So...
I bit the bullet and hired a babysitter for the afternoon. And for about 45 minutes my house was clean or mostly clean.
And then her father picked her up and I started to make dinner and all chaos broke loose again.
Darn legos. I'd like a word with the inventor of those-- Could they PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE make them with a self cleaning feature? I know it's my kids, and not that the legos walk off themselves, but I find those things EVERYWHERE. I do mean everywhere- laundry, bathroom, outside, in the car.. everywhere. And they're not cheap, so it's like finding quarters everywhere, only quarters don't hurt when you step on them or sit on them when you put them in your pocket the wrong way (or, more likely, you have too many in there from picking them up from every corner of your existence).
Tonight is/was small group night, meaning that I cram dinner down everyone's throats and race out the door to be at church for bible study. Well.. since I was so busy cleaning, I didn't hear the phone to get the message that group was canceled until I had everyone in the car, buckled and we're backing out as I checked my voicemail and left Larry a text as to where we were going..
Anyway... bible study was canceled due to leaders' illnesses.
So.. why waste all that effort it took to get them fed, clean and out the door?
We went to ChuckECheese.
I realize in hindsight I could have just gone back inside and gotten ready for bed but that would have allowed them to mess up the semi clean house further and I wasn't ready for that. And.. we go for the kids' birthdays every year and this weekend is Kayla's birthday and we had her coupon for her free tokens.. or was it JM's coupon for tokens?? anyway.. it's tradition, I guess.
They had a blast as usual. I was actually relieved that it was relatively empty and quiet. I'm sure the sane people who are good parents would have their kids home at 7pm on a school night instead of venturing out to ChuckE's.. but we homeschool, we'd have been out anyway and I don't claim sanity is a strong suit of mine.
And ChuckE has been a learning tool- such as in economics. The economics of the tokens and tickets. It's those silly tickets that can ruin a perfectly good outing because at the end you have enough tickets to get a tiny lollipop but you really want the thing that costs 10000 tickets and you end up disappointed (or in the case of one couple we saw, they just kept buying tokens to get the tickets to get the prize.. I think someone should have told them they could buy the prize if they asked..) oh, yes- we found that out on our second ChuckE adventure- all those prizes- have a price- if you HAVE to have it, just ask how much it is. Seriously. Cotton candy is like $2. I can spend $20 in tokens to get enough tickets to buy it or I can spend the $2.
Anyway.. tonight's lesson in economics was Sonia's to learn. She decided she was going to keep her tickets separate from the rest because she didn't want to pool them together like we always have... she wanted to be by herself.
No biggie.. I collect all the others in a cup and at the end of the night we have 100 pooled tickets from Kayla, Joey and JM - (he's a heck of a skiball/fastball player with his overhand throw, I wish they were a little further from the windows..) and Sonia had just over 20. JM doesn't need a choking hazard toy, so Kayla and Joey get a 40 and 60 ticket item respectively. Sonia really really wanted a 60+ ticket thing.. but she had 20 tickets..
But I was tickled when she realized, "MOM!!! I can get 2 10 things, because 10 and 10 make 20" Thrilling moments in math :-)
So.. we're home and the kids are (hopefully) passed out and I ponder the ticket thing.. Should I be teaching and encouraging socialism or is pooling resources and communal living and sharing in families a good thing to promote? Hmm... it boils down to capitalism vs socialism every time doesn't it? And I appear to be raising socialists with an independent capitalistic streak in them.
I decided next time we'll skip the tickets all together. On the ride home, Sonia was (still) bemoaning that she couldn't get what she wanted because of not having 1000 tickets so we had the talk that we go there to have fun, not to earn a cheap prize that will be eaten in 2 seconds or broken in 1 second. If they like the rides best, ride them and skip the games for tickets.. And Sonia says "yeah, the games that give lots of tickets are boring"
Out of the mouth of a 5 year old.
Why play something boring for the hope of a cheap plastic prize? I don't know, but I can tell ya ChuckE has that psychology nailed down tight.
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