School starts on Tuesday. The boys will be starting at a new school - Ethan in fourth grade and his first year in the G.A.T.E. (gifted and talented education) program and Emmett in kindergarten. My Fall semester also starts on Tuesday, so Kevin and I have decided to take a mini-vacation without the kids. My grandmother takes her old restored hot-rod up to Hot August Nights in Reno, so we decided to join her and some other family members and head up there for a few days, just Thursday through Saturday.
We are NOT bringing our kids. My family (ie my sister, parents, and grandma) tried to pressure us into bringing the kids up there. They swore it would be fun for the kids and even that they would help care for them. Reno isn't exactly the most kid friendly place when you are staying at a casino. Yes, Circus Circus attempts to be kid friendly but the midway there gets old (and expensive really quickly). I did seriously consider bringing the three kids - I thought about it and even agreed to it for about a week, mostly because I had lost my senses.
I realized that I really wanted to do some adult things while in Reno, which mainly means drinking too much, gambling some, and cruising in the old car while acting like a teenager. All of this was not really appropriate with three kids in tow. Yes, I think the kids would find the old cars and some of the activities fun during the day, but then what was I supposed to do with them while I enjoyed the nightlife? My cousin suggested her teenage daughter who is 15 could watch them in the hotel room, and my sister said she would stay in one night (or we could alternate every few hours) with the kids, but all of that just sounds like a logistic nightmare.
Plus, keeping the kids penned up in the tiny hotel room (not child proofed) without their many distractions we have at home just sounded like torture for all of us. So, we are NOT taking the kids.
The only drawback of this is guilt. I feel bad leaving them home to go have fun, and I have realized that this is a problem for parents of my generation. We feel guilt if we are away from the kids for any length of time. Don't get me wrong I leave my kids often, for date nights, and quick weekends away, but I do feel badly each time (even if it is only for a few minutes). I actually met another parent recently who has NOT EVER left her kids, who are nine and five, except to go to work. I thought this was insane! Certainly I may feel bad about leaving them to go do fun things, but I MAKE myself take time away from them and find I enjoy it.
It is a generational thing I am sure. My parents NEVER felt bad for leaving the kids at home while they went on vacation, and I don't mean a quick weekend away. I am talking two weeks in Hawaii while we were at grandmas (maybe I am a little bitter since I still have never been to Hawaii).
So I have resigned myself and talked myself into how much better it would be for us to have three days away from the kids, so now I just had to find childcare. I am lucky enough to have two cousins, who are now over the age of 18 and have been babysitting for us since they were 16, who are willing to babysit and stay overnight when we need them to. I called Kristin, who is 21, and asked her to stay at the house with the kids for the days we would be gone - she was happy to do so (both because she loves our kids and could use the money).
Now I had just had to break the news to the children. The whole family was going to be up in Reno, but they would be staying home with Kristin for a few day. Ellis wouldn't understand, but Emmett and Ethan were going to be disappointed (perhaps this is the real problem with today's parents - we don't ever want to disappoint or upset our kids). I mention to Kevin in front of the kids that we need to do some laundry for Reno, and Ethan says okay I will bring mine down, and I casually say, oh you guys aren't going - just me and dad. So he asked where they were going, and I say Kristin is going to come stay with you. He gets so excited and says. "WOO HOO! I love Kristin she lets us stay up as late as we want, and she said the next time she stayed over night she would let us party all night long!" Emmett comes running into the room and says, "Kristin is coming? She lets us eat whatever we want and play video games as long as we want!" Then they continue to badger me about how long it will be before she comes over and we leave.
I guess the kids would prefer not to go on vacation. Perhaps getting a young, cool, and fun person to come play with then is way more fun then going on vacation with boring old mom and dad.
I should feel relieved that they didn't care we were leaving them, so why is it that I am a little disappointed that they weren't disappointed at all?
No comments:
Post a Comment