Pumpkin does not look forward to ski day. I never let her back out of it, but she does often complain about various physical ailments every Saturday morning when she wakes me up with her infamous line, "What my doing today?!!" Yesterday's complaint involved a frog in her tummy. And so the bribery began.
Yesterday, I promised lunch at McDonalds just for going, plus a few chocolate eggs if she managed at least six runs. In addition, it has always been a given that I would buy her jelly beans from the vending machine at the ski lodge at the end of every lesson.
Pumpkin held up to her end of the bargain, so I grabbed her the jelly beans for her to munch in the change room, which is complete chaos if you want to imagine a small room filled with about 20 young kids plus their parents, all trying to undress and dress again in winter gear. Many of the kids were crying by this point, while their parents endured the stress of getting everything organized and packed up.
Other kids saw me pumping my kid full of junk while discussing McDonald's with her, and started to nag their own parents. One father went as far as to mention to me how healthily his family eats, and how his kids don't ever get McDonald's. One mother found herself helplessly giving in to her daughter's candy demands in the face of Pumpkin's good sugar fortune. I overheard some other parent say something like, "NO! We're going home for lunch!" There was even a note on Pumpkin's progress card from last week's substitute instructor saying, 'NO TREATS!' What's wrong with a tiny piece of chocolate at the end of a good run?
Sorry to the other parents, but my crappy parenting skills are what we need to get through this seven week session. Look for me on the hill though if you need me to hook you up with something sweet.
4 comments:
Amen! I am not above bribery!! I am too pld and there are too many of them!! Those other parents need to mind their own business!! Good for them, we don't eat McDonalds! They don't unless mom and dad aren't around, and then I guarentee the kids DO eat at McDonalds!! :)
Hmmm...I think I hear some Jelly Bellys calling me from the junk cupboard.
K&L Mom
I get the same thing at my 8yo hockey games, the only way i can get the 4yo to go without complaint is to promise a Slushie. The other parents LOVE me :)
And how many of those holier-than-thou parents are getting calls from the principal that their junk food deprived kids are model citizens, beacons of hope and optimism?! Screw them, you win!! Now, I must finish discussing what flavour of milkshake my 4yo will select at McDs following her dentist appointment on Monday afternoon...
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