There must be something about the toddler tongue that tells kids that anything remotely healthy is a threat to their happiness – a danger to be avoided by any means necessary. Cue a scene worthy of any war epic: screaming, kicking, and crying amid explosions of milk and creamed vegetables that splatter against what used to be your spotless kitchen. On any other day you may be the commander general of the house, but this is one battle that’s tough to win.
But what’s harder than getting your child to eat what you put in front of them? How about taking them out to see a play? Or, better yet, an opera? There is a reason you don’t see many three-year-olds romping around the opera house, kids aren’t known for their artistic appreciation and might end up snoozing rather than savoring the performance. Either that, or their yells might upstage the singers themselves.
But Tapestry New Opera Works, a Toronto-based opera company, thinks these two age-old parent vs. toddler traumas are perfectly suited. Partnering with Words In Motion, a Canadian company that promotes social and educational development in children through the performing arts, they’ve created the show Get Stuffed. It tells the story of Zach, a middle-school student who learns all about the importance of healthy eating from a rather unlikely source – a group of singing and dancing vegetables and other foods – in a dream he has after school. The show was developed in association with the Canadian Diabetes Association, so the show not only delivers a taste of fun and frivolity, but a heaping dose of quality, useful information about the benefits of a good diet.
It seems children have been told to “Eat Your Vegetables” and “Drink Milk” since the dawn of time. Yet, still we’re facing an epidemic of obesity in our youth. With young children spending more and more time watching TV or playing video games and developing harmful eating habits while doing so, shows like this are new and exciting ways to make the youth of today realize the impact of what they put into their bodies. Messages like these can sometimes get “stale” the more often they’re repeated, but Get Stuffed avoids this by taking an even “fresher” approach by focusing on an environmentally-friendly diet, as well as highlighting Canada’s diverse offerings of ethnic foods. Characters like Big Cheese and Broccoli take centre stage, but singing right beside them are veggies and fruits grown locally in Ontario.
Get Stuffed started with a few workshop shows in the Greater Toronto Area in 2008, and began touring extensively through schools in Southern Ontario last spring, bringing its 5-member cast to over 10 000 people. Its current tour will stage performances in the school cafeterias of rural and remote communities in Ontario that don’t often experience such creative, fun, yet informative shows. The final course of the tour will take place in Toronto this Sunday, May 15 with free performances available for families in the Distillery District.
[...] on our blog: Sing for your (Healthy) Supper http://www.ourkids.net/blog/index.php/sin-supper-514/ [...]