ART OF MOTHERING
| by Elee Kraljii Gardiner | photos by James Loewen
Above: The Duke, a hand puppet (with an English accent), served as M. C.
Opposite: The audience is entranced by performances by kids and adults alike.
he Greek author Nikos Kazantzakis said,
“a person needs a little madness, or else
they never dare cut the rope and be free.”
Mired in Vancouver’s mind-numbing
gray winter, I couldn’t have agreed more. Our
jolt of madness came in the form of hosting a
party, a throwback to the th-century salons
of politicos and ribald artists. But when the
logistics of childcare complicated things for us
and our guests, we decided to hold our salon on
a Saturday a ernoon with the kids in the house.
I quickly did some parent algebra: How
many cupcakes does it take to a keep a child
out of earshot during a retelling of the lthy “Aristocrats” joke?
I pitched the salon to my friends as a let-loose, late-night party during which everyone would put on an act of some sort. But to my initial chagrin, what most excited my friends was the idea of doing this with the kids. ese parents were psyched to have a di erent sort of Saturday to spend with their o spring, and the guests who weren’t parents were vociferous about including the kids. ey didn’t want to do the salon in spite of the kids; they wanted to do it because of them.
References:
Archives