Family bonding wasn’t on my agenda when I took the JD to see Dear Evan Hansen. We already have a strong relationship, and to me, this trip was simply to go see a popular musical that we’d heard was extraordinary. It really is – in more ways than one.
Seeing Dear Evan Hansen
For those of you who may not know, Dear Evan Hansen is a hit stage musical focusing on Evan Hansen. He’s an anxious, isolated high schooler who longs for understanding and inclusion in a chaotic and often cruel social media world.
Evan launches a journey of self-discovery after he writes a letter for a writing exercise and it makes its way into the hands of a grieving couple whose son had recently committed suicide.
It’s heavy stuff, to be sure, but I had no reservations about taking my teen. He’s going through heavy stuff every day – far heavier than anything I had to go through at that age.
Themes
To me, what makes Dear Evan Hansen so powerful is that it touches on so many relevant themes to kids today. Cyberbullying, a feeling of isolation, feeling lost, feeling outcast, struggling to find oneself and one’s place in the world. It’s all in there.
These are all things that we went through in our teen years but on a much less horrible scale. Thanks to the rise of social media bullying and taunting can take place anytime and anywhere. Feelings of isolation can set in even if a person isn’t being targeted directly.
Family Bonding
Dear Evan Hansen touches both teens and parents, alike because it also addresses what it’s like to be a parent in today’s world. There’s a song in the musical called Does Anybody Have a Map. The song is performed by a mother, and it’s all about how she’s making it up as she goes along and trying to find her way. The really powerful part here is this: that’s exactly what her kids are doing, too.
That really touched me and my JD, actually. It helped show him in a way that I couldn’t that I can make mistakes as easily as they can, and that I also don’t always know what to do.
Thanks to this musical my son has really opened up to me in a way that I didn’t realize I was missing. My son is more willing to share with me now. He has shared more with me in the past week than he has in the past two months. It’s been such an amazing experience.
Dear Evan Hansen Promotes Family Bonding
This musical is an excellent vehicle to promote family bonding. Your kids might scoff at going to see a musical. They’re far too cool for it, I’m sure. LOL.
Take them anyway.
This musical is a powerful story that incorporated every single thing that teens struggle through daily as well as the struggles of parents our teens try to navigate the crazy world we live in. And it does it in a way that really gets the kids to look at parents as sounding boards. It’s pure magic.
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