Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Are you a hypocrite dad?

I've been working on the vacation recap for a week. So much to do, so little time. We got back late last Wednesday, I turned 39 years old and a very good blogger friend of mine is no longer just a blogger friend, but a person I've given a hug and shared a meal with.

While we were on vacation, we took the kids to Water Country USA. What an awesome time that was. Spending the entire day splashing with the kids is something that every dad should do.

One thing I did notice had something to do with most of the dads I saw standing in line. Could you guys have been bigger sticks in the mud? I mean holy crap batman! There were kids, just jumping out of their skin with excitement to get the bejeebus scared out of them and whooosh and swiiiish down a huge slide...and what were the dads doing?

"Son, calm down. Can you please just stand still."

Are you kidding me? Stand still? Calm down?

I'm standing there talking to my daughter about how cool this ride is gonna be and how great the last one was and wondering...out loud...if this could possibly move faster so that I can go whooosh and swiissh some more. I even did something totally despicable for a dad...we were supposed to meet Mom and the little one at a pool so the little one could play for a while. On our way, we saw a slide with what I judged to be a 10 minute wait. I looked at OhPrincess1 and asked if she would join me on that big ride over there.

"Dad, won't mom get mad if we are a little late?" she asked.

"Honey, let Dad handle it. I guarantee YOU won't get in trouble."

I understand the idea of not bothering other people, but these kids weren't bothering anyone but their dad.

Are you the kind of dad that maintains that stoic exterior and outer calm at the amusement park, or do you let your inner 10 year old out for the day?

I watched some of these dads as they hurled down the slides. You know what was on their faces when they whiiiizzzzing past us suckers in line? They had smiles that looked just like their 10 year old's. Hypocrites.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Most of the time I make up a little plot or a story about the ride to come. Last weekend we were waiting for a rollercoaster themed after a turtle from a kids TV show. The turtle in front had rockets on its back. When we sat down I told him how this would be a nice slow ride and he was all overexcited with laughter as he pointed out the rockets so I acted all surprised and scared. Of course I had already seen it went round twice, so by the end of the first round I acted relieved that it would be over and on we went for the second. You should have seen his face, because he knew about the second round.
That's the fun, getting them excited, which you can only be if you're excited as well. Their fun is my fun.
Another one was a dragonthemed rollercoaster. Waiting in line you saw the coaster making the pass for the second round with everybody screaming. So we deciced that we would scream as loud as we could when we went by. I'm sure a few people had to have their ears checked.
Let's not forget the teacups, the kind that go round and for added fun you can turn them yourself as well. I had a dizzy headache but I just looked down to not see the motion and turned the teacup with everything I had (my wife filmed it, I look like I'm about to die).
There's even more fun to be had when you have kids :)

mamanuggle said...

Jeremy gets just as excited at the kids do, mabye more so. Half the time in line is spent telling the kids what a kick butt time they'll have... say, before boarding the RockNRollerCoaster at Disney that goes from 0-60 in 3 seconds. The anticipation and the kids begging to get out of line is half the fun for him!!!

Momisodes said...

First, Happy Belated Birthday!!

Second, I haven't taken my daughter to an amusement park yet, but I'm guessing I'd be as giddy as my 3 year old.