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Originally Posted by Cadaverous Pallor
Hey, come on, I'm not trying to insult you.  I'm sorry if it came out that way. I just want to know the logic behind it. I was (obviously) raised in a totally different environment and it's rather alien to me.
I'm definitely not going to say the lack of rules in my household was perfect parenting...I know my kids will have more rules than I did. |
Sorry -- I've been the recipient of snide, underhanded, and all around unappreciated comments all week at work (is it really only Tuesday? Because it feels like an eternity) so it's a bit easier to jump to conclusions than usual.
My parents had lots of rules. Way too many rules, I think. But this particular instance wasn't one of them, in my opinion.
We did go to Disneyland twice when I was a kid. The first time I was pretty young and my brother was probably a toddler (we're three years apart) and I remember virtually nothing from that trip. I know it was fun, but really I was too young to care about any specifics. It's not like I wanted to see fireworks and they didn't let me. We just did things my parents considered age appropriate. We were of an age where the memories were more for my parents than us, KWIM? Seriously, do not picture deprived youngsters. If you want to feel sorry for our upbringing, bemoan our lack of Atari.
Now, when we went back a few years later, and both my brother and I were older, my parents went all out to give us a vacation to remember -- because we were old enough that we *would* remember. We stayed at the Disneyland Hotel (which was amazing because my dad barely tolerates vacations, let alone non-bargain chain hotels), watched the fireworks multiple times, and got to ride ALL the rides. My parents even ran with us to see Star Tours and Captain EO first thing in the morning (they were the brand new rides then) although I'm sure they couldn't have cared less about those attractions. My parents went on all the roller coasters with us, even though they hated some of them. And they went on multiple times. I have *lots* of memories of that trip -- fireworks, my mom screaming on Big Thunder, waiting on the hotel's monorail platform -- it was truly magical.
Which is all getting off topic in a big way. But in a way not. If we were at the very very very back of a crowd, my dad might have lifted me up. But we were taught to not inconvenience others. We didn't shout in restaurants, talk in movies, or block other people's fireworks views. And if we weren't of an age to accomplish those things successfully, they were saved for later. And we DID do them later, so we weren't really deprived of anything consequential.
But we did learn that we weren't "owed" anything, including a fireworks view.
Hey -- here's a thought to chew on -- I wonder if those parents who think their kids are entitled to views would have a problem with boyfriends who hoist up their petite girlfriends?