“It happens every time, they all become blueberries.”

— Willy Wonka

We visited a chocolate factory tonight, and it was wonderful.

Zachary as Grandpa Joe. Dig the wig!

It was the opening night of Whitford middle school’s production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and my son and daughter were on stage. Big roles for both. A papa and a mama couldn’t be prouder.

Except …

We had “near tears.”

Twice during the evening, each said they messed up big time. Of course the audience didn’t know this, but they did. My wife Melissa and I did our best to encourage them and they both truly delivered excellent performances, but being tired and making a mistake was a bit much. Fortunately, they’re resilient and finished strong.

In some ways I’m glad they were a bit down because that means they cared, but as a parent, I hated to see them suffer. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could easily put our flubs and failures behind us? Wouldn’t it be nice if we could adopt …

… a Willy Wonka attitude?

The attitude of – let’s try again, oh well. The attitude of – whoops, next time for sure.

Do you remember what happened to the bad kids? One got stuck on tv, one was a blueberry, another got lost in a river of chocolate, etc. Wonka wasn’t concerned. In fact he was non-chalant and downright callous. He was working on something much larger, and he didn’t have time for … the bad kids …

Or should I say … failures?

Mr. Wonka didn’t have time for failures because he knew they weren’t worth his time and he knew they were part of making great candy. He just dealt with them and went on.

It takes practice, courage, and a stiff upper lip to turn your back on a failure. Yet, that’s what is needed to succeed. Oh, and of course we have to be honest with ourselves and accept when we didn’t do well. Mr. Wonka would demand honesty. It’s the big test.

Next time you flub your lines, try a taste of Willy Wonka attitude.

It’s really good chocolate.

Happily went to my son and daughter’s opening night performance, helped clean up chairs afterwards, and gave a little input on a sparked challenge.