Why Can't Things Just Be Fun Anymore?
My family recently went to a DC area resort, the same resort we went to for wine camp, for gingerbread house building. We were looking forward to some holiday themed fun. See, we are Jewish, and it's hard to find seasonal traditions that are not too "Christmasy" and
I figured this was an activity Michael would love. It was pricey, $70
for a stupid gingerbread house but as Michael's preschool teacher told
me, "it's about the process, not the finished product." I figured this
was his schtick and we were just along for the ride. The event also
included breakfast and I ate about a million and a half mini muffins,
so we got our money's worth.
To call some of the people at this children's activity intense would be putting it mildly. Some brought their own candy for decorations. For $70, you better believe I was using their candy. Some came with BLUEPRINTS of what they wanted their house to look like. This was not a Food Network competition. No one was judging your house at the end. I heard parents directing their children about where their things should go, and more than one snippy conversation between husband and wife. One woman actually came over to us, looked at my house kind of sadly and said, "how nice of you to let your son decorate it." It took all I had not to say "isn't that kind of the point?" "Aren't we supposed to be having fun?"
At one point we needed some help from the 4 star chef, who luckily remembered us from wine camp, so he kept coming back over and giving us individualized attention. Plus I suspect we were a nice break from the crazy my gingerbread house has to be the best people. He corrected our cave in issue, told us to use less frosting on the roof, and we were back on our way.
Michael designed our house, top to bottom, as it should be. If you want to build competitive gingerbread houses, than enter a competitive gingerbread house building contest, FOR ADULTS. Don't ruin my fun activity with my child.
I'm a little disconcerted by all the studies I'm reading lately that children need to just spend more time playing. That parents need to put away their blackberrys, cell phones, and even my beloved iPhone, and just be with your child. Play. Play is a right of every child.
We went to have fun. And fun was had. We can't wait to go back next year. And I'll be going without blueprints and using the perfectly lovely candy they supplied us and eating lots of mini muffins. Those were damn good mini muffins.
Adapted for DC Metro Moms from Jodi's personal blog jodifur. Jodi writes about being a wife, mother, attorney, and everything in between. You can also follow Jodi on twitter.
