The Gallery — Being a parent

Another great theme for The Gallery this week and one that will no doubt be filled with lots of shots of book bags, dinners and really cute children.  Or parents freezing on rugby touchlines on a Sunday morning.     Sadly none of those scenarios really feature on my parenting radar these days.   Driving round the M25 to an event that includes the teens though, well that does.

Increasingly my parenting and blogging worlds are overlapping and the teens and their friends are able to enjoy the opportunities that come our way.  Such as visiting Warner Bros studio for the Harry Potter tour, or Thorpe Park VIP access on Fright Night, or a day out to Cadbury World.    Recently however we did something that I never thought I would be do.

Go to Wembley for WWE.   If you don’t know what WWE is let me enlighten you.   It’s wrestling and apparently is huge.  I had no idea but its been a very quick and steep learning curve!   People before I went fell into two camps: those that absolutely loved it or those that have never really watched it but said “oh it’s rubbish, it’s all a fix”.  No.  It isn’t.  It’s entertainment and therefore it is choreographed.  It is scripted.  And actually, it is damned good fun.

We started off with a picnic in the car after picking Ellie up from school and then battling the M25 in the rush hour to get to Wembley in time to enjoy the VIP experience beforehand.

Wembley

Hanging out in a bar with food and drinks, PlayStations with WWE games for people to play with and enjoy and lots of merchandise on show too.    Two of the stars of the show came out to say hello and pose for all of those who wanted their pictures taken with them.

I had started my day by interviewing one of the stars of the show, Sheamus over the phone.   That will be a separate blog post shortly but suffice to say he was lovely and when I said I had no idea about WWE he took the time to explain it to me, why he made the change from being in IT to being a wrestler, how proud his parents are of him, and what an absolute gent Hugh Jackman is.  I could have chatted to him for hours.

Sheamus

It was fabulous to then see him “doing his thing” from our seats in the crowd.   And oh what a crowd.   I was amazed at how many youngsters were there!  And really getting into the show alongside their parents.   It has always struck me that maybe wrestling was not for children but do you know what, it is.   I think it would no more make kids want to start fighting as Strictly would make kids want to take up the waltz.   They can see it for what it is.   Entertainment.   Bad guy vs good guy.   Eight different “shows” choreographed and played out by performers who have a role to play.

WWE1

Sitting beside three teens it really brought it home to me that this is what parenting is about for me now.  Doing things that they enjoy and that they know far more about than me.   Them teaching me about stuff I was oblivious about before and seeing them get excited when I say “do you want to do WWE at Wembley, I have just had an invitation and have no idea what it is about”.  It was enlightening and do you know what?  A huge amount of fun.  I would definitely do it again.  And I want Sheamus to be my new BFF.

Men with muscles in tight Speedos?  Hello.  What’s not to like?!!

An even the ones dressed up as crocodiles are kinda cute too

WW2

You can get all sorts of info from the WWE website, including tour info and more info on all the stars.

PS sorry the photos are grainy, they were taken on my phone from some distance so are not very well focussed I am afraid.

We were guests of WWE and received complimentary tickets and passes to the VIP area. 

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  • I am. I am!! I never watched it as a child but I am learning that lots did!! And there is a lot of it on Sky I am finding out about too so I think I might be watching a bit more of it in the coming months!

  • It’s so good to be able to share these experiences with your kids. I would have fallen into the ‘oh that’s not for me’ camp, but it looks quite amazing. I know my kids would have loved it (and maybe I would have done a bit too!).

  • Wow, you cool mum you! I don’t think I’m far behind you and I kind of like it……I think!

  • Wow! My son love WWE. You would definitely be the coolest mum in his eyes right now!

  • Definitely a cool mum! I confess to going in my twenties (without children), making my own banner and loving it!

  • I used to LOVE WWE as a child! Bret ‘The Hitman’ Hart was my hero!! Unfortunately, my boys don’t seem to enjoy it as much as I used to…