Thursday, February 3, 2011
Handling Disappointment
After spending every night with my Aunts and Grandma taking care of Mother...I took Saturday off to spend sometime with my family. Hubby and I took the kids to see Gulliver's Travels - spent a whopping $24.00 for tickets and another $24.75 for snacks only to find out that the movie was being shown in the smallest theatre known to man - and that every seat was already filled. I stood there at the back of the theatre with a large bag of popcorn, 2 pops and a passel of children ready for some fun with their Mom trying to make seats magically appear if I just stared long enough. When I finally gave up on that proposition...I made a decision...we were going to make the best of it. I herded them out of there, got a refund and tried to make a fast exit. Not so easy when 4 disappointed kids are trailing behind you.
I tried to be as honest as I could be. Told them it sucked...but we have to look on the bright side. We ate our snacks in the car on the way to the bowling alley (a good 30 minutes away) and I listened to my kids make the best of it.
One said this is like a moving movie theatre...just look at all there is to see. Everyone shared their candy...and I taught them what a candy tax was as I passed out popcorn into their water cups (does anyone else do that? I get one large popcorn and divide it into small cups.)
I was really surprised to see that they were willing to go with the flow after disappointment...but realized that I was the key in this situation. If I had let my feelings of anger show...we might have had a much different scene on our hands.
Turns out that it cost almost exactly the same for a family of 6 to bowl as it does to go to the movies. I just wish that I knew how to get started more quickly with the actual bowling. I'm sure that we looked like something out of a National Lampoon's movie trying to get tickets, set up our lane and find balls that the kids could use. The bumpers kept getting stuck, a few balls might have been thrown before the bowling mechanism was finished setting up the pins and I'm pretty sure the families around us thought I needed a chill pill. Miss Maddy at 3 was really freaking me out with her antics around the ball return. I tried to keep the images of her arm getting sucked into it to myself but since Hubby was the one helping her bowl...I might have shouted out a few times "You have to watch her."
I'm really torn about having such a small child still - I find myself just waiting until she is a little older since I don't think my heart can take the panic attacks that a 3 year old issues on a regular basis but knowing that I will be wishing she was little still.
I am thinking about making bowling a weekly or at least bi-monthly thing. The kids would have really enjoyed themselves if they had really known what they were doing...as it was it took them a while to understand when it was their turn, who was in the lead and how hard you have to throw the ball. Wouldn't it even be a ton of fun to invite a few families out to bowl too?
P.S. What do you think about the shorts and short sleeves? While we are under 5-6 inches of snow and ice right now...last Saturday is was sunny and 70.
How much snow did you get?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
What great kids you have...going with the flow like that :)
ReplyDeleteWe got 12 inches of snow here and we spent all day yesterday getting the driveway uncovered. Blah!
Hope spring arrives soon!
I am very jealous of the short sleeves and 70! All I see is snow and ice! (although the sun has peeked out today)
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you were able to make the best of the day and still have fun.
Good for you to make the best of it and seems like your kids really enjoyed the little unexpected twist.
ReplyDeleteFew years ago I went bowling with my 3 year old nephew and I was paranoid the whole time and him trying to touch the balls, fix the balls, chase the balls didn't help.
Great job keeping your cool. If it were me, the entire outing would have probably been ruined.
ReplyDeleteI love bowling! My Dad was an avid bowler and introduced it to me at a young age, I've done the same for my kids and they LOVE IT! There was a program over the Summer through AMF lanes, that you guys would have loved. Hopefully they'll repeat it this year. It's called Kids Bowl Free. Basically the kids in your family get 2 free games of bowling EVERYDAY of the Summer. You don't have to pay anything, but if you want to bowl with them, you just pay $25 and 4 adults get to bowl 2 games everyday all Summer long. It was really a great program, maybe they will bring it back, just in case here's the link http://www.kidsbowlfree.com
No snow on the west coast....we went bowling on Halloween and it was a lot of fun for everyone. We will have to go do that again soon. Glad you were able to find a fun alternative to the movie!
ReplyDeleteGood for the kids for making an adjustment like that!! I'm so jealous you hit 70 degrees. We've been in the negatives for a while.
ReplyDelete~Mimi
We don't get snow in these parts, but it's been cool for her this past week. Bowling sounds funner than a movie any day. :)
ReplyDeleteWhile it's a bummer the movie didn't pan out, it sounds like you really made the most of it.
ReplyDeleteLOL at the candy tax. Total mom perk.
The popcorn cup trick is a awesome. I'm totally stealing that.
A moving movie theater...love that! And yes, when it comes to dissapointment, as parents we definately set the bar for the reaction. I've learned that lesson the hard way!
ReplyDelete