The puppet does all the work without saying or doing anything. No words to remember; no costume or scenery changes; no heavy lifting. Easy-Peasy, as they say!

Yeah, right.

No, seriously. My assumption with the last post was that, for whatever reason, you wanted to try a puppet as an experiment. Like most adults, you have preconceived notions about what puppets are all about and that puts you off. You get up in front of kids every week and tell stories and that's just fine. Somehow, when you add puppets, its another thing and it's scary.

Please remember this: the kids don't care. They don't. There is a magic to puppets and the children are willing to play along. They don't care. They will invent moving mouths where there are none. They will say that puppets fly when they never left the ground. And they will assure you that Little Earwig was smiling at them and enjoying the story right along with the audience when Little Earwig didn't even move past the intro. It's called imagination. You know; that thing we're supposed to be encouraging. Later on, when we are more grown-up, we call it the willing suspension of disbelief and it makes the theater and novels work quite well.

So what's next, Doomed Beginner?

Nothing special. Just keep on inviting Little Earwig back to story times and get comfortable. You never have to go past this phase. Seriously. A puppet friend at story time never has to do anything, just be there. You can interact with your friend. You can nod in agreement with each other; look surprised or even frightened together. Whatever you want to move the story along. And your little friend never, ever needs to say anything. Pantomime on a very basic scale is enough. Or not at all. But I think you will find as time goes by that it's easier and easier to interact with your friend and it gets the children involved in the story. And if Little Earwig ever does say something, you'll have quite a reaction to work with.

Here are some things to consider when starting with your puppet friend:

1. Make your trial time finite. That way, if you really don't want to continue with puppets, you can legitimately say that you gave it a fair trial. Make it no more than a month, I'd say, for that initial trial time, and six weeks at the most. Use me as a reference if this is being imposed from someone or somewhere else.

2. Make some decisions in advance. Do you have a puppet or a stuffed animal? If not, and this trial period is being imposed from someone else, will they spring for a puppet for you to use? If not, that weakens their position somewhat, I'd say. But you never know with management.

Decide if you want to have a single puppet friend or change puppets with each story. Who knows what will work for you? But make a decision and stick with it. Remember, it's only a trial period. You're gathering information about this.

3. Journal about your experience or at least make some notes. Remember you are working with puppets and they are strange, wonderful, magical creatures. All kinds of ideas might spring up, so write them down. Who knows what you will find?

4. Keep it simple and easy on yourself. There are a gazillion ways to approach puppets, I have found. You don't have to do them all at once. Relax and enjoy the show. Hey! It's puppets, remember? And bless you on your voyage.