The Banjo Playing Storyteller
All week the kids have been asking to go to an event at their school that happened tonight. It was called Soups on at Paragon, and included soup and salad supper and David McNinch for entertainment. I must tell you it was a parents worst nightmare… almost. I guess it just isn’t my idea of fun. But the kids really wanted to go and the man already had plans to talk to a friend in the Philippines on the phone this evening. I figured he would really enjoy having a little solitude first if I just took the kids. I go to stuff like this and wonder why we do it…
- The boy hates soup in nearly every form. He looked at a selection of about 30 soups and turned his nose up at all of them. He ate salad and bread sticks. I guess I shouldn’t complain since the boy actually eats salad!
- The boy absolutely hated the audience interaction bits. He felt like everyone singing along was ruining it. Since he is probably the most musical of all of us, even at six years old, I took his word for it and stopped singing.
- The only drink offered was canned lemonade. A little annoying when you try to keep sugar intake to a minimum. I try to let them enjoy sugar in goodies that are worth it (a freshly baked cookie, birthday cake for special event, or a friends gourmet dessert) but I don’t think cool aid or a can of fake lemonade is worth it!
- Sitting across from two brothers having a contest to see who could guzzle TWO cans of lemon syrup the fastest. And then they start a yelling argument with each other while their aunt was taking the little sister to the bathroom. The argument (which happened during the middle of the entertainment) made half of the gymnasium full of people turn around and give me dirty looks for not having my kids under control… lovely!
- We got up and moved. I kind of felt bad for abandoning them, but after having a folding conference table rammed into the back of my chair about seven times, a seat on the bleachers was lookin’ pretty good.
- And of course, entertainment that moved at the pace of a lazy afternoon…. not at the pace of a parent trying to get those kids in bed so I can finally relax!!!
The kids had a good time and were very thankful that I took them. And as I reflect, I can see that it isn’t all bad…
- The girl absolutely ate it up! She was completely fascinated by all the instruments and wanted to try playing the spoons as soon as we got home.
- Connecting with the community at large is a good thing. As shallow as it still seems in this setting, it has to start somewhere and I hope that being a part of things like this leads to more friendships.
- Watching a bunch of crazed, out of control kids and realizing you have the most awesome, well behaved kids! That taking them to an event like this is easy after all the work you put in over the years. That they are calm, attentive, and actually obey when told to stop sucking your lips all the way into the water bottle (he does have a hickey around his mouth anyway, since I caught it a little too late!)
So was it worth it? Yes! Would I do it again? Over my dead body!
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