One of the best aspects of parenting is creating little traditions that you enjoy every with your kids. Most of the time, these traditions are quite enjoyable for us, with the notable exception of the mighty redwood tree that we burn to the ground every year on arbor day (not sure how that one got started, but I sure wish we could quit it!)
One of the traditions that I actually like is attending the Alameda County fair, which Malcolm and I went to last week. We had gone to the fair the previous two years and really enjoyed ourselves. If you want to read about it, click here or here (but don’t click here!) You’ll notice that Amy has never gone with us to the fair, owing mainly to her fear of carnies and desire to avoid somehow getting caught between me and the giant corndog shack. I can’t say I really blame her.
Not even these cute little racing pigs could stop Malcolm's vicious downward spiral.
For some reason, this year was different. Malcolm had a tantrum over my failure to buy him a stupid, crappy inflatable airplane at the souvenir stand. Malcolm wandered off, twice (the last time being for a sufficiently long period of time that I was afraid he had already become a carnies’ new pet.) Malcolm lost his Giants hat. Malcolm also lost some ride tickets, which was difficult considering he had them in his hands while standing in line, but somehow ceased to have them anymore when he got to the front of the line. I found the experience totally and utterly exasperating.
At the end, I knew it just wasn’t his day, and no manner of pleading, threatening and bribing was going to change that. I felt bad for his friends, who had to endure several hours of noticeably poor behavior and my corresponding lecturing. No kid is perfect, but you always feel a little troubled when your kid is a complete shitbird while other kids are around. I think we’ll probably go again next year, as I try to never miss situations where rival food vendors try to vie for your business by deep fat frying weird and wonderful foods. I just won’t look forward to it as much as I have previously.
Tags: Malcolm misbehaves
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Hey, at least you’re not the dad who publicly hit his kid and called him a s**t head for losing the tickets (but I’d like to publicly apologize for that).
well-did you try fried butter???we saw it advertised on a fair in the midwest somewhere—bet it’s not as good as daves tacos—me
Might have been my now home-state of Minnesota’s State Fair. They’ll fry ANYTHING! But the real trick here is that whatever they serve, it’s only a truly Minnesota State Fair-worthy if it is also ON A STICK! Most memorable item to date: chocolate covered bacon, on a stick. No lie.