How good is it to see your children succeed?

On Friday evening I had just collected my car from its annual service and was driving home when my phone rang. I could see it was my daughter, but as I was driving I could not take the call. Instead about ten minutes later I pulled up outside our house to be greeted by Ellen with a beaming smile and performing what can best be described as girly star jumps.

She immediately told me that she had only just received an email offering her a "performing" place on the National Youth Theatre's six week EPIC STAGES course this summer. EPIC STAGES is.......

"A brand new summer course designed to prepare the best young performance and production (performers, technicians, producers and directors) talent for working in the industry."

To says she was happy was an understatement. I have shared before that my daughter has set her sight on being an actor. She has told us, her parents, that she categorically does not want to go to university. This was a little hard for her mother who had those ambitions for her and it also flies against much of the sane and traditional advice given by her teachers, family and friends. She has shown us that this is not a whim and indeed she has some talent (like a singing voice she has kept hidden from us) so our view now is that we will support her on this journey and if she should fail then it will not be for not trying or lack of support. That said theatre and performing is way out of my wife's and my previous experience (even if I am in the middle of a standup comedy course right now).

In this instance her Mum was not around to share the high being away for the weekend on a ladies' golf break. Instead it fell to me to enjoy the moment for both of us. Ellen and I had already planned a cinema trip (something of a tradition when her Mum has a weekend away) to see Iron Man Three. In this instance we preceded the cinema with a visit Pizza Hut with double pepperoni stuffed crust pizza followed, for Ellen, by a cookie dough and ice cream dessert.  Her smile barely left her mouth and she kep saying how good her evening was.

It is for times like this that a parent does all they do. We had seen her mask her hope then her disappointment over drama school auditions. She did get one call back which was good, but no offers in the end. She and we were reconciled to her leaving school, finding some work and looking at ways to build her experience ahead of applying to drama schools again next year.

I hope that in this I have kept the line between supportive and pushy parent, but I am proud of her and will do all I can to help her succeed. It is interesting how much you learn about other people and the connections you did not know you had. I found I have a cousin who knows the founder of the National Youth Music Theatre (a lead we are still following), I work with a guy who has a long history of theatre lighting and knows people working in the West End and just yesterday I learnt that one of our neighbour's daughter works as a casting assistant for a London agency. Oh yes, and the Director of my Comedy course is a theatre director too.

All in all I will try and open doors and if Ellen wishes, help her prepare to step through them, but I believe I will stop short of pushing. If I should overstep the  mark my little diva-to-be will surely tell me.

On Friday I did tell Ellen to enjoy the moment and "bank it" for surely there will be moments in the future when she will need to draw strength from the feeling she gets from the good times. This news does mean that she can embark on her "A" levels, just a  few weeks away with a more positive attitude which I am sure can be nothing but a good thing.

There is of course a long way to go and not guarantee of any success, but this could be a very interesting summer and it is good to see your child succeed!