Kids being kids
Today I went with my sister and her kids to a birthday party at “Chuck E. Cheese” I think the one and only time I had been to one of these was when my best friend turned six. That was about 16 years ago.
I learned today why that was the first and last time and that it is no wonder we never had birthday parties there.
We arrived to what was basically pandemonium. I didn’t really know what I was getting into. The kids go their tokens and we were off. The kids were, of course having great fun. Most of the games were surprisingly doable for five year olds and it’s always exciting to see a string of tickets being spewed out of an arcade game.
The skee-ball area was a veritable war zone with balls and kids flying everywhere. Before I could stop her, my niece (who, to my knowledge had never played skee-ball) threw her first ball overhand toward the holes of our lane. It landed about three lanes down. Ah, it seems she has inherited my propensity for sports.
Later there was the obligatory pizza and cake and the famous mouse, ‘Chuck E. Cheese’ himself made an appearance. I thought that my niece and nephews would be more excited to see him. I asked my niece-
me: Do you want to go see Chuck E.?
niece: No, I can see him from here
me: You don’t want to meet him?
niece: No, it’s just a costume anyway.
me: Uh….
niece: (gestures toward him) And they don’t walk on two feet.
me: (left basking in the brilliance of children.)
We had only one incident when my youngest nephew got into the crawling around area (whatever it’s really called) and refused to come down or listen to his brother and just go down the slide. I couldn’t help but find the humor of the situation, until my older nephew looked at me pleadingly and said “Just come up here!” not realizing that I wouldn’t quite fit. My sister finally coaxed him down and all was well.
There was also the moment that I realized that there was no ball pit and I cried for five minutes.
It was kind of fun, but I could easily go another five or six years before repeating the experience. There is just not enough Purell in the world.
I learned today why that was the first and last time and that it is no wonder we never had birthday parties there.
We arrived to what was basically pandemonium. I didn’t really know what I was getting into. The kids go their tokens and we were off. The kids were, of course having great fun. Most of the games were surprisingly doable for five year olds and it’s always exciting to see a string of tickets being spewed out of an arcade game.
The skee-ball area was a veritable war zone with balls and kids flying everywhere. Before I could stop her, my niece (who, to my knowledge had never played skee-ball) threw her first ball overhand toward the holes of our lane. It landed about three lanes down. Ah, it seems she has inherited my propensity for sports.
Later there was the obligatory pizza and cake and the famous mouse, ‘Chuck E. Cheese’ himself made an appearance. I thought that my niece and nephews would be more excited to see him. I asked my niece-
me: Do you want to go see Chuck E.?
niece: No, I can see him from here
me: You don’t want to meet him?
niece: No, it’s just a costume anyway.
me: Uh….
niece: (gestures toward him) And they don’t walk on two feet.
me: (left basking in the brilliance of children.)
We had only one incident when my youngest nephew got into the crawling around area (whatever it’s really called) and refused to come down or listen to his brother and just go down the slide. I couldn’t help but find the humor of the situation, until my older nephew looked at me pleadingly and said “Just come up here!” not realizing that I wouldn’t quite fit. My sister finally coaxed him down and all was well.
There was also the moment that I realized that there was no ball pit and I cried for five minutes.
It was kind of fun, but I could easily go another five or six years before repeating the experience. There is just not enough Purell in the world.
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~M