I need your help internety people, it seems I have a bit of a conundrum.
Last week I wrote about my new found love of speed skating and how I was going to sign up to give it a go. Well it appears that Son No. 1 doesn’t want me to.
He had shown reservations when I first told him but he seemed fine when I explained I’d be doing it on a different night than him. Only yesterday, he told my husband he doesn’t want me to do it. He liked that he was doing something different and wanted this to be “his” thing. Plus he was worried I’d go to the speed skating meets with him and win a medal and he wouldn’t.
Did I mention that I’m 41? Also pigeon-toed and knock-kneed. Aaaannddd...I trip a lot just doing things like walking. Pretty sure the medal thing won’t be happening.
Like most moms out there, I sacrifice stuff for my kids. And I don’t even look at it like sacrificing, because that makes it sound sort of resentful, which I’m not. I mean, the cellulite and droopy boobs leaves me a little angry sometimes but other than that, I’m pretty much okay with anything I’ve ever had to give up for my kids.
But this speed skating thing? Aside from zorbing (picture strapping yourself into a large hamster ball and being pushed down a hill), this has been the first thing to peak my interest in terms of getting out and getting active again. This past year I’ve had sloths look at me in disdain for my lack of activity. There’s only so much con queso one body can take, people. Wanting to attempt to learn how to speed skate has made me light up a bit on the inside and think “I can really do this”. As for the meets? I do want to skate in the meets. The thought of competing and having the potential to continually work on improving my times and/or humiliating myself in front of an arena full of people….both appeal to me equally.
That’s kinda the way I roll.
Which, most likely, is what I’ll also be doing at some point during the skating meets. Right into the heavily padded walls.
I feel like I have three options:
1) Don’t do the speed skating and let Son No. 1 have his thing. In all fairness to him, this is the first "thing" that he's found that's made him light up inside too. So I get how he wants it for himself.
2) Son No. 1 be damned and I do it anyway…the kid’s gotta learn that it’s not all about him.
3) Sign up for speed skating and don’t tell him. He’d never know because my practice times are late at night after he’s in bed.
Actually, No. 3’s not an option – I won’t lie to him. *sigh*
So I’m asking you….if this was you, what would you do?
Sacrifice this one thing for your son or do it anyway?
You wanna know what I LOVE about kids? Their ability to make you look like a complete ASSHAT without even trying.
I'm just going to put it out there that both my husband and I do a LOT with the kids. And not all that Tiger Mom shit like homework and violin playing. We actually spend time with them doing FUN THINGS. This week alone I've taken them sledding, hubby went out with them after school on Tuesday to skate and just yesterday we went to a used record store that, for the record, I thought we were going to be murdered in, so Son No. 1 could start a record collection.
Not to mention the "just hanging out" stuff we do reading, coloring and building Lego.
Oh the Lego.
Just a suggestion Lego people.....if you included a bottle of tylenol with every lego kit over 500 pieces, sales would sky rocket.
In reality, my kids don't watch much t.v. (Club Penguin, however, is another story). If they've eaten, gotten dressed, brushed their teeth and put their breakfast dishes away, they're allowed to watch a 1/2 hour of t.v. before school. And every night at 7:30, they have a plate of fruit and watch a cartoon. So you can imagine how wonderful it was to be going through Son No. 2's school work and find this.
Clearly what happens in his day is that he does nothing but sit in front of the t.v. whilst at home. Thankfully he gets that 1/2 hour at school where he can run around outside to get exercise and fresh air and rid himself of the dark circles under his eyes. Or that are his eyes.
Why is my child drawing himself to look like Batman?
And would it have killed him to draw a picture of me reading him a book?
"
It's been freezing cold but that didn't stem my excitement because I had purchased Brand! New! Snow! Boots! that are supposed to keep your toes warm up to -40 degrees! After the disasterous day of sledding where I *may* have fallen face first into the snow because my toes were frozen solid and I couldn't balance, it was time. And nothing says “try your Brand! New! Snow! Boots!" than sitting in a freezing cold arena watching your son speed skate for a couple of hours.
We loaded into the freezing van, sat at the freezing rink, loaded back into the freezing van and headed to Nonna’s for dinner.
A.K.A. My Mother-in-law
A.K.A. The angel without wings
The woman makes pasta from scratch, people! I'm more likely to give up one of my kids then refuse a dinner invitation from my mother-in-law.
About midway to Nonna’s, the kids were complaining about the cold and out of the blue my husband was all “this would be a great day to try that boiling water snow thing” which is when I got all scrinchy faced and said…”dude, what are you even talking about” and he was “Sharon, the video on YouTube where you throw boiling water into the air and it turns into snow everyone’s watching” like I’m some sort of idiot. And typically I am but now I was also confused because my husband isn’t one for the whole Inn-Ter-Net Thingy unless it has to do with money reports and CNN.
So while the words, "I don’t know about boiling water snow but you can blow bubbles and watch them freeze" are coming out of my mouth in my mind I’m thinking "He doesn’t even have Facebook. How is he finding boiling snow videos?"
The whole thing left me intrigued. Both my husband knowing about a video I don’t and the making of snow.
Anyway, if it’s cold where you live like it is here, give it a try. All you need is boiling water and freezing weather. Your kids will think you’re the coolest parent ever.
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