We had a very busy long weekend at the beginning of July at my house. Between Canada Day and a local festival, there was a whole lot of event-hopping going on. But not all of it went as well as one would hope.
Canada Day was cold and rainy here. Jon had to work, so it was just me and the kids. But we set out to our town’s Canada Day celebrations with high hopes and raincoats on. Hannah wanted to have her face painted and she wanted to jump in a bouncy castle. And I told her she could do both of those things. I would do what it took to make it happen. I kind of had something to prove, because face painting has been a sore point lately.
Mmm, maple taffy
Every week there is a face painter at our local farmer’s market. And pretty much every week I’m in a rush for some reason or another. Hannah asks to have her face painted, and I tell her, “Next week. Next week, for sure.” But after about 3 weeks of this, it was getting old. I had let her down. So on Canada Day, it was go time.
We got to the event, had some maple taffy (it seemed like the patriotic choice) and checked out Bobs and Lolo‘s show. Then Hannah wanted to jump in the bouncy castles, but when we headed over the line-up was sort of long. I thought that maybe a lot of other kids were also heading over following the show, so we decided to check out the fire truck instead. Then we headed to the face-painting.
Me, on Canada Day, in front of the ducks who thoroughly enjoyed the weather
The face-painting line was even longer than the bouncy castle line, as it turned out. And there was only one face painter. I suspect it would have taken us at least 40 minutes for our turn. Now, if it was just me and Hannah, that would have been OK. Hannah is pretty good at waiting for something that she wants. But my 23-month-old? Not so much. And with no other adult around to take him off my hands, the face painting wasn’t happening. Mom fail. On to the bouncy castle.
In the time that it took for us to do our slow wander from the bouncy castle to the fire truck to the face painting and back, the rain really picked up. So much that it caused bouncy castle issues, I suspect. Because when we approached the bouncy castle location, there were no castles. There were only people stamping the last of the air from them and packing them up. Mom fail times a million.
Me, on Canada Day, in front of the ducks who thoroughly enjoyed the weather
Thankfully, the festival that we attended two days later made up for the Canada Day failure. There were mini donuts, there were crafts, there was a train ride, and there was face painting, with no line-up to speak of. Sweet redemption.
Let this be a lesson to you. Don’t make a promise to a 5-year-old that you might not be able to keep. You’ll feel like the biggest heel in the world if you let that kid down. And it’s bound to happen at least once in a while. It’s not pretty, especially because really, I know better. But yet somehow, I don’t act like it. Like I said – fail.
Face paint, at long last
Have you ever let your kid down? I’d love to know that I’m not the only one who manages to come off like the worst mom in the world once in a while.
PS – I have a post up at 5 Minutes for Mom today! Drop on by and read what I had to say about deciding to stay home with my kids.
I’m glad to hear that Hannah finally got her face painted. We had a similar face painting fail on Canada Day. The big debate at our house was whether we would go to the day festivities or the fireworks. Tegan and I wanted to see the fireworks – Madelyn wanted her face painted. We were taking some friends with us and their vote was also for fireworks. Long story short – Madelyn was disappointed but had a great time with her friends running around in the field, waiting for the fireworks. And next year we are doing the day stuff instead because the town I live in has a much different idea of what “dusk” means than I do. For me, dusk is when the sun just sets – for our town – it was 10pm.
Tanya’s last post … Random
for some reason I don’t seem to learn my lesson when it comes to promises to the kids! Let’s go to the library! Oh…it doesn’t open until noon = Fail. Let’s go to the aviation museum! Oh, it’s not open on Monday = Fail. Let’s go swimming in the pool! Oh….it’s only 72 degrees and there’s no way I’m getting in past my ankles = Fail. Hopefully one day I’ll learn my lesson.
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You would think they would have at least 2 facepainters on hand for something like Canada Day!
I can definitely relate to trying to make one kid happy but knowing it won’t go so well due to the 2nd. Waiting in line for bouncy castles on Canada Day was NOT FUN with Amelia struggling to run wherever she wanted.
No fear, as long as the weather is nice this weekend Hannah can jump to her hearts content in OUR bouncy castle…but uhm maybe don’t mention it to her. You don’t want a THIRD mom fail
Carrie’s last post … Rediscovering Queens Park
Thank you for sharing this! This is something I’m working at really hard right now, because I have a long history of saying, We should do such and such today…and then not following through. To my kids, that sounds like a promise, even if I didn’t mean it that way, and I hate seeing the disappointment on their face. So I’ve made a goal to only say what I’m willing to do, and to always follow through. I let them flip their own pancakes this morning because of that. =)
Kimberly’s last post … Sunday Soliloquy- A Light in the Dark
It seems like Canada Day party planning fail.
I can’t remember any major promises that I’ve broken but I’m sure there must be something. I usually go the route of “We’ll see” that way I always have a way out.
Marilyn’s last post … Butterbeer Recipe Showdown- Which is Best
Let’s go to Auntie’s, oh she has plans – Fail.
I’m taking you to the toystore today — we ran out of time after the errands – Fail.
While we are in California we will see Legoland — not open the day we will be in town? — HUGE FAIL!
It happens on smaller degrees every day. You can play computer games after dinner — but Dad says no – Fail.
Ugh.
BTW the face painting turned out VERY nice!
*pol’s last post … Another Victory-
Disappointment is short lived. They get over it.
I give empathy and then do what I need to do. I can only forsee so many things…the unexpected is bound to happen and we will deal with it as gracefully as we can!
Cheers, Dominique
Hey, they got taffy! It’s not so bad.
To be honest, I don’t think I’ve let my kid down much, yet, because I’m anal about not promising anything, ever. “Maybe” and “we’ll see” and “it might not work out that way” are the phrases I use a lot. And because I am driven crazy by “is it time to do X yet?” I never say what we’re doing till the last minute.
Now that I reflect on it, I am not teaching them how to deal with disappointment at all…I am actively preventing anything uncomfortable from happening. Hmm. Time to change paths, maybe.
clara’s last post … Road Trip One- Complete
My daughter is a little lawyer in the making and she has a memory like a steel trap. I make sure I add caveats to every promise. “I will do my best to…” “If we can, we will..” “If it’s there…” “If we have time…” I’ve gotta leave myself an out! And if it doesn’t happen, we can always talk about how fun it will be when we do finally get to do X.
Holly’s last post … 1 Make a quilt for Mias baby by May 2009
Ugh, yes. I feel terrible when I promise something and it doesn’t happen. You made up for it nicely, that face painting job looks great!
AmberDusick’s last post … windows of childhood
Funny how universal some kid things are. The two things that the boys most loved about Canada Day in Lunenburg? Face painting and the bouncy castle! At the boys’ school picnic, we waited with the nearly apoplectic toddler for what seemed like a year for a turn to get in, and once we finally finally finally managed to make it to the front of the line, Lucas panicked and stayed frozen in a crawl position the entire three minutes. I’m not sure whether that was Mom-fail or toddler-fail!
Glad you got your redemption!!
Great face paint!
I am trying to be better about adding caveats to our plans – we’ll try, if such-and-such is there, etc – but it’s hard to always remember, especially if I’m excited to do it too.
Lady M’s last post … Honey-do’s of Another Sort
I just want to say, that face paint is a total win. The ones I’ve seen lately have been more the one-flower-on-a-cheek level. Hope Hannah thought it was worth waiting for.
Our July 4 weather wasn’t great, either, but we went to a festival yesterday on a sunny day, and there were bouncy castles galore…that we didn’t let our kid go on. Because he will only bounce if he’s the only kid on them. And we didn’t feel like buying out the whole bouncy castle. So, yeah. Sort of a mom fail; sort of a weirdo kid fail.
Lauren @ Hobo Mama’s last post … Dropping the say please script
Print and frame that face painting photo and no one will ever, ever remember the failures.
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