Friday, May 11, 2007

Cruisin' For A Bruisin'

My poor, deprived child has never been on a cruise
ship. Can you believe it? How can I call myself a parent? 





Images
In January, my husband and I went on a Disney cruise. It was a short trip, just three nights, but
it was just what the doctor ordered. We
enjoyed the Caribbean Sea, drank some fruity drinks, ate some good food and did
not have to worry about anyone’s needs but our own. It was a blissful three days. My son has been watching the photo slideshow screensaver on my computer
recently and the cruise pictures prompted him to say, in the whiniest voice
imaginable, “You and Daddy always get to go on a cruise ship and I never
do. I never get to do anything fun.”





I was a little taken aback by this. It came out of nowhere. He had never even mentioned the cruise
before and had certainly never expressed a desire to go on one. I decided, in my infinite parental wisdom,
to mock him, “Oh, poor you. I can’t
believe that in all of your four-and-a-half years of life you have never been
on a cruise ship. How have you made it
this far?” This did not go over well.





My son did a dramatic, arms to the sky, “why me?” kind of
move and plopped down on his knees and sulked. I decided to ignore him. My
hopes of raising a child with minimal entitlement issues have been
squandered. I guess I need to deprive
him of some basic needs for a couple of days so he appreciates what he’s
got. There’s that infinite parental
wisdom again.



6 comments:

  1. Since I travel by air quite a bit for work, Maggie has developed somewhat similar ideas where she feels her life is far from complete because she has never been on an airplane. I have insisted that it is far from glamourous or exciting, but that does little to deter her from saying things like, "I'll probably never get fly on a plane." (big sigh afterwards.) Ah yes, at the ripe ol' age of six, she can already sense the injustices that she is going to suffer as being my child....

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  2. What a relief to hear that Will's sulk at not going to Hawaii with us is a "normal" reaction! What did I expect...6-year-old joyous cries of bon voyage? He feels deprived at missing out on learning how to hula. Maybe a grass skirt will be in order.

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  3. How could you? How do you even go to sleep at night??? I mean he is 4 after all and has yet to go!! I pride myself in being friends with good mothers and I am afraid after hearing this tid bit of information that we will no longer beable to hang out with the likes of you! Disgrace that is all I can say..........
    Wait I am 30 and I have never been on a cruise! I have never even been to disney world ! At least he has done that! Tell him to get over it!
    Happy mother's day J!

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  4. Aunt Becky-
    This cracks me up because just yesterday when my husband was preparing to leave for Dallas, my son was whining about the fact that he had never ridden on a plane. This isn't true which I tried to explain to him but it did no good. He was SO upset because we never let him ride on a plane. Him and Maggie should start a support group for kids who've never travel by air!

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  5. Will's Nana-
    Here's my advice:
    Explain to Will that while he does not get to go to Hawaii, he does get to go to Destin with his Dad and super cool aunt and uncle, grandparents and cousins. Then, promise him a souvenir. Go to Oriental Traders and get a leis and a grass skirt for a couple bucks and give it to him when you get back. He'll never know the difference and you will save a fortune.

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  6. Thanks Melinda. Happy belated Mother's Day to you.
    This was my first cruise and I'm 32! I try to tell him that but it falls on deaf ears.

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