Self-Awareness

I' m not really sure if the word I'm looking for is self-awareness. Maybe it's selfishness, or inflated self-worth, or some other self- word that I'm not coming up with. But whatever the word, I don't like it, and it seems like it's everywhere there's a lot of kids.

This week, since Abby has off of school Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, I decided to take them a few places to enjoy the time. Wednesday we headed to Stonefire Pizza Company in New Berlin which is similar to Chuck E. Cheese, only much nicer, with better food and, if you're from Milwaukee, much less crime. One of the neat things about the restaurant is that there's themed rooms to eat in--sports, cartoons and discovery place. We go in discovery place which is for kids under 8 where movies are playing and it has rooms with things to do like a play restaurant, a water area, a train area, paint your own face and a small version of McDonald's playplace. They also have a room with giant legos for the kids to stack. When we went in there, Max picked a few up, but there were a couple of girls with their mom playing in there and they had all the sqare 4-pegged legos, so all that was left was odd shaped ones that Max couldn't stack. So, he got frustrated quick and we went to find something else to do. I kept watching the mom and her two kids and they kepts building this house thing, using all the legos. People kept coming in, commenting "wow" (because what else do you say?) and then leaving. The mom kept taking pictures of them and helping them build this house, using every lego in the room. Really? Every lego? Come on. I know you're having fun with your girls, but how about you buy some for your basement and let the other kids play too? Lack of self-awareness? Selfishness? Too high of self-worth?

Then, today, I took the kids to the children's museum. I had been there just a couple of weeks ago with Max and Nolan, but I figured Abby would really like it too, and it's great for Max so off we went. Because there were some Halloween festivities this afternoon, and because several schools had off today, it was busier than the last time we were there. Right when you get into the museum there's this whole area where you take golf balls and put them in several slides, ramps, roller coasters, swirls, etc. When there aren't a lot of kids, you can take a few balls and use them. But, today, there were several kids so it was a little hard to find a ball to start out with. Abby was frustrated, but we finally found one for each of the kid. If they happened to find another one, I made them share with someone new who was looking for a ball. Meanwhile, one girl was hoarding 7 or 8 balls. And it wouldn't be so bad if maybe it was just because she was a kid and she really didn't know any better. But, she would find them, go give them to her mom, and the mom would hoard them for her. Really? You're going to take more than you could possibly use or hold onto at once while other kids don't have any? Come on. I know you want your daughter to have a good time, but how about you give it up a little? Lack of self-awareness? Selfishness? Too high of self-worth?

So frustrating!

And then there's the other frustration. The big kids who don't play well with the little kids. Again, at the pizza place, this time at the play area slide. I didn't see it, but two older kids came to their mom's table and said they got yelled at. When the moms asked by who, they said one of the other moms made a comment that they shouldn't be in there because they weren't toddlers (the area is for 8 and under, and 8 is pushing it. They were about 12.). When the moms asked what they were doing, they said they were just playing tag. Uh, hello. You're climbing up and down the nets and platforms that two, three and four-year olds are trying to climb. Even if you don't hit them, you're still distracting them and they fall. The moms just looked irritated with whoever yelled at their boys. And then today at the children's museum, in the area with the golf balls, there were two brothers who had about 10 balls between the two of them. When a mom near us told her three-year-old daughter to ask them for one, they told her no. Really? Geez! When the girl told the mom, the mom said (within earshot of the boys) "well, at the children's museum we share. And I'm sure those boys will share with you because we all have to play together. Go ask them again." So the girl did and they begrundgingly gave her one. That time, there were no parents in sight.

Despite some frustration, both days were really very fun. The kids always enjoy the pizza place, although sometimes Max is a little hard to curtail. The children's museum today was great. We got there early, the kids did a ton of things, then when the Halloween stuff started at noon, we hit the trick or treat areas for about an hour and hit the road. Max was exhausted, and the kids really enjoyed themselves. Tomorrow we may hit the zoo. Or I may let the kids rest. We'll see!