When I was a child, we frequently attended the Assumption Fair, a small annual carnival in the parking lot of the Assumption Catholic Church. We looked forward to this yearly event and "anyone who was anyone" attended. I warmly recall the combined aromas of pizza, hot dogs, popcorn and cotton candy, the wonderful black velvet poster prizes, and most of all the cages!! We loved that ride. Lock yourself in this metal cage, put on the unraveling cloth seatbelt and you are on your way - upside down, spinning around and around all the while trying to avoid the vomit that is spraying all around you from everyone else who is getting sick on this ride.... OK - enough... You get the picture!!
We never missed a fair that I can recall and our parents even let us walk there with our friends. It was an absolute must for anyone growing up in our part of town. More than the rides and the games, though, were the friends we hung out with there. That made it all the more fun!
Even with my fond memories of that carnival, I still shudder every time I drive by one. Just today, on my way home from Curves, I saw the one they set up down the way from us. We have never taken the girls there because those rides look so unsafe to me. Not to mention the money it costs to go on them! It's highway robbery!! All that junk food! Now, I'm wondering why my parents let us go!
I guess there is a point as a parent where you have to decide to let your children go. Maybe it's just to a Carnival, or maybe it's to someplace like Cameroon. Our every instinct tells us it's not safe, it may not even be healthy but it might be fun, they might learn something about life, about friends, about culture. We use our best judgment, we gather advice from friends, seek wise counsel. In the end, sometimes we just have to trust that it's all in God's hands - whatever the outcome.
It's a big decision for a parent, and I'm not going to make a judgment of a parent based on whether or not they allow their child to go to Africa, because the truth is I have no idea what I would decide for my children either. I'd like to say that I would gladly let them go knowing it would be an incredible experience for them. Then, I look at the Carnival and think, "What? Am I crazy???"
We never missed a fair that I can recall and our parents even let us walk there with our friends. It was an absolute must for anyone growing up in our part of town. More than the rides and the games, though, were the friends we hung out with there. That made it all the more fun!
Even with my fond memories of that carnival, I still shudder every time I drive by one. Just today, on my way home from Curves, I saw the one they set up down the way from us. We have never taken the girls there because those rides look so unsafe to me. Not to mention the money it costs to go on them! It's highway robbery!! All that junk food! Now, I'm wondering why my parents let us go!
I guess there is a point as a parent where you have to decide to let your children go. Maybe it's just to a Carnival, or maybe it's to someplace like Cameroon. Our every instinct tells us it's not safe, it may not even be healthy but it might be fun, they might learn something about life, about friends, about culture. We use our best judgment, we gather advice from friends, seek wise counsel. In the end, sometimes we just have to trust that it's all in God's hands - whatever the outcome.
It's a big decision for a parent, and I'm not going to make a judgment of a parent based on whether or not they allow their child to go to Africa, because the truth is I have no idea what I would decide for my children either. I'd like to say that I would gladly let them go knowing it would be an incredible experience for them. Then, I look at the Carnival and think, "What? Am I crazy???"
1 comment:
Carnivals today are different then the school ones. We used to take our son to the Halloween carnival put on by his school as apposed to trick or treating - which is another thing that has gone by the way.
Try for school carnivals instead of the commercial ones. More fun I think and safer.
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