The American Dream

As we get into the thick of tech week, I have always thought it important to have something for the kids to do backstage to keep them busy on the long days.  When I was young, my mother used to buy me shoe boxes full of beads, and elastic thread to keep me and the other child performers busy making bracelets and necklaces for each other and the adult cast mates.

Sydney came home from a party with rubber band bracelets and I immediately needed to get the stuff to make these.  We traipsed to Michaels and, along with another family looking for the same thing, bought two Rainbow Looms, one for each kid.

They brought them to rehearsal, and actually managed to talk one of the other child cast members into getting HER mother to buy her one.  So, a sweatshop-type assembly line began backstage during the sitzprobe.  As the evening went on, I began to see random cast members come out from the wings with the bracelets snaking up their arms.

At the end of the evening, on our way out the door, people who had never given the children a second glance were calling out their goodbyes to them.  They were all mini rock stars.  I asked them about it in the car, and they both excitedly told me that cast members were putting in their color orders.  Then, this conversation happened:

Me: That’s great that you’re making these for everyone.

Sydney: Yup.  Today they’re free.  Tomorrow, they cost a dollar.  Special ones like holiday colors will cost $1.50.

Me: so, what you mean to say is that you are hooking people on these with free samples, and subsequent ones will cost them?

Sydney: Yup.

Me: So….you’re like a meth dealer?

Sydney: Huh?

Me: Never mind.  GREAT entrepreneurship, Syd!  I’m proud of you.

My kid’s a dealer. 

Then, the next evening, I went backstage to check on their growing sweatshop, only to find an adult cast member working on the Rainbow Loom, patiently weaving bracelets. 

Me (to Sydney): How come she's making a bracelet?

Sydney: Outsourcing.

How do you argue with that?