There was a magician show just beginning in the children’s room at the library when I stopped by to return some books, so we stayed and watched it. It was so lame. The magician had to fill an hour, so he spent ages just warming up the crowd, getting the kids to chant his name, pretending not to be able to hear them until they yelled it, pretending to lose his magic box of tricks, getting everyone to sing the ABC song with him, asking the kids what their favorite colors were, etc. I can sympathize with the difficulty of entertaining 40 rambunctious toddlers and their associated nannies, mothers, and young siblings in laps. But the show was so lacking in content. Finally about 15 minutes in he did a trick where he pulled a scarf inside out and it changed color. Then he went back to having the kids chant his name.
My kid stared at him skeptically for a few minutes as the show was starting, then turned her back on him and spent the rest of the time looking at the baby sitting behind us. After 20 minutes I’d had enough as well, so we left.
Suddenly I felt acutely depressed – envisioning the years ahead of children’s theme birthday parties, sing-alongs, Disney stuff, Chuck E. Cheese outings, and so on that we will have to attend. You have to do these things with kids, right? I mean, she thought the magician was dumb. But soon enough I guess she’ll be into this stuff, and I'll just have to bear with it. I have to learn the stupid Head-Shoulders-Knees-and-Toes song and that other one about the cheese standing alone, and find out who Dora and Hannah Montana are, and take her to Jonas Brothers concerts, or she’ll think I’m so uncool she won’t even be talking to me by the time she’s a teenager.
Maybe she'll turn out to be a weird socially awkward bookish child like I was, more interested in books and horse camp than boys, and so completely out of sync with her peer group that she doesn’t even notice she’s out of sync with them. Then I can give her all the horse books I loved as a kid, and we can bond over them.
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I remember those dreadful shows from when I worked at a library. They didn't stop with magic shows, though. They had puppets, too. And carnivals with seven different types of the same bean bag toss game. Ugh. Poor kids.
Hannah Montana's not bad really. I'm actually having withdrawals because I have no excuse to watch it now. My sisters used to come in my room and watch it on my tv, so I HAD to watch it, but I can't say that anymore. Just stay away from the Naked Brothers band (imagine 8-year-olds trying to sing like 30-year-olds).
Just promise me you won't try to be the "Cool Mom." There's a lady at work that does that with her kids and they're awful. She lets them do what they want so they think she's cool. They just think she's dumb. I'm sure you wouldn't do that, though. You sound like a really good mom. =)
Good luck with the diet. I'm trying to lose the newly married weight I've gained. Oh how I love convenience food.
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