It all started off innocently enough with a good deed. My neighbor had twins last month and her husband was out of town. I thought I would be nice and invite her daughter, who is the same age as my daughter, to go to the zoo with us. And by "us" I mean I was taking the kids to the zoo by myself because guess who was working. Me and five kids at the zoo on a weekend.
We managed to get to the zoo just as it opened, and I quickly discovered that kids really don't care about seeing most of the animals. They want to visit the gift shop, ride the carousel, and eat treats that didn't come packed with love by mom. They want the stuff that is sold in little huts around the zoo. Thank heavens that because we were there early, most of those little huts hadn't opened yet so we made it out alive. Kids also would rather play in puddles than read about animals. They would rather run around in circles giggling instead of walking in a straight line. The zoo for my family is less about seeing the animals and more about being an animal.
Then what do I do? Not one hour passed since we arrived back home that a friend called to see if our girls could have a play date. What I should have said was NO - we are all played out, but I know we don't normally do play dates very often. So I said yes. I was caught at a weak moment when my defenses were down. And somehow I was persuaded into having this little girl at my house, and driving her back home.
How did this happen?
Well, in my attempt to divert the play date to perhaps another day I told the mom that I just put the baby down for a nap and we wouldn't be going anywhere for a while. To which she responded, I could bring my daughter over there and you could bring her home at 5:00 or so.
Why couldn't I have been thinking more clearly? Why couldn't I just shut my mouth?
Instead I said, why don't you bring your son over too. WHAT? Well, my son is always complaining that he is surrounded by girls all the time (true) and she has a son who is my son's age. Since I am going to have kids over, might as well have all of them over.
So, while my children have had a delightful weekend I am exhausted and burned-out and it is only Monday. This doesn't bode well for the remainder of the week.
Oh, GOOD LORD, Woman!! I've learned to keep my mouth shut and say "no, thank you" or "we'd love to, but to bad we're so busy at the moment", etc. etc.!
ReplyDeleteAnd anything like, "prior engagement", "prior commitment", "prior obligation", or "prior scheduled lobotomy" works wonders. :o)
So funny and so true! We spend more time in the gift shop instead of on rides when we go to amusement parks!
ReplyDeleteYou are a great mom. Did your good deed for the next decade. Now go sit in front of the computer and send those kids on their way!:)
ReplyDeleteHoly cow woman - 5 kids at the zoo! And then more kids at home. Yikes. You are a wonderful mom!! And you're so correct, most of our time is spent at the gift shops. Don't you just love how they're conveniently placed so you may miss an exhibition or two, but never never never the gift shops.
ReplyDelete