9 girls, all 10 years oldish. 5 really brave mommas. But not as brave as tent camping mommas. After all- we were in a hotel.
Armed with coolers of drinks, bags of snacks, suitcases of clothing and absolutely no alcohol or narcotics (yeah us) we split the kids into rooms and began our journey. Here is a brief listing of what I learned this weekend:
1. One child in our group depends on a sleeping pill in order to actually sleep- and she was assigned to my room. And she didn't have her pill.
2. 10 year old children think they know EVERYTHING.
3. One child gets acid reflux if she drinks lemonade. One will break out in a rash if she is exposed to chlorine. And one will in fact try and scale a stone wall. One of these children is mine.
4. One child will bring 24 individually wrapped brownies sent by her momma and will refuse to share them with anyone and will in fact end up packing them back into her suitcase to take home with her.
5. It is apparently not known by all that eating food while in line at a breakfast bar is considered rude. Definitely not known by one in particular 10 year old.
6. Groups of 10 year old little girls are, in fact, intimidating. But not to brave mommas- only to other hotel guests. Having a pow wow with small girls in the pool will in fact turn into a he said she said- where you will have to declare that if we get kicked out of the pool because 'other pool guest' (who is a grown woman and was acting like a complete 10 year old- really arguing over pool noodles with a child?) complains to management- we will in fact NOT be doing anything fun instead. CUT IT OUT.
7. Apparently we american parents have stopped teaching children manners. I've never felt so discouraged in my life. It is in fact not possible to 'teach' manners in a 24 hour period.
8. One child will find the pool to be too cold and she will refuse to swim. And you will feel like a big meanie telling her to just sit there then. But you did in fact come to a WATER PARK, so you will justify it.
9. One room will declare that they are in fact not going to go to sleep- and you will be so thankful that it is not yours. And sleeping pill child will somehow fall asleep before 10pm- all on her own (heavens ringing- angels singing)
10. You will never have more laughs than with a group of young girls........and you will know what a blessing it was that you got to go with them. Even if you declared it too early for all this chaos on your way to the breakfast area and demand that everyone hush until you are able to consume at least one cup of coffee.
One more. 11. When you arrive in a lodge restaurant with 9 little girls- your waitress will basically throw you a pile of napkins and wish you luck as she waves 'buh bye' from the kitchen door. You will have to fetch your own coffee and anything else that you desire. 9 young women will in fact drink 26 small carafes of milk from the breakfast bar in the absence of a waitress to bring drinks. Not everyone finds this charming I suppose.
Alright- one more again. 12. It will only take 10 year old girls a minute to figure out who's momma will make them go the fastest down the water slide. I may or may not have climbed those slide steps 314 times this weekend. Dang them skinny mommas.
I used to wonder where kindergarten teachers drew their strength from. I now realize that it is actually the middle school teachers who need to be commended. These children talk a lot, complain about most everything and have an opinion about absolutely anything. They struggle with wanting to be a child and wanting to be a young woman. Throw in their hormones, that they don't yet know what to do with, and they are like walking little time bombs.
I was looking for my 'I survived a girl scout weekend' shirt or button or ribbon or trophy- but apparently I didn't get one. Unless it is the box of cheese its that are ground into my van carpeting. At least I had the opportunity to chill with the other moms in the 'over 18 only' hot tub. We may or may not have been making faces at the girls while soaking in our own private area.
Thank you Allyson for making this weekend possible. Sorry for making faces at you.
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