Saturday, August 13, 2005

Parental Notification

One of those great parental moments occurred at the State Fair today for me. My two-year-old rode his first carnival ride by himself. Mrs. TEH and I were busting with joy and pride while he spun around and around.

It was the helicopter ride in Adventure Village. I was so afraid he would get scared and cry wanting it to stop while we stood by helpless to do anything, permanently destroying his trust in us. Mrs. TEH was afraid he would get loose from his (Velcro!) seatbelt, climb out of the ride and be crushed by the machinery. Is there anything more pathetic, fearful and delusional than a parent?

But you know what, he did great. He really liked it. He didn’t freak out and didn’t plummet to his death. He just had fun on a ride. And later had fun on many more rides.

Note: my worst fears did come to pass when we pushed the limits a bit and allowed him to ride the kiddy roller coaster alone. He did cry and now my parental paranoia reset button has been pushed.

1 comment:

JeromeProphet said...

Glad your pee wee's first joy Fair ride went so well. Reading about your toddler's experience brought back memories of our teen's first carni-ride.

There's Barney! Would you like to meet Barney! Lookee here, you can go on the ride with Barney! Don't worry!

Oh it was awful!

Lot's of terror! The ride was stopped, and a history rewrite began. We told our child for years to come that she bravely rode the Barney ride - all in an attempt to bolster self confidence.

It must have worked, because there are rides I won't go on that our teenager will gladly ride again, and again.

Thanks for sharing your Kodak moment as it brought back that memory for me.

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