School Carnival

Last night was the school carnival at Moira's school. The kids all had a really good time playing the games, but especially getting the prizes. Some of the "games" required no skills which were perfect for Kyla.

Moira trying to knock ping pong balls off of pop bottles with a squirt gun.

Kyla tossing toilet paper into a toilet. She actually got one in.

Moira and Kyla doing the Beanie Baby Walk. This was the most popular game at the carnival (besides the dunk tank, of course!).

Liam was so good and watched everything from the stroller. He got to enjoy a little reward.

And so did Kyla.

Moira waited in line for half an hour to get her face painted. You can't see it, but there was sparkle dust all over her face. It was really pretty.

The carnival was packed with people. It was nice to see parents and kids spending time together having fun, but there is a line that sometimes gets crossed that makes parents (and grandparents) utterly pathetic. We were standing in line to play a game when a grandmother came and took her grandson's place so that he could go play another game without having to stand in line. When he was done with that one, it was his turn at the one we were waiting for. I also saw other parents doing that at the face painting line. They would be standing there while their kids were off running around. Maybe I'm just a bad parent, but I told Moira that if she wanted to have her face painted, she had to wait in line while Kyla and I went to play some more games then got ice cream. And Moira was perfectly happy with that. What does it teach our children when we do things for them all the time, even the stupid things that they are perfectly capable of doing on their own? It doesn't teach them anything about patience or delayed gratification or even a little bit of independence. It does teach them how to walk all over mom and dad and not be responsible for anything. Who knew that waiting in line could have such an important life lesson?