Well, my son's first pageant was this past Saturday and, all-told, I think he did very well. I can't say the same for myself.For starters, I got way too stressed out for no real reason. Part of the curse of being a perfectionist, I suppose. I got so obsessed with wanting everything to go perfectly for him that I probably made it worse on him, and for that, I'm sorry.
The first thing I did wrong was to get there too early. I got there about 20 minutes before registration was supposed to start, which doesn't sound too early, until you factor in that I then had to keep a 2-year-old occupied for 20 minutes in a hotel lobby. We rode the elevators a lot.
I also tried to make a little small talk with the other moms, not just to size up the competition (though I was doing that, too), but just to be friendly and kill some time. There was only one other boy in my son's age division (18-35 months) but, though he was a couple of months older than my son, this was his fourth pageant. The parents also had a daughter in the 3-5 year-old division, a stunning little girl in a dress that probably cost more than the one I got married in. Intimidating.
When registration opened (a few minutes late, but who's counting?), we were one of the first in line, so my son was contestant #2. Big mistake. You go in order of your contestant number. So instead of getting to see the other kids show us what to do (since we were clueless) we were the second ones to cross the stage.
There are a few things people should know about me, not the least of which is my tendency to seize and obsess upon an idea. I'm intensely focused, to a flaw, but it's a trait that I can recognize in myself. When I found out I was pregnant, I knew it would mean I would someday be a "----- mom", whether that be "hockey mom", "band mom", "Science Olympiad mom", etc. Whatever my child was interested in, I would be invested, 100%.