Circus

On Saturday afternoon we took the kids to the circus. This was kind of a big deal. The kids are always asking me if we can go to the circus. Sometimes we'll be driving down the road and out of nowhere one of them will ask me if we can go to the circus. Really? What brought that on? We haven't been in five years, since Sarah was a few months old. The two things that Charlie and I took away from that experience were a) it's really expensive and b) it's really long. Two things we try to avoid.

As I was saying, the kids are always asking me to take them to the circus. Except that every time I ask Charlie if we can go, he says no because it's expensive and they get to do a whole bunch of other stuff so this is one of the things we aren't going to do. I totally understand that. However, whenever they ask, they ask me, and then I'm the bad guy because I have to tell them no. It doesn't matter that now I even try to drag Charlie through the mud by saying, "No we can't go to the circus because Daddy doesn't want to", they still only hear me say the no part.

So this year when the flyer came in the mail I was determined to get tickets whether Charlie wanted to go or not. I was tired of getting yelled at by the kids. Luckily, when I took them to see Disney on Ice a few months back they handed out half-price circus ticket coupons on the way out. Even better, kids under two are free and the circus was three days before Amanda's birthday so she was gratis.

When we walked into the building I told the kids if they wanted to buy anything to talk to Daddy. I knew they would ask me, I would ask him, he would say no, I would say no, and then they would be mad at me for it. It's not like Charlie is the money guy in the family and I don't make any spending decisions, I make plenty, but I just didn't want him giving me the "you shouldn't be buying that" eyes.

Everything went pretty much as I should have expected it. Charlie bought some popcorn and water so everybody was happy, for a few minutes anyway. Then Sarah HAD to have a snow cone and Andy needed some cotton candy. We told them if they wanted extra snacks they would have to pay for it with their own money and they happily obliged. In fact, they never once complained about having to spend their own money and even shared their snacks with each other and Amanda. We were even slightly impressed. Charlie was so happy he offered to chip in $2 towards each of their snacks. Money for good behavior.

We told the kids they could get their snacks at intermission. That was where the problem started. Andy was fine with it, because he understands what intermission is and that there is a lot of circus before and after that time. Sarah just couldn't get it. She was so focused on getting that snow cone that she couldn't focus on the circus. Fifteen minutes into the show she asked me if it was almost over. When would it be over? She was going to die if it wasn't over soon, she just had to have that snow cone. So basically she didn't watch any of the circus. We kept pointing out cool things to her but she just couldn't concentrate on anything else. I was reminded why I still can't take Sarah to the movies. She cannot stay on track and cannot sit still.

After the intermission and once she had the beloved snow cone everything was much better, but she still didn't watch much. Charlie leaned over at one point and said he was so glad that we didn't have to pay for Amanda. Oh, and even more glad our tickets were buy one get one free. Since Andy and I, for the most post, watched the show we at least felt we got our money's worth.

Now we can wait another five years before taking the kids to the circus again. Maybe by then Sarah will be able to sit calmly in her seat and watch, but I doubt it. It amazes me that her teachers say how focused she is and how well she listens because otherwise I would have already had her tested for ADD. Needless to say, they next time we go to a performance it will just be Andy and me.